Dr. Scott Atlas reacts to San Diego Unified School District opting to keep students home for upcoming year
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – Amid spiking coronavirus cases, San Diego Unified School District campuses will remain closed when classes resume next month, Superintendent Cindy Marten said Monday, defying President Donald Trump’s demand that students return to in-person instruction.
The SDUSD on Monday issued a joint statement with the Los Angeles Unified School District, which also announced it will start the school year with online-only courses. In the statement, the districts acknowledged that schools have successfully reopened in some parts of the world, but said the conditions are different locally.
“One fact is clear — those countries that have managed to safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and on-demand testing available. California has neither,” according to the statement. “The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control.”
The districts said planning will continue for an eventual return to in- person classes, but no timeline was provided. In the meantime, teachers will be given “expanded training in online education,” and students will receive training “to become better online learners.”
SDUSD will begin remote course work as scheduled on Aug. 31, LAUSD on Aug. 18. The school districts will continue to provide free meals for students at the current distribution stations.
Trump has been adamant that school campuses should reopen in the fall, even hinting that the federal government might withhold funding from jurisdictions that fail to return to in-person instruction.
The statement puts the burden of closed schools on the Trump Administration’s handling of the pandemic.
Dr. Scott Atlas has been an advocate of reopening our schools for the upcoming year, citing the low risk to the coronavirus that children face. He reacted to the school districts decision on KUSI News.
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