CHULA VISTA, Calif. — The Chula Vista Elementary School District said not so fast - none of its schools are reopening just yet, but a mistake made on a San Diego County website is continuing the debate over how soon should all schools reopen.
"Our fear was that this had been a fraudulent application, that perhaps a signature had been forged or document submitted on our behalf,” said Anthony Millican, spokesperson for the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
Millican said the district ended up on a county list of schools applying for a waiver to reopen, which is made public, and some parents thought Chula Vista schools were going to reopen right away, but that's not the case. It was a mistake.
"Today we learned that it was an error, that an independent charter school apparently chose the phrase Chula Vista Elementary' instead of 'charter school' from a drop-down menu selection,” Millican said.
The County of San Diego cleared up the error by removing the district’s name, and the district posted twice on its Facebook page, addressing the issue, but some parents were still in a panic leaving comments, such as:
"Whew! Good to know I was freaking out! Thanks for clarifying,” to "Please give the parents the choice, we need to open the schools.”
Millican said the district has not applied for the waiver nor does it see any reason to do so at this time. He said it's still too soon and unsafe for its Chula Vista community of 30,000 students across 46 schools.
"We do not believe it's safe in today's environment to reopen our schools." Millican said.
Chula Vista Elementary School District superintendent Dr. Francisco Escobedo said the plan is to remain on distance learning, and then after Labor Day, begin bringing students back under childcare.
"Once those levels begin to mitigate or decrease significantly, then we'll be able to do a hybrid model, and the intention is to bring back the youngest students,” Escobedo said.
The goal would be a staggered move, starting with Pre-K moving up to Kindergarten and higher grades while also considering students whose parents are essential workers, foster kids and those with special needs.
“It sounds simple to reopen schools, but the reality is it is very complicated,” Millican said.
