Dear Friend --

A message from the Long Beach Unified School District:

When the new school year resumes on Sept. 1, classes in the Long Beach Unified School District will remain entirely online, at least through Oct. 5, due to the recent spike in coronavirus cases in Southern California. 

The school district continues to plan for in-person instruction and related safety measures for some point in the future. This week’s decision to start the school year online only was made after close consultation with local health officials, including Dr. Anissa Davis, health officer for Long Beach Health and Human Services, as well as Dr. Barbara Ferrer, health officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Health.

“The virus currently rages on in our community, and we’ll need to continue to do our best to protect our children, our teachers and the many important people who make school function and who educate our children,” Ferrer said during a news conference yesterday.

Though LBUSD had hoped to allow parents to choose from all online or a combination of online and in-person learning on Sept. 1, those plans are now on hold in favor of all online instruction for all students. For parents, this now means they no longer are required to select a learning option for their child, at least for the first weeks of school. During the campus closures, LBUSD will continue to offer childcare services as planned through its Child Development and Head Start centers, with all required precautions in place.

LBUSD continues to work with the teachers’ association and other employee groups, as well as with local health officials on the best ways to continue teaching and learning while ensuring that health and safety remain our top priorities. The school district will continue to communicate through various means in the coming days and weeks, including via the school district’s website at lbschools.net, individual school websites, email, text, phone messages and social media.

Visit lbschools.net/coronavirus for the latest updates.