Faced with the same reality, California’s West
Contra Costa Unified School District is planning
a new K-12 Virtual Academy for 2021-22.
“One thing that we have learned during the
pandemic is that teaching and learning is now
different, and it will not fully be what we used to
think was `normal’ ever again,” read the January
agenda item before the Board of Education.
The pivot to distance learning last march has
proved a lifeline for the education system, but
concerns have grown with each passing month
about the effects on racial inequities, students’
academic performance, attendance and their
overall well being.
In Durham, North Carolina, schools — which has
been fully remote since March — announced
last month that it would remain that way
through the end of the current academic year.
Beyond that, Sudderth said, “the prevalence of the
disease will determine what we are able to do.”
The guideline for whether the 32,000-student
district could move from remote to hybrid
learning in January was a testing positivity rate
below 4%. But it’s unclear whether that metric or
others that until now have been set by states or
districts will hold.
Biden, in an early executive order, directed
his education secretary to provide “evidence-
based guidance” and advice to schools to safely
conduct in-person learning.
“I’m hoping that we don’t have to do hybrid, but
I don’t want to be in a position where we haven’t
thought it all through,” said Eva Moskowitz,
whose 47 Success Academy Charter Schools
enroll 20,000 students in New York City.