All San Diego County school districts, Catholic schools will close to prevent coronavirus spread

All of San Diego County’s 42 school districts, all 49 Catholic schools within the Diocese of San Diego and many of the county’s charter and private schools will close starting Monday to prevent the spread of coronavirus, education officials announced Friday.

That means roughly 428,000 district students and 15,000 Catholic school students will be out of school, not including students at the other schools.

San Diego Unified, California’s second-largest school district with about 103,000 students, was among the first on Friday morning to announce that it will close to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The district announced the decision simultaneously with Los Angeles Unified, which also is closing effective Monday. Los Angeles Unified is California’s largest district with about 453,000 district students and 154,000 charter school students.

“California has now entered a critical new phase in the fight to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic,” San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten and Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner said in a joint statement. “There is evidence the virus is already present in the communities we serve, and our efforts now must be aimed at preventing its spread. We believe closing the state’s two largest school districts will make an important contribution to this effort.”

San Diego Unified currently plans to reopen schools on April 6 “unless conditions call for an extension.”

School districts had been told to wait for direction from the county health department before calling school closures.

But concerns from community members have been growing about the safety of continuing to keep schools open while workplaces send employees home and large-scale events all over are being canceled.

On Thursday night, San Diego Unified’s teachers union called for the district to close for the safety of staff and students.

The county health department did not give the direction to close schools but concurred with the decisions to close them, said Music Watson, a spokeswoman for the San Diego County Office of Education. Individual school districts made the decision to close, she said.

San Diego Unified School Board President John Lee Evans said in an interview that while it will be difficult to close schools, it’s better to start now.

“We were very, very reluctant to do this because of all of the logistical problems it creates in terms of continuing education, in terms of food services and all these other kinds of issues,” Evans said. “But what we’ve learned is that the first important step is containment, and it’s better to do it early rather than later.”

Evans said that the closure, combined with spring break that starts in two weeks, will give the district time to evaluate the coronavirus situation.

The San Diego County districts add to a growing list of schools and districts nationwide that are closing to prevent coronavirus spread. At least 14 states have ordered all their schools closed, including Oregon, Washington, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico and Ohio as well as the District of Columbia, according to Edweek.

At least 46,000 schools nationwide are closed or scheduled to close, impacting at least 26 million students, according to EdWeek as of Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. Most of those schools announced closures Friday.

School districts that close will still be able to receive state funding, including funding for meals and funding to pay employees and provide distance education, according to an executive order signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday.

Continuing to provide services

Some have worried that closures will hurt families who depend on schools for childcare, food and health services in addition to education. But officials at many districts, including San Diego Unified, said plans to continue such services are in the works.

One service that schools provide is free meals for students from low-income families.

San Diego Unified will offer free grab-n-go meals to children 18 and younger, no questions asked, at eight school sites. The meal sacks will include a lunch and a breakfast for the next day. Non-profit partners will also provide produce for families at these sites.

About 58 percent of San Diego Unified students and 52 percent of all public school students in the county are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged.

Several other districts also said they will provide meals, including Sweetwater Union High, Chula Vista Elementary, Grossmont Union High, Vista Unified, Solana Beach, Oceanside Unified and the county education office’s own court and community schools.

Chula Vista and Grossmont said they would provide meals at all of their schools.

The county education office has posted a list of meal sites on its website at sdcoe.net.

Marten said during a press conference Friday that San Diego Unified will not be conducting online learning during the closure for equity reasons, considering that some families do not have access to a computer.

“If we can’t ensure that every single child would have access to it, then we don’t want to be in a situation where some have access to a learning material and others do not,” Marten said.

San Diego Unified teachers are having students take home books to read and journals to write in daily, Marten said.

Meanwhile Marten said, district staff are working on plans to help provide childcare for parents who may be unable to get away from work to supervise their children.

San Diego Unified employees will continue to be paid during the closure and only essential employees will be reporting to sites.

Here’s a list of San Diego Unified’s meal sites, which will serve food from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Children must be present to receive meals.

• Clark Middle - 4388 Thorn Street, San Diego, CA 92105

• Cherokee Point Elementary - 3735 38th Street, San Diego, CA 92105
• Sherman Elementary - 301 22nd Street, San Diego, CA 92102
• Zamorano Elementary - 2655 Casey Street, San Diego, CA 92139
• Kearny High - 1954 Komet Way, San Diego, CA 92111
• O’Farrell Charter - 6130 Skyline Drive, San Diego, CA 92114
• Walker Elementary - 9245 Hillery Drive, San Diego, CA 92126
• Farb Middle - 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA 92124

The county education office is maintaining a list on its website of schools that are closing.

