SAN JOSE – San Jose Unified School District students will not return to classrooms in August, but will instead spend at least the first six weeks of the school year learning from home, Superintendent Nancy Albarrán announced in a letter Thursday night.
The decision follows a survey that found a majority of parents and teachers were in favor of distance learning amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic. The San Jose Teachers Association also announced last week that teachers would not provide in-person instruction.
“Given the current spread of the virus in Santa Clara County, the position of our teachers, and the results of the community survey, San José Unified has concluded that the best possible next step for reopening schools on August 12, 2020 is fully at home learning for all students for at least the first six weeks of the instructional calendar, through October 2, 2020,” Albarrán said.
“This outcome comes with major disappointments,” she continued. “We believe that in-person instruction, even in a limited capacity, is the best way to serve our students. We are gravely concerned about the widening opportunity gap, with our most vulnerable students disproportionately affected by not being able to attend school in person.”
According to the survey, 54 percent of parents – 5,936 of 11,063 – said they would have a student attend school at home on Aug. 12 and 81 percent of teachers – 1,056 of 1,297 – supported at-home instruction. More than 80 percent of all respondents – 10959 of 13,764 – were willing to commit to home instruction for the first half of the school year.
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