All Sacramento-area public schools announce physical closures for remainder of school year
All public school districts in the capital’s four-county region will physically close for the remainder of the academic year.
On Friday, Sacramento and Placer were the final two counties to make the decision, according to school officials in news releases Friday, in consultation with Sacramento and Placer County health directors.
The announcement by the Sacramento County Office of Education and the Placer County Office of Education came after multiple extensions to the school closures in an attempt attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.
“I commend our districts and their fine staffs for doing everything possible to provide distance learning. Districts will also continue distributing meals to students in need,” Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David Gordon said in a release.
The 13 districts in Sacramento include Folsom Cordova Unified, Galt Joint Union Elementary and High, Twin Rivers Unified and others.
“Based on modeling of the COVID-19 outbreak in California and in Placer County, it will not be safe for students to return to school in a traditional in-person model through the end of May into early June,” Placer County Health Officer Dr. Aimee Sisson said in a release.
The announcement came a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference schools should operate “with the expectation now that schools will not reopen” for the rest of the school year. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond sent a letter to all California school superintendents Tuesday suggesting students will not be able to return to school campuses by the end of the school year.
But those comments were not directives or mandates. School districts had local authority to make the decision that most people had already seen coming.
Natomas Unified and Elk Grove Unified had already announced they would officially move to online distance learning for the remainder of the school year, officially beginning later this month.
All school districts already have distance learning plans in place with scheduled launch dates in mid-April.
The El Dorado County Office of Education announced Wednesday all 15 of its school districts will also remain closed for the remainder of the school year. El Dorado County schools were scheduled to return to classrooms in mid-April.
Late Thursday, the Yolo County Office of Education also closed schools through the end of the year.
Distance learning challenges:
In a teleconferenced town hall Thursday night, state Sen. Richard Pan, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and Gordon answered questions about how schools and local officials could help better implement distance learning to help students succeed.
Several school districts, including Sacramento City Unified, Elk Grove Unified, San Juan Unified, Twin Rivers Unified and Natomas Unified, distributed Google Chromebooks and wifi hotspots to students in preparation for online learning.
McCarty said many school districts already have plenty of Chromebooks, as several are using laptops stored in classrooms. But McCarty said it’s the lack of internet access that is preventing equitable learning for students.
“Our greatest challenge is our rural communities’ access to reliable internet services,” said El Dorado County’s Pioneer Union School District Superintendent Annette Lane.
The Sacramento Public Library is also working to close the digital divide. Also on the call, Sacramento Public Library Director Rivkah Sass said children can access homework help with a live tutor throughout the day. Students can also sign up for a library card online and access more than 200,000 e-books, she said. Sacramento Public Library is one of the first libraries in the country to offer an instant digital library card.
What will happen to graduation ceremonies?
While school leaders have closely watched how mitigation efforts towards the pandemic have caused all social gatherings to be canceled, they have largely tip-toed around discussing graduation ceremonies which are scheduled for late May and early June — weeks after schools were initially scheduled to reopen.
On Friday, it became clearer that seniors will not be celebrating together in caps and gowns, missing out on what many consider to be a rite of passage into adulthood.
“We understand the heartbreak our students and families are experiencing,” said Placer County Superintendent of Schools Gayle Garbolino-Mojica. “As school leaders who value education and the well-being of our students, we are heartbroken as well. Decisions such as these are not made lightly. We trust the data from public health officials and strongly believe this is in the best interest of our school communities and our entire region.”
Natomas Unified Superintendent Chris Evans told families in a letter Thursday his district did not have answers yet regarding a planned event in Sacramento.
“I want to be honest and state that unless a cure is developed within weeks and the shelter-in-place lifted, the Golden 1 Center does not look hopeful,” he said. “We will send a survey to seniors soon and ask them for their input on attempting a virtual ceremony, postponing the ceremony until later in the summer, or if there is another, safe, reasonable approach.”
Will there be summer school?
McCarty said it was likely schools could be using distance learning for summer school as well, indicating there was still great uncertainty as to how long society will need to practice social distancing to prevent spread of the coronavirus.
In an email to families, Natomas Unified Superintendent Evans also said summer school was in question.
“Major events like Wimbledon and PGA events in late June/July are already canceled,” read his statement. “We do not know what the next steps are for summer learning. Hang in there with us as we are on this journey together.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 12:18 PM.