South San Francisco Unified delays start of school year until August 17

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KTVU) - South San Francisco Unified School District on Monday announced that it has pushed back the start of the school year from Aug. 12 to the 17th. 

“The health and well-being of our students and staff are a top priority at SSFUSD. That is why we have made the decision as a district to delay the start of school and to start the year off with all students in distance learning on August 17,” said Superintendent Dr. Shawnterra Moore. 

The superintendent said this initial phase of distance learning could last for three weeks or longer, depending on public health conditions.
 
"If conditions improve, and health indicators start to move in the right direction, we would start transitioning to phase 2, where only the district's most vulnerable students would be invited back to campus for in-person instruction or support," said Dr. Moore. "Everyone else would remain in distance learning." 

Phase 2 could also last for three weeks or more, depending on health conditions. 
 
"We would only move to phase 3, if things continue to get better, and we start to see significant declines in the number of COVID-19 cases in the county along with a decrease in the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 over time,” she said.
 
In phase 3 of the district's reopening plan, students in transitional kindergarten through twelfth grade would be allowed to return to school, but only with the consent of their parents. 
 
The district said those students would be split into two cohorts. Each cohort would then attend classes in-person on alternating schedules two days a week and learn from home three days a week.