Long Beach Unified to continue with distance learning through January

Long Beach Unified will continue with online-only learning through at least the end of the current semester, which continues until Jan. 28, Superintendent Jill Baker announced Thursday.

“One of the hardest things about navigating through this pandemic is that we cannot see its end,” Baker said in a video message. “The never-ending feeling is hard on all of us as we try to make decisions in the best interest of our students, while protecting everyone’s health and safety.”

With more than 70,000 students, Long Beach Unified is California’s fourth largest district and the second largest in Los Angeles County. The county’s public health director, Barbara Ferrer, told school leaders Thursday that schools in the county won’t be able to fully reopen for in-person learning until November at the earliest, according to the Los Angeles Times.

However, schools are permitted beginning next week to bring back small groups of students who who are English learners or students who have individualized education plans. Baker said Thursday that Long Beach Unified would “continue to plan for potential phasing in of some student support services and some limited in-class instruction prior to the end of the first semester.”