LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Amid spiking coronavirus cases, Los Angeles Unified School District campuses will remain closed when classes resume Aug. 18, Superintendent Austin Beutner said today, defying President Donald Trump's demand that students return to in-person instruction.
Beutner said the "health and safety of all in the school community is not something we can compromise.''
The decision comes days after the union representing the district's teachers announced results of a poll showing that 83% of instructors opposed returning to in-person classes.
The LAUSD on Monday issued a joint statement with the San Diego 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.''
More Southern California school districts are following suit. The Burbank Unified School District announced their plan to be 100% committed to online learning for the start of the upcoming school year in a Facebook video from superintendant Matt Hill.
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.