The Major School Districts That Will Remain Online-Only This Fall

As August crawls forward, the nation’s school districts are weighing in on the unprecedented dilemma facing teachers, parents, and administrators this summer: To return to campus for the academic and social benefit of students (and the economic relief of working parents), or begin the school year with remote learning, protecting teachers’ and students’ lives and slowing the spread of the unmanaged pandemic.

Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has endorsed a return to in-person learning, several of the county’s largest school districts have decided to begin the school year with remote-learning only. Others, like New York City, have opted for “blended learning” — a combination of online classes and live instruction — while others still, like Miami-Dade County and Houston are delaying the return to campus until October, with remote-learning in the coming weeks. With the coronavirus still raging in most states in the country, below are the major school districts that will remain remote-only for the next few months.

Chicago

The nation’s third-largest school district will announce on Wednesday that students will remain at home this semester, according to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times. Prior to this week, the district planned a to follow a hybrid model, with students in classes two days per week. Following pressure from the Chicago Teachers Union, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office rescinded the plan to return kids to classrooms. A source who spoke with the Sun-Times said that it would be unlikely that classes would return “at least for the first quarter,” which ends in early November.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/08/los-angeles-and-san-diego-schools-will-begin-the-year-online.html