News Update

Newsom lays out possible changes for schools as he lays out parameters for loosening stay at home order

While Gov. Newsom said it’s too early to say when stay at home orders can be lifted throughout the state, he described a vision for the future when schools and businesses may reopen.

Comparing the end of restrictions to a “dimmer switch,” Newsom said he anticipated changes would have to be made in schools and businesses to prevent new surges of the coronavirus in the future. For example, he said schools may need to stagger start and end times for specific groups of students, to limit the numbers of students eating meals together or attending assemblies, and to ensure physical distance of 6 feet apart between students during activities such as physical education classes and recess.

He stressed during his daily news briefing that he has been having conversations with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and others about new protocols and procedures that may be put into place when children return to schools in the summer or fall. He noted that Californians are flattening the curve by staying at home and said that if current progress continues, he may be able to talk in two weeks about how the state could begin to loosen stay at home restrictions.

He said school districts would need to work with their unions to figure out how to meet physical distancing goals and to possibly expand distance learning opportunities. Newsom also said schools, playgrounds and parks would need to be deep-cleaned, including common areas such as swings and benches, to ensure that students don’t come home and infect their grandmas and grandpas with the coronavirus.