LA And San Diego Schools To Be Online Only In Fall

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Los Angeles campuses will not reopen for classes on Aug. 18, and the nation’s second-largest school system will continue with online learning until further notice, because of the worsening coronavirus surge, Supt. Austin Beutner announced Monday.

The difficult decision became unavoidable in recent weeks, Beutner said, as coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in Los Angeles County, and the district cannot come close to protecting the health and safety of some half a million K-12 students and about 75,000 employees.

“Let me be crystal clear,” Beutner said in an interview with The Times. “We all know the best place for students to learn is in a school setting.” But, he said, “We’re going in the wrong direction. And as much as we want to be back at schools and have students back at schools — can’t do it until it’s safe and appropriate.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports:

San Diego Unified School District leaders will delay the physical re-opening of schools this fall and instead start the school year with online learning for safety reasons, officials said, citing spikes in COVID-19 cases.

“One fact is clear: those countries that have managed to safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and on-demand testing available. California has neither,” San Diego Unified said in a joint statement released Monday morning with Los Angeles Unified School District.

Both school systems say they will continuously reassess the state of the pandemic with the hope of launching in-person classes later in the year.