U-Turn: Denver Reverts To Virtual Learning To Start School Year

By Melanie Asmar, July 17

Denver Public Schools is changing course again on whether to reopen schools next month: The district now plans to start the school year remotely.

Coronavirus cases are on the rise in Colorado, and both teachers and parents expressed serious concerns about students returning to school in person.

This would be the third version of a back-to-school plan that the district has announced this summer. Just three weeks ago, the district said it planned to bring students back in person five days a week. That was a change from its previous plan for a hybrid of in-person and remote learning.

The changes reflect the shifting course of the pandemic. When cases were lower in May and June, many parents were eager for a return to full-time school, and Gov. Jared Polis encouraged districts to prepare for full classrooms, though with safety precautions.

Denver would be joining large districts around the country in planning to start the school year online. It’s not clear if other Colorado school districts will follow. A number of Denver metro area districts have already pushed back the start of the school year to allow for more planning and a better understanding of the public health situation.

On Thursday, Polis issued a statewide mask mandate, a step he had previously resisted. State officials say that if the current trajectory doesn’t change, hospitals will start to exceed their ICU capacity in September. Colorado has also seen an increase in teenagers testing positive for COVID-19. While most of them are not at risk for serious disease, young people have died of it.

Polis said Thursday that the state is on the “knife’s edge” of getting the coronavirus back under control, but he did not suggest that schools should delay opening. Instead, he said the state would help ensure teachers have a good supply of higher quality masks.

The previous plan to open school buildings was based in part on recommendations from the Denver Metro Partnership for Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics that said the emotional, psychological, and even physical risks to children were greater if they stayed home.