Here’s a list of when school districts will be closed, according to the county education office and school district announcements:

• Alpine Union School District (reopens April 14)

• Bonsall Unified School District (through April 6)
• Borrego Springs Unified School District (through March 27)
• Cajon Valley Union School District (reopens April 20)
• Cardiff School District (through March 27)
• Carlsbad Unified School District (reopens April 6)
• Chula Vista Elementary School District (reopens April 6)
• Coronado Unified School District (reopens April 6)
• Dehesa School District (through April 17)
• Del Mar Union School District
• Encinitas Union School District (reopens April 13)
• Escondido Union Elementary School District (through April 13)
• Escondido Union High School District (reopens April 14)
• Fallbrook Union Elementary School District (reopens April 13)
• Fallbrook Union High School District (through April 10)
• Grossmont Union High School District (through April 10)
• Jamul-Dulzura Union School District (through April 20)
• Julian Union Elementary School District (through April 3)
• Julian Union High School District (through April 3)
• La Mesa-Spring Valley School District (reopens April 13)
• Lakeside Union School District (through April 17)
• Lemon Grove School District (through April 17)
• Mountain Empire Unified School District (reopens April 14)
• National School District (reopens April 6)
• Oceanside Unified School District (through April 10)
• Poway Unified School District (reopens April 6)
• Ramona Unified School District (through March 27)
• Rancho Santa Fe School District
• San Diego County Office of Education schools (through April 3)
• San Diego Unified School District (reopens April 6)
• San Dieguito Union High School District
• San Marcos Unified School District
• San Pasqual Union School District (reopens April 14)
• Santee School District (reopens April 13)
• San Ysidro School District (through April 6 for staff, April 7 for students)
• Solana Beach School District
• South Bay Union School District (reopens April 6)
• Spencer Valley School District (through April 6)
• Sweetwater Union High School District (reopens April 6)
• Vallecitos School District (through April 14)
• Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District
• Vista Unified School District (reopens April 6)
• Warner Unified (through March 27)

Here are charter and private schools confirmed to close, according to the county education office. On top of this list, all of the other 46 charter schools authorized by San Diego Unified School District are closing, according to the local division of the California Charter Schools Association.

• Albert Einstein Academies (through April 10)
• America’s Finest Charter School
• ACES Academy (through April 5)
• AIM High - Mt. Helix Academy (through April 5)
• Aseltine School (through April 12)
• Banyan Tree Foundations Academy - San Diego (through April 5)
• Barona Indian Charter School (through April 17)
• Calvary Christian Academy (through April 3)
• Children’s Workshop (through April 5)
• City Tree Christian School (through April 6)
• Community School of San Diego (through April 5)
• Community School of San Diego High School (through April 5)
• Community Transition Academy (through April 5)
• COOK Education Center (through April 5)
• Diocese of San Diego - all schools
• E3 Civic High School (through April 10)
• Epiphany Prep Charter School (through April 3)
• Escondido Charter High School (through April 13)
• Excelsior Academy (through April 5)
• Gompers Preparatory Academy (reopens April 7)
• Greater San Diego Academy (through April 20)
• Guajome Schools (through April 3)
• Hawking STEAM Charter Schools
• Heritage K-8 Charter High School (through April 13)
• Integrity Charter School (through April 3)
• Kavod Charter School (through April 10)
• Keiller Leadership Academy (through April 10)
• Kidinnu Academy (through April 17)
• KIPP Adelante Preparatory Academy (through April 3)
• MAAC Community Charter School (through April 3)
• Mission Valley Academy (through April 5)
• Museum School
• National University Academy - Dual Language Institute
• NewBridge School
• North County Trade Tech High School (through April 6)
• Oak Grove (through April 5)
• Pacific View Charter School
• River Valley Charter School (through April 17)
• Sam and Rose Stein Education Center (through April 5)
• San Diego Center for Children Academy (through April 5)
• San Diego Global Vision Academy (reopens April 6)
• Sierra Academy of San Diego (through April 13)
• Sierra Springall Academy (through April 13)
• T.E.R.I. Inc. - Learning Academy (through April 5)
• T.E.R.I. Inc. - The Country School (through April 5)
• The Koonings Center
• The Preuss School UC San Diego (through April 6)
• The Winston School
• Urban Discovery (reopens April 6)
• Urban Skills Center (through April 5)

Reporter Deborah Brennan-Sullivan contributed to this story. This story will be updated with additional information.