San Diego Educators Call on County and State Public Health Authorities to Close Our Schools

After consulting with the educators on the SDEA Board of Directors, and discussing current COVID-19 response plans with District leadership, I believe that now is the time to close our schools to protect the health of students, staff, and the broader community. We call on the County and State Health Officials to allow SDUSD to temporarily cease regular operations.

As educators, we understand the connection between the health and well-being of our students and the health and well-being of their families and communities. The science of COVID-19 is clear: the best way to protect the communities we serve is to limit the opportunities for this virus to spread. Closing schools would be an important step towards protecting our students, their families and their communities from the COVID-19 threat.

Many of our students depend on our schools for regular meals, even before accounting for the hardships our communities are facing due to lost income from the growing crisis. As we respond to this crisis, we must ensure that there is access to food for our students who depend on our school system for their basic nutrition. We call on the State, County, City, and School leadership to set up safe food distribution systems for our students.

The only way to keep our communities safe is for the County and State to act now.