Newsom Pressures CA Schools: Reopen By Fall

SANTA ROSA, CA — Gov. Gavin Newsom applied pressure to all schools in California on Wednesday, as he spoke from an elementary school in Santa Rosa. His message: to get school doors open for full-time, in-person instruction by fall.

Newsom discussed new guidance released by the state on Wednesday that outlines how school districts can navigate the 2021-22 school year. The report is also a response to "uncertainty about COVID-19 risks" and offers expectations for the coming school year, though it is not a mandate.

"One has to acknowledge the anxiety that many of the parents are feeling, [that] many of the children are feeling...about preparing for in-person instruction," Newsom said. "Particularly as we deal with mutations of this virus..."

Touting a previously signed $6.6 billion package to return kids to Golden State classrooms, the governor confronted overarching fiscal and safety concerns of schools and teachers on reopening.

"The schools have never been more resourced," Newsom said, referring to recent injections of state and federal coronavirus relief packages. "Look, I'm mindful of the stresses that they're under. That's why we put up the money.

"That's why we put up more testing," Newsom continued. "That's why we're doing the vaccination. I prioritize those teachers [and] I got a lot of grief when we did that."

Schools in California will be able to leverage some $4.6 billion to reopen and expand learning opportunities, according to the new guidelines released Wednesday.

State officials also urge schools to launch summer programs and maximize instructional time by extending the school year, offering more tutoring and mental health services for students.

Many of California's children have suffered tremendously during the pandemic, Newsom acknowledged Wednesday.

"So much of school is not just hard academic education. It's about socializing. It's about connecting in an emotional way to others," Newsom said. "There's simply no substitute for [the enrichment] that comes from being in school..."

Families within the state's Latino population have been particularly affected, Newsom added.

"Those parents that have experienced the worst of this pandemic, and that unique trauma and that unique anxiety, as it relates to reopening schools, presents a challenge," Newsom said. "And we must acknowledge that. We must address that. And we must be sensitive to the needs of those parents in particular, in those children in particular."

The Democratic governor, who is fighting an all-but-certain recall election, faces mounting political pressure from state officials and parents to reopen campuses. But he urged on Wednesday that he is doing everything to reopen schools short of forcing in-person instruction to resume.

Because of California's large population and independently elected school boards, Newsom explained mandating schools to reopen could be met with adversity.

"...you have a lot of flexibility. It's designed into the system and so mandates are often not looked upon as favorably as you would like to think," he said. "That said, we anticipate and expect our kids back safely in in-person instruction this fall."

Newsom urged that he sees little risk in reopening campuses.

In the state's new school reopening report, officials maintain that during the summer, experts discovered that children were "not significant vectors" for the virus. Going forward, the report details that schools are equipped with knowledge on how to mitigate transmission by mask-wearing, testing and now, vaccination.

"Look, I understand the uncertainty because we've been in this mindset for a year," he said. "But maybe I see a different future than some are seeing. I see a much brighter future, and I see it happening sooner than people expect."

Earlier this month, Newsom announced that California would reopen its economy by mid-June, a sharp turnaround in optimism as the state leaves its long dark winter coronavirus surge in the rearview mirror.

Although cases remain low in the state and vaccination supply has increased. Newsom acknowledged the loss of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but he maintained that California was still on track to reopening.

"When you're moving with expectation...a new challenge, a new roadblock presents itself," he said. "So we're always mindful of that."

Repeatedly, Newsom has used the "bright light at the end of the tunnel" phrase to motivate Californians through challenging periods during the pandemic. He maintains we're en route to that light, despite warnings from federal officials of a spike in cases seen in other states.

"We're seeing it with the vaccine rates, we're seeing it with the positivity rates," Newsom said. "It's not Michigan. We're not Florida."

Newsom did also address anxiety felt about variants on Wednesday, following the news that the strain first identified in the United Kingdom had become the dominant mutant in the U.S.

"I admit and I acknowledge it's a race against the variants," Newsom said. "In fact, the U.K. variant aside, the biggest variant for us is the West Coast variant."

There are 1,097 cases of the U.K. variant that have been found in the state and more than 12,500 cases of the two West Coast variants, according to Newsom.

"We're mindful...that we have to keep on top of that and we are," he said.

The state has administered more than 23 million vaccine doses, according to Wednesday state data. Newsom assured that more than 30 million people in California would be vaccinated in just a number of weeks, about a third of the population.

California began setting aside 10 percent of its weekly allocation of vaccine doses for teachers and child care workers in late February. On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that nearly 80 percent of school staff and child care workers in the United States had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Coronavirus data in California as of Wednesday

• California has 3,606,882 confirmed cases to date.

• There were 2,487 newly recorded confirmed cases.

• The 7-day positivity rate is 1.7%.

• There have been 56,837,538 tests conducted in California.

• There have been 59,372 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.