California Governor, Gavin Newsom, announced schools will remain closed for the rest of the academic school year of 2019-20. 

As the number of coronavirus patients that are hospitalized and those in the ICU rapidly increases, it leads to the constant reminder of the urgent need to keep people healthy. “It’s incumbent on all of us to utilize this time thoughtfully and judiciously and what I mean by that, is continue to practice safe physical distancing,” Newsom said. 

Governor Newsom also stated that he and the superintendent of schools will keep up with their responsibility of making sure children are receiving free food from schools. 

A new waiver has been passed by the federal government to increase access for food distribution throughout public schools in the state. State officials, alongside Newsom, foresaw that there would be many issues to be resolved through the biggest school system out of all the states known as California’s, therefore they worked toward the Management Labor Agreement. 

The Management Labor Agreement is a comprehensive agreement that allows protocols, procedures, and processes to work through the differences amongst the schools and serve the needs of different schools. This agreement will help get through any obstacles in order to advance distancing learning from home. 

With this agreement, the state has been allowed to work in partnership with Google to provide a minimum of three free months of access to high-quality internet for children of public schools throughout the state of California. In addition, Google will also be providing thousands of chromebooks to those who cannot afford a laptop to do schoolwork. 

Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmand stated there is now professional learning and training on how to teach distance learning for teachers and educators. Thurmand announces that the SAT test will not be needed for admission into schools in hopes to relieve stress on students. 

“The department of education will continue to provide support to any district that needs it as it relates to distance learning,” Thurmand said. As for colleges State Board of Education, Linda Darling-Hammond, announced a joint statement that will be issued for solutions on challenges college admissions will face.