(CALMATTERS) – New state mapping data details California’s school-reopening divide, in which hundreds of school districts — mostly smaller and rural or inland — are offering in-person instruction to elementary students while many of the state’s largest, urban districts remain indefinitely in remote learning.
But the divide between public and private schools is much starker: Eleven months after schools closed for in-person learning, most California private schools appear to offer some form of in-person learning, according to the state’s map data.
The maps published Friday by the California Department of Public Health offers the first nearly comprehensive picture — not every private or charter school has reported data — of exactly where schools are physically open. The state’s maps note whether district, charter and private schools are offering in-person learning to students full-time, in a hybrid model that splits time on campus and at home, or in distance learning only.
You can view the maps here.
Public pressure toward reopening has increased as other states are phasing in on-campus learning. Most California counties, however, have not yet begun offering vaccines to educators, a key sticking point in negotiations between school boards, superintendents and labor unions for full-scale reopenings in California. The schools that have reopened have done so using state safety guidance but with widely varying testing protocols, with some implementing little or no surveillance testing.
The contrast between public and private school reopenings has been consistent since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Months ago, K-6 schools could apply for waivers from the state department of education to reopen for in-person instruction. Private schools far outstripped public schools in approved waivers. Most private and charter schools do not have the same teacher union representation that public school districts do.
The Safe Schools for All Plan introduced by Gov. Gavin Newsom in late December included new health and safety guidelines for in-person instruction, as well as requirements that schools report to the state whether they are physically open. Under the new rules, which went into effect Jan. 25, schools are required to report their status, as well as data on cases transmitted within campuses, to the state Department of Public Health biweekly.
Friday’s release did not include data detailing outbreaks reported at schools, though the state said the information “will be added as soon as possible.”
“As COVID-19 conditions continue to improve and vaccinations ramp up throughout the state, this map will provide local communities with accessible, up-to-date information on how districts in their communities and beyond are adapting to the pandemic, including safety planning and implementation,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement Friday.
For nearly a year, state officials had little information on school reopenings since the initial closures, which frustrated lawmakers said at a hearing last fall hampered the state’s response to reopening campuses.
The data released Friday morning arrives at a pivotal moment in California’s fraught school-reopening debate.
In dozens of counties, case rates are falling below the 25 positive cases per 100,000 residents threshold that allow school districts to offer in-person instruction to elementary so long as strict safety measures are put in place.
BY RICARDO CANO | CALMatters