Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, and Supervisor Kathryn Barger sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday issuing their support for local school districts being able to ask the state directly for permission to return to in-person instruction.

Newsom announced Friday that schools within the 33 counties on the state’s COVID-19 monitoring list, including Los Angeles County, would not be allowed to reopen for on-campus instruction until they have been off the list for at least 14 consecutive days.

Related: Schools Must Remain Closed Until L.A. County Is Off ‘Watch List’ For Two Weeks

The governor’s announcement included one exception, “Local health officers may grant a waiver to allow elementary schools to reopen in-person instruction if the waiver is requested by the district superintendent, in consultation with labor, parents and community-based organizations. When considering a waiver request, the local health officer must consider local data and consult with the California Department of Public Health.”

While the exception specifies elementary schools, Barger and Wilk’s letter supported access to this waiver for schools at all levels, kindergarten through 12th grade.

“If the science and the data show that a school is within the metrics the governor has set, then that local school should be allowed to make the decision for what’s best for their students,” said Wilk.

L.A. County has had some of the highest daily coronavirus cases in the state in recent weeks, however, Senator Wilk believes that this may not reflect the reality more locally.

“My guess is that Santa Clarita Valley and Antelope Valley, if you look at their individual data, they probably meet the state’s criteria to open up, we’re working on trying to pull that data to see exactly where we’re at, because L.A. County will probably be the last one to get off the monitoring list,” Wilk said. “But in Santa Clarita, we did a phenomenal job, a low amount of cases and 70 percent of them are at the county jail, so I think people here by-and-large practiced physical distancing, wore masks and did all the things that we’ve been asked to do, and I don’t think we should be penalized for other parts of the county not working hard enough on complying.”

Related: Hart District Votes To Begin Fall Semester Online, Work Towards ‘Blended’ System

As of Tuesday, the William S. Hart Union School District and Castaic Union School District have announced plans to move forward in the fall with fully online learning.

The plan for schools in the fall has been a topic of discussion from the local to national level, with President Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos weighing in in recent weeks and calling for a full reopening of schools in the fall.

“My position on all this stuff is we need to follow the science and the data and leave it up to local decision makers, because they’re closest to the people, they know what’s best for their community, whether that’s a school board, city council,” Wilk said. “That’s how we should be doing it, not one-size-fits-all because we’re a diverse state, we’re a diverse county.”

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