CALIFORNIA, USA — Governor Gavin Newsom highlighted California's progress to reopen schools across the state in a press conference on Wednesday. He gave his update from an elementary school in Sonoma County as a majority of California schools are now open or expect to reopen in the next few weeks.
He emphasized that more than 9,000 of the 11,000 schools in the state have either reopened or have announced a date for in-person instruction, specifically naming San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles school districts.
Newsom highlighted his administration’s work to accelerate safe school reopenings has included a $6.6 billion package to fund safety measures for in-person instruction and expanded learning opportunities, prioritizing vaccinations for K-12 school staff and deploying up to 3 million rapid COVID-19 antigen tests at no cost to some of California’s most disadvantaged school district according to a release from the Governor's office.
As the Governor highlights the openings, many believe that California is lagging behind the efforts in other states.
Some of California's biggest school districts are starting to reopen classrooms this week, including Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. But California is lagging the rest of the country, and in some cases offering options that parents say are unacceptable.
In San Francisco, many parents learned their children will be taught in the classroom by teachers working remotely. They are calling it "Zoom in a Room." Across the U.S., what it means to be back in school looks very different from one state to the next. California's governor has declared a return to business as usual in June but it's unclear what that means for schools.
San Diego Unified reopened in-person learning opportunities on Monday. It’s a blended online and in-person model. Families that still want to be online full-time have that choice. About 27 percent of students decided to stay learning online full time.
WATCH: Schools across San Diego welcome back students under hybrid models