Update: As schools across state close, most Stanislaus County schools stay open

Public schools remained open in Stanislaus County amid growing concerns about coronavirus that prompted other districts in the state to close campuses for weeks.

Catholic schools, however, are closing in Stanislaus and the five other counties in the Diocese of Stockton for most of March.

There were rumors that county public schools might follow suit with other districts as superintendents held a meeting Friday. But students are expected to return to classes Monday.

“We’re deferring to our public heath officer, and the recommendation is that having your children at school, right now, is the safest place for them,” said Stanislaus County Schools Superintendent Scott Kuykendall. “We are doing our best to make decisions about school closures based on real-time facts and recommendations from medical professionals. ...

“That being said, we are very aware of our parents’ concern. This is an unknown virus and we’re still learning a lot. That is why we want to acknowledge that parents not comfortable with keeping their kids in school can keep them home without any pushback or penalty.”

Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, the county’s top health official, said the level of contagious illness in the community has not met the criteria for telling parents to keep their kids at home.

Stanislaus County has two ‘positive’ cases

Two Stanislaus County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, one who was on a Princess cruise to Mexico and the other for reasons undetermined.

Kuykendall spoke late Friday afternoon, about an hour after the Sacramento and Fresno school districts, among others, announced closures. Nearby Merced, Mariposa and Tuolumne county school districts remain open. On the same day, San Joaquin County health officials reported five more people having tested positive for COVID-19 — bringing the county’s total to eight — its school district announced it was closing late Friday afternoon.

Kuykendall said county school officials are scheduled to meet Monday morning at 8:30 to continue the discussion.

The Catholic diocese announced Friday that its schools would close immediately and tentatively resume classes March 30. No coronavirus cases have been confirmed at the campuses, said the notice from Bishop Myron Cotta and Marian DeGroot Graham, director for Catholic schools. They will close nonetheless “in the interest of doing our part to slow the onset.”

School principals will contact families about “remote learning resources” during the closure. The diocese takes in Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Alpine and Mono counties.

Vaishampayan said a single case of COVID-19 on a campus could be a reason for keeping students at home. That would allow for decontamination, deep cleaning and tracing people who had contact with the infected person. Significant absenteeism within a school may be a reason for closure, she said.

With few cases in the county, she said they’re not at the point of school closures and her recommendation is consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health guidelines.

She also stated in a letter to school districts, among other reasons to keep schools open:

• Closing schools will increase social mixing of populations, which may increase the spread of disease and lessen ability to monitor students ...
• Closing schools may increase the risk to older adults or those with underlying health issues ...
• Data from China shows countries that closed schools have not had success in reducing spread of the disease vs. schools that stayed open.

MJC, Stan State move to online courses

Top administrators for local school districts and colleges had said earlier they were united in following the advice of county public health in dealing with the pandemic. But Stanislaus State University and Modesto Junior College both made their own choices to suspend face-to-face classroom instruction, starting next week.

MJC said it made the decision after conferring with its Academic Senate and unions representing professors and employees. The East and West MJC campuses will remain open for business and support services, but students will convert to remote learning Wednesday.

There are no known cases of coronavirus among students or staff at MJC. “We are acting out of an abundance of caution,” MJC President James Houpis said in a press release.

Wrote the Stanislaus County Office of Education in its letters to parents: “Even as we see colleges canceling classes, moving to distance learning, major sporting events and other large events being canceled, or postponed, our public health doctors still recommend that our schools stay open.”

Two students at Downey High School, who live in the same household, were exposed to a family member with confirmed coronavirus infection. The two students are among the 35 exposed people in the county being monitored, according to the county public health.

Modesto City Schools would not say if the two students had recently attended school and were in contact with other students at Downey High. The district referred those questions to county public health.

There’s debate on whether closures have impact

The decision was widely panned by a majority of parents who commented on Facebook.

“Terrible!!! Shame on you Stanislaus County Schools,” One commenter wrote. “No worry for the families and elderly in the home of the students that will bring this virus home with them. Yes, most student will possibly get it mild but the family will not. My family is not expendable. Again, shame on you!”

In a Sacramento Bee story, the largest teachers’ union in the state called for all schools to be closed.

“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.”

There has been debate across the country on whether or not closing schools has any impact on the potential spread.

“There may be some impact of much longer closures (8 weeks, 20 weeks) further into community spread, but that modelling also shows that other mitigation efforts (e.g., handwashing, home isolation) have more impact on both spread of disease and health care measures,” the CDC said.

But others say that schools are right to be cautious.

“I would say the jury’s still out. There’s disagreement among experts. The evidence is clearly reasonably strong for (school closures limiting the spread of) flu, but this isn’t flu,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a vice dean at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a former Maryland health department secretary, said in a Sacramento Bee story..

“Kids get very, very sick from flu, and kids don’t seem to be getting very sick from this virus,” he said. “So to the extent to which kids are passing it on to each other is really unknown and the sense to which they’re infectious to adults is not well characterized. There are a lot of unknowns still. “

This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 7:11 PM.