‘There’s no easy answer here.’ Elk Grove Unified cancels week of school over coronavirus

A playoff basketball game has been postponed until further notice, as has a prom. Inflexible spring break plans now mean missing school. And working parents will have to find childcare on short notice.

Elk Grove Unified School District, the largest in Northern California, announced Saturday it will close all schools for the next week after a family whose child attends one of its schools was under a quarantine order by the Sacramento County Public Health Department, The district said in a letter to parents on Saturday.

While individual schools across California have closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Elk Grove is the first school district in the state to suspend instruction. Spring break, scheduled for next month, will instead be moved to next week so that no school days will be lost.

The school has roughly 64,000 students between 67 schools, according to the district. Long Beach, Fresno, Los Angeles and San Diego are the only districts in the state with more students.

“After careful consideration and in light of the new information, effective immediately, the District will close its schools, cancel classes and any student-related activities from today, March 7 - March 13, 2020,” the letter said. “Please know that to date, no student or staff has tested positive for COVID-19.”

“The public’s health and safety is paramount to Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) and all of our community and educational partners.”

At a news conference, EGUSD spokeswoman Xanthi Pinkerton said 11 families with members who work at or attend the district’s school’s had self-reported that they may have contracted the virus that causes COVID-19. Eight had tested negative as of Saturday; results remained outstanding for the other three.

Elk Grove superintendent Christopher Hoffman said he understood parents and students’ frustrations with the cancellation, but that the week off would give the district time to figure out what to do next.

“I have had feedback from parents. I’ve had some thank us very much for putting the kids first, and I’ve had people who think I’m a blithering idiot,” Hoffman said. “There’s no easy answer here.”

WILL OTHER DISTRICTS CLOSE?

No county school staff or students have contracted novel coronavirus, the Sacramento County Office of Education and Sacramento County Public Health Department said in a news release Saturday. While the agencies said they respected EGUSD’s decision, they would not be forcing any schools to close for the time being.

“At this time, there is no immediate risk and therefore no recommendation from SCPH that any individual school or school district needs to close down,” the news release said. “If diagnosed cases are discovered associated with schools, the public health department will advise what appropriate steps need to be taken, up to and including school closures or quarantines.”

Expanding on the county release, Sacramento County health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson told The Sacramento Bee Saturday evening that he and other county officials are drawing up guidelines for school districts that will encourage them to stay open unless a few students are tested positive for the coronavirus.

“If two or three students come down with cases, we probably will recommend closing the school,” he said. Otherwise, he will encourage schools conduct business as usual.

He said he will go through the guidelines tomorrow at the 1 p.m. press conference with the mayor. He declined to say whether Elk Grove is over-reacting, instead saying county officials “respect” that district’s decision. He pointed out that no Elk Grove students, employees or family members have tested positive for the virus.

He said he does not see the Elk Grove decision as an indicator that other major closures of schools and institutions in the area.

“No, I do not see this as a tipping point,” he said.

Beilenson said he also will enumerate the state’s guidelines for holding mass gatherings such as concerts and sporting events at the press conference tomorrow.

PARENTS IN TOUGH BIND

The spread of the new coronavirus has dealt a double-whammy to Elk Grove residents Denye and Elysse Versher. Not only do they have a 7-year-old child in the Elk Grove school district, but they also had been planning a Carnival cruise with their children in Mexico. They canceled those plans Friday after learning about the 21 positive coronavirus tests on the Grand Princess, the cruise ship now being held off the coast of San Francisco.

“We canceled the cruise yesterday, and we got the alert today from the school,” said Elysse Versher, a vice principal at West Campus High School. “It’s just really scary times, but we’re trying not to panic. When you’re in a state of panic, you’re not making logical decisions. We have a 3-year-old, and we have a first-grader that we were taking on a cruise, and we just don’t want them exposed.”

Versher is going to take this next week off to stay at home with her kids, she said, and she’s got messages into her human resources representative to figure out how to handle her time off but also to seek support for the principal in her absence.

As an administrator, Versher can’t help but wonder how schools and districts are going to deal with the changes in schedule because students have to make up instructional minutes. At the same time, she said, graduation venues have already been rented and families have booked plans for summer travel. In addition, she said, any extension of the school year requires county and state approvals.

In future, Versher said, she hopes school systems nationwide will develop contingency plans and policies to deal with these sort of events because this probably won’t be the last time this happens.

Asked what her family will do for spring break, Versher said they would most likely stay at home in a self-imposed isolation.

The closure also will affect all campus sporting events, including Saturday night’s CIF Northern California Open Division semifinal game between the Sheldon High School boys basketball team and Dublin High at Cosumnes River College. Hoffman said the district had asked CIF to postpone the game; no decision has been made. A prom has been canceled as well.

“I just couldn’t get myself to a place where I could say ‘it’s not OK for our kids to be at school and involved in activities on Monday, but it is OK today,’” Hoffman said.

A Change.org petition calling on EGUSD not to move spring break began circulating after the district’s announcement Saturday. It had nearly 750 signatures as of 5:45 p.m.

UC Davis announced Saturday that it had no immediate plans to cancel classes, but said faculty could move the rest of their curriculum online for the 10th and final week of winter quarter, according to a news release.

“We are advising maximum flexibility and encouraging faculty or students who either should not or do not wish to attend in-person classes to complete the work of the quarter via alternate means,” the release said.

What are coronavirus symptoms? How does it spread?

Symptoms of the virus that causes COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath, which may occur two days to two weeks after exposure. Most develop only mild symptoms, but some people develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal. The disease is especially dangerous to the elderly and others with weaker immune systems.

Coronavirus is spread through contact between people within six feet of each other, especially through coughing and sneezing that expels respiratory droplets that land in the mouths or noses of people nearby. The CDC says it’s possible to catch the disease COVID-19 by touching something that has the virus on it, and then touching your own face, “but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”

This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 1:12 PM.