COVID-19 School Closures by State

Posted on November 30, 2020

COVID-19 has brought difficult decisions for educators, school boards, and parents regarding schools reopening, choosing to send children back to in-person versus a remote or hybrid option, and COVID-19 school closures by state for those schools that did reopen. Pride Surveys took a look at some of the trends across the country and whether schools reopening coincided with an uptick in positive COVID-19 cases.

EdWeek has a helpful up-to-date map that focuses on school opening status by state. To note, some schools fall under local education and public health jurisdiction versus a statewide mandate. A good part of the ambiguity and confusion exists because there is not currently a national tracker to determine the correlation between schools opening and an increase in COVID-19 cases nationwide.

Here are the current COVID-19 school closures by state and statuses for 10 states in the U.S.:

Arkansas

The Education Secretary has ordered schools to be open for in-person learning five days per week.

California

The state is currently under a partial closure. For example, in Los Angeles, officials at the nation’s second-largest school system told the Los Angeles Times campuses most likely will not reopen before January due to a recent rise in COVID-19 cases with San Francisco also planning a partial reopening in January.

Delaware

Delaware is currently under a partial closure order by the state. The governor expanded the state of emergency for 30 days on October 30^th and modified the state’s reopening criteria for schools. During the 2020-2021 school year thus far, schools have been in hybrid remote- and in-person instruction, with the current potential to move to full remote learning should cases continue to rise.

The District of Columbia

The District of Columbia Public Schools initially planned to resume in-person learning for a portion of the students on November 9th but shifted to all students remaining in distance learning until further notice.

Florida

A state emergency order required all schools to open in-person, and that presently remains in effect, though the state is currently averaging more than 3,000 new COVID-19 positive cases per day.

Georgia

Atlanta Public Schools announced that students will most likely not return to in-person learning until January 2021. Part of this decision most likely relates to two Fulton County schools closing within one week of reopening due to positive cases. There is not currently a statewide order, so it remains up to the districts.

Massachusetts

There is not currently a statewide order, but the governor and state education department have requested that all districts prioritize in-person learning for students.

In October, Boston Public Schools announced that they were moving to completely remote learning due to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the city.

New Mexico

New Mexico is currently under a partial school closure order, with elementary schools in counties with low spread approved to open under a hybrid schedule.

New York

In New York City, parents were given the choice and deadline of November 15^th to determine whether to enroll their children in hybrid learning for the remainder of the school year. Schools were abruptly closed on November 19^th and recently just reopened for students with special needs and for younger students.

West Virginia

West Virginia is currently under a statewide partial closure order, with cases and COVID-19 transmission rates evaluated each week to determine the instructional options allowed in each county. Some of the regions within West Virginia are not currently allowed to be open for in-person instruction.

As schools, states, departments of education, districts, and more continue to navigate and modify COVID-19 school closures by state, Pride Surveys is enhancing our survey offerings to support educators, students, and parents. Pride Surveys has created important new surveys designed to identify the COVID-19 Impacts on Students and Teachers, both short and long-term.

We remain committed to consistently providing our community coalition and school colleagues with up-to-date survey data and resources on issues related to COVID-19 and all topics impacting youth.

Should you have questions or be interested in an online or paper survey, please reach out to our team to learn more.

Note: The above information regarding COVID-19 school closures is accurate as of the posting date, November 30, 2020, and is subject to change.

Resources:

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-hub/q-a-detail/q-a-schools-and-covid-19?gclid=Cj0KCQiA7qP9BRCLARIsABDaZzjUTYjegHxNvu1mZ0O1wn8c0cWGcvKzzyImgPdPufbx059N1wDrI3QaAtwQEALw_wcB

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/no-matter-what-governor-says-florida-schools-will-stay-open/2309556/

https://decaturish.com/2020/10/fulton-county-closes-two-schools-within-days-of-returning-to-full-time-in-person-learning/

https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-covid-19-schools-open-closed.html?s_kwcid=AL!6416!3!455874877102!b!!g!!school%20reopenings&gclid=CjwKCAiAtK79BRAIEiwA4OskBkyN8bIjPw5UFv8wnMAjW39VcctifUfCedN2cv7XDGORRF5ZfzpbrRoCDvUQAvD_BwE

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2020/11/09/two-delaware-elementary-schools-close-covid-19-cases-spike-statewide/6221982002/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/nyregion/nyc-schools-reopening.html

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2020/10/29/arizona-schools-chief-governor-odds-over-new-school-closure-guidelines/6076296002/

https://www.wtap.com/2020/11/09/wva-officials-discuss-map-ohio-doctors-discuss-hospitalizations/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/coronavirus-spreading-schools-no-one-tracking-all-outbreaks-n1236964