South Bay School District Extends Distance Learning Through 2020

SAN JOSE, CA — Classes in one of the Bay Area’s largest school districts will be held on Zoom screens only through the end of the year.

The San Jose Unified School District announced Wednesday that all students will continue distance learning through at least 2020.

The SJUSD is the state's 24th largest school district, serving approximately 30,000 students and employing around 3,000 full-time staffers.

Santa Clara County was recently de-escalated from the purple tier to the red tier in the state's COVID-19 color-coded restriction system, allowing K-12 schools to reopen for in-person learning at full capacity if the county remains in the red tier for two weeks.

"We believe our schools should be a reflection of our community," said SJUSD Superintendent Nancy Albarran, adding, "While we believe in-person instruction is the best option for our students, we cannot ignore the data on viral transmission in Santa Clara County and potentially compromise the health and safety of our students, families, and staff by bringing students back at this time."

The current COVID-19 new case count in Santa Clara County continues to increase and exceeds the new case count in March, when schools were initially ordered to close.

SJUSD recently completed a survey of parents, students, and employees and discovered these groups tended to strongly prefer a commitment to a plan that would remain consistent through at least the end of the semester.

"We know that consistency is critical to our families." Said Jodi Lax, associate superintendent of instruction. "We absolutely recognize that in-person learning is the ideal experience for students and teachers and want to welcome students back to campuses when it is safe to do so."

SJUSD said it will continue to monitor the health information and guidance from local and state officials, and will announce next steps and plans for the 2020-2021 school year in early December.

— Bay City News and Patch Editor Gideon Rubin contributed to this report