Oct 21, 2020 - Health

San Francisco public schools likely won't reopen before the end of the year

Orion Rummler

Kids use hand sanitizer while wearing face masks. — Fourth graders wash their hands at Bel Aire Elementary School on Oct. 16 in Tiburon, Calif. Photo: Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

San Francisco public school officials do not anticipate bringing students back into the classroom before the end of the year, partially due to limited coronavirus testing capacity, the San Francisco Examiner reports.

The big picture: Schools that have reopened their doors in the U.S. generally have not experienced large coronavirus outbreaks, an early sign that they may not be the super-spreaders some experts had feared.

What they're saying: “We do not anticipate bringing in students back before the end of the calendar year,” San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Vincent Matthews told the Board of Education on Tuesday, per the Examiner.

“Our hope is that over the next eight weeks we’re going to have [testing] at 100 percent. We’re an educational system that’s been asked to be a testing agency.”

Yes, but: The district, which covers over 100 schools, is continuing its efforts to stock a 3-month supply of PPE and cleaning supplies, training staff on health screenings, figuring out an athletics plan, and building a labor contract.

Small cohorts of students in pre-kindergarten and those with moderate to severe disabilities are scheduled to return to school first.

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San Francisco public schools likely won't reopen before the end of the year

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