California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that the state is proposing a phased approach to returning students to the classroom as early as the upcoming 2021 spring semester, stating that learning was “non-negotiable.”

Newsom announced the proposed approach during a conference Wednesday.

“It is a fundamental fact that learning remains non-negotiable, but obviously neither is safety,” he said.

The proposal allows for K-6, special education and “populations disproportionately impacted by COVID-19” to reopen for in-person instruction first, while also allowing distance learning to remain an option for parents who feel uncomfortable sending their children to school.

Elementary schools are allowed to reopen, but only if they submit a COVID-19 Safety Plan to both local and state officials. One significant difference between this proposal and previous guidance is that county health officials can only disapprove plans, rather than approve them.

This means that schools are automatically approved to reopen once they submit these plans, granted that county officials do not disapprove them within five days.

Additionally, counties must have a seven-day average case rate of less than 28 cases per 100,000 people per day in order to implement these reopening plans.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles County seven-day case rate was 34 cases per 100,000 people per day, according to the California Department of Public Health. 

Further details on the proposed plan are expected to be released Friday.

See Related: Santa Clarita School Reopening Round-Up

Previously, all K-12 schools in California counties that were in Tier 1 of the State’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, including Los Angeles County, were prohibited from reopening for in-person instruction, with the exception of four types of on-site programming.

These are: 

1. Day care for school-aged children and/or child care programs located in schools 
2. Specialized services for defined subgroups of children who need in person services and supports
3. On-site instruction of children in grades TK-2 by schools that have received a Department of Public Health waiver for in-person education.
4. Students may come on campus for supervised administration of college admission tests, including PSAT, ACT, and SAT exams.

For all four types of on-site programming, students are required to be organized and proceed through the day within cohorts, which the county defines as “a stable group of no more than 12 children or youth and no more than two supervising adults in a supervised environment in which supervising adults and children stay together for all activities and avoid contact with people outside of their group in the setting.”

Additionally, the total on-campus population may not exceed 25% of the total student body at any one time. However, the 25% limit does not apply to school-age children on campus receiving day care while engaged in distance learning activities, nor does it apply to students in grades TK – 2 returning after their school has been granted a waiver.

All guidelines can be found here.

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