Gov. Gavin Newsom said today that officials are considering an early start for next school year—maybe as soon as late July—to make up for lost time after the coronavirus forced campuses to close last month.
School districts, including Long Beach Unified, are still instructing students online, but, “We recognize there’s been a learning loss because of this disruption,” Newsom said.
No final decision has been made on an early start, but, “We need to prepare for that,” the governor said.
If students return to campuses as part of that plan, classes may look radically different than before, said Sonia Angell, the state’s public health director. Newsom previously said schools may launch with staggered start times to limit the number of students in the school at one time and make changes to recess, lunch and other normal school gatherings that draw large groups of students together.
At this point, Long Beach Unified’s first day of school is scheduled for Sept. 1. Any change would leave a cascade of details to be worked out.
“The governor’s consideration of an earlier start date for schools is new information to us,” Long Beach Unified spokesman Chris Eftychiou said. “There’s no firm decision yet, so we’ll continue to monitor the state’s guidance.”
One potential roadblock is that school districts’ contracts with their employees include a yearly start date—something Newsom’s office wouldn’t have the power to override.
The Teachers Association of Long Beach’s contract with the LBUSD specifies that school calendars be set two years in advance in collaboration with teachers. The agreed upon start date for teachers in 2020 is Aug. 31 and Aug. 30 in 2021.
Similarly, any changes at the state level regarding instructional minutes or daily/weekly calendars could require the LBUSD and TALB to renegotiate the fundamental building blocks of their contract.
Newsom has previously proposed changes including seven-day-a-week schedules and dramatically reduced class sizes, all of which would require significant funding. Meanwhile, due to lost tax revenue, districts across the state are expecting significant cuts to the budget they receive from the state.
Long Beach Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell appeared to push back on the governor’s idea in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“It would be better for our students to take summer classes than to simply start the school year earlier,” said O’Donnell, who chairs the Assembly’s education committee. “Some students need summer school to make up for lost credits and to help boost their G.P.A. to get into college.”
In addition to floating the change to schools Tuesday, Newsom also outlined plans for a gradual reopening of the state as hospitalization rates due to coronavirus begin to stabilize. He noted that some business sectors, such as retail and manufacturing, may be able to open within weeks, while other businesses such as hair salons will take longer. Large gatherings such as concerts still remain out of reach, he said.
Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order on March 19, which aimed to slow the spread of COVID-19 by keeping most people at home and closing all but essential businesses. Health officials have said the efforts have helped flatten the curve of the virus outbreak but they also have caused massive unemployment and economic upheaval.
On Monday, Newsom said the state is “a few weeks away, not months away” from making meaningful changes in the order—his most optimistic timeline yet.
Still, it was a dramatic shift from just three weeks ago, when Newsom and top health officials were projecting a need for at least 50,000 additional hospital beds for a mid-May surge in cases. That wave hasn’t materialized. Hospitals have ample bed space and for the last week the numbers of hospitalizations and intensive care unit patients has remained relatively steady.
Those are key statistics for Newsom as he gauges when and how to reopen the state.
Even if California begins rolling back its restrictions, it will be up to local jurisdictions whether to follow suit, Newsom said. Several Bay Area counties, for instance, recently extended their stay-at-home orders through the end of May.
While polls show most people support keeping social distancing restrictions in place for as long as necessary, there have been small but vociferous public protests and also growing calls among businesses and local lawmakers for a cautious path to reopening.
Newsom and others have warned against reopening stores, dine-in restaurants and other businesses unless they have strict social distancing measures in order to prevent a new surge of the virus. Health experts say lifting restrictions should come only when there are enough testing programs, medical supplies and protections to ensure it is done safely.
“The virus has not gone away,” Newsom said.
Jeremiah Dobruck, Mike Guardabascio and the Associated Press’ Kathleen Ronayne contributed to this report.