Close all California public schools to contain coronavirus, teachers’ union advises
California’s biggest teachers union called for all public schools to close and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to maintain funding for those that do as the state scrambled Friday to contain the spread of coronavirus.
“To protect students and educators, we believe closing all public schools and community colleges would be one of the safest measures to help mitigate further spreading of the virus,” California Teachers Association president E. Toby Boyd, said in a written statement. “The magnitude and severity of the pandemic is already impacting everyone, while the long-term impacts are really unknown.”
The union also called for standardized testing to be suspended for the year.
Already, all public schools in Sacramento and Placer counties will close starting Monday. Some schools in Yolo County will also close. Other districts in communities across the state, including Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, have also announced closures.
The union’s announcement comes a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was not yet calling for mass school closures, noting that closing schools could leave children hungry and force parents to stay home from essential, public safety jobs.
But on Friday, Newsom signed an executive order to ensure schools that do close still get money from the state to fund remote education, food for needy students and childcare.
“Closing schools has a massive, cascading effect for our kids and their families – especially those least equipped financially to deal with them,” Newsom said in a statement. “The needs of California kids must be met regardless of whether their school is open or closed.”
The Newsom administration issued guidance last week recommending school districts consider closing schools where students, staff or teachers have tested positive for the coronavirus. The administration also recommends staggering physical education classes, canceling school assemblies and having meals in classrooms instead of a centralized cafeteria to limit spread of the virus, which causes COVID-19 disease.
On Wednesday night, Newsom’s office announced that nonessential gatherings of more than 250 people should be canceled, but that guidance does not apply to schools.
“For me, ‘essential’ includes schools,” Newsom said during a Thursday news conference. “We have to be very thoughtful and considerate as it relates to our education system and the broader impacts including, if we do close, how to feed these kids and how to protect these kids.”
About 60 percent of children in California public schools receive reduced price or free meals at school, Newsom said. If schools close, Newsom said officials will need to ensure those kids are still fed.
School closures could also prevent first responders and health workers, including firefighters, emergency room doctors and nurses, from going to work if they have young children who cannot be left alone.
In Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Friday that all public and private schools will be closed from March 17 through April 24 to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“We have concluded that a county-by-county approach to this epidemic is not sufficient,” Inslee said.
This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Close all California public schools to contain coronavirus, teachers’ union advises."