The superintendent for the Los Angeles Unified School District just announced that students will continue the upcoming fall semester online. Up until this point, it was looking like LAUSD was going to proceed the upcoming school year in a hybrid setting, but now the decision has been made to be online only. The decision comes with the surge in coronavirus cases across Southern California and since the school year starts next moth, this is the safest option. LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner says the fall semester will begin on August 18th, but student learning will begin online only, with no students returning to in-person classes. He said, "The right way to reopen schools is to make sure there's a robust system of testing and contact tracing to mitigate the risk for all in the school community."
Along with LAUSD, the San Diego Unified School District is following suit and will also begin its fall semester online only. Both school districts released a joint statement saying, "Both districts will continue planning for a return to in-person learning during the 2020-21 academic year, as soon as public health conditions allow."
Santa Ana Unified approved a different plan by leaving the decision up to the parents and students. Students can choose to learn either online only or under a hybrid model where they will be in the classroom a few days a week and then will learn online for the other days. The hybrid model will allow no more than 15 students in class at a time. Las Virgenes Unified announced a similar plan.
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