The La Mesa-Spring Valley School District is postponing its in-person campus reopening date by more than six weeks due to the county’s worsening coronavirus case data and the surge among students at San Diego State University.
The district planned to introduce its hybrid learning model the week of Oct. 12 but has pushed that back to the week of Nov. 30, the beginning of the district’s second trimester.
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“We decided to postpone our reopening date after learning the county would likely be downgraded to Tier 1 on the state COVID-19 tier system,” Superintendent David Feliciano told NBC 7 Thursday.
San Diego County is expected to be moved into the state’s most restrictive purple tier on Sept. 22, due to its rising COVID-19 case rate.
The growing case total among SDSU students was also a factor in the postponement of LMSVSD's plans because many SDSU students live in the district's community and some even work at district schools, Feliciano said.
“SDSU is our community. We felt it was best to err on the side of caution and postpone our reopening date in the hopes that the outbreaks subside,” added Feliciano.
Feliciano said the reopening date could be pushed back again if the county's standing worsens and said improvement won't lead to it being pushed forward.
The district said it will give parents another chance to decide whether they want their children to return to campus when its safe to do so or stay fully virtual.
According to the California Department of Health’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, if a county moves into the state’s purple or “widespread” COVID tier, schools that are already open are not required to close again.
In the purple tier, no new schools will be able to reopen in-person instruction unless it’s TK-6 elementary school that is granted a waiver.
To be eligible to return to the reopening of in-person instruction, San Diego County would need to be out of purple tier for 14 consecutive days.
You can get the latest updates on COVID-19 cases in San Diego County here.
