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The San Francisco Unified School District announced Thursday afternoon all schools will close for three weeks starting March 16.
The three-week closure includes spring break (scheduled for the week of March 30). During the shutdown, SFUSD leaders and faculty are being told to work on ways to make learning safer during the global pandemic. Faculty will be asked to return to work starting March 23 to help prepare. Students are expected to be welcomed back to school the following week on April 6.
The district serves over 55,000 students.
Students who qualify for free lunches will continue to have access to the program, district officials said. Details on how the food would be served were not immediately available.
Lakeshore Elementary School is already closed; on March 12, four students and a number of adult family members reported having respiratory illness. They were being tested for COVID-19, but at the time of announcement there were no confirmed cases at Lakeshore.
Earlier in the week, SFUSD said it was working to keep public schools open. “We know that this virus has the greatest likelihood of harming elderly people and those with underlying health conditions and chronic illnesses,” wrote SF Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax. “But in children, the illness has been very mild.”
As COVID-19 continues to spread around the Bay Area, schools are closing out of an abundance of caution.
On Tuesday, March 10, the Archdiocese of San Francisco announced all 90 of its Catholic schools in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties would close for two weeks after a student tested positive for COVID-19.
Outside the Bay Area, Northern California’s largest school district, Elk Grove Unified, announced it would close through March 13 after a family in the district tested positive for the virus.
The following schools in the Bay Area have announced closures:
(In most cases, all classes and on campus activities are canceled.)
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