Santa Clara County Office of Education, health department push to keep schools open
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Santa Clara County Office of Education and the county's public health department released a joint statement Friday night making their case to keep schools open and to not revert to distance learning as the omicron variant surges.
The statement reminds that as of June 30, 2021, school districts can no longer offer remote or virtual learning in lieu of in-person education. That was the date the distance-learning statute expired in the State of California.
In a video message, Santa Clara County Public Health Director Dr. Sara Cody stressed while times seem uncertain, that it's time we learn to "coexist" with coronavirus.
"The good news is that the cases we are seeing from omicron are milder than previous COVID cases. We have also learned that we need to find ways to coexist and live with COVID. We have learned a lot from the previous two years," Cody said.
County officials argue students learn best among their peers and with access to school resources.
"Keeping our students, staff, and families safe remains our top priority," stated Dr. Mary Ann Dewan, County Superintendent of Schools. "We are working alongside our school districts to protect in-person learning and practice the appropriate safety protocols."
That may not be a convincing argument for teachers who have staged ‘sickouts’ over their safety concerns with school district's COVID protocol. They have asked for adequate PPE in classroom settings such as N95 masks. Health experts have widely urged people to upgrade their masks because the new variant is so contagious.
Still, there is now growing evidence that keeping kids in classrooms is beneficial. A partial dataset released by the California Department of Education on Friday shows student test scores and graduation rates declined during the pandemic.
"Remote learning does not support student mental health, emotional health, and academic well-being the way that in-person learning does," said Dr. Cody.
You can watch Dr. Cody's full comments here.