The Wise School in Bel-Air temporarily closed its campus starting Thursday after revealing a parent is “likely to be diagnosed” with COVID-19, while other school systems across Southern California transitioned to remote teaching.
The private Bel-Air elementary school did not reveal the identity of the parent due to privacy constraints but did post the following information:
- The parent has not been on the campus in the past two weeks;
- No member of the household was present at the Purim Carnival or subsequent events on campus;
- The Los Angeles Department of Public Health, in addition to advice we have received from medical experts, have not recommended that any other students or families at Wise School self-quarantine in response to this incident.
The school said it would keep families informed if there was a need for anyone to self-quarantine in the future.
The La Cañada Unified School District announced Thursday night that classes were canceled starting Friday, March 13, through Monday, March 23. While students were told not to report to campus Friday, teachers would go to prepare material to send home “via distance learning,” the district wrote on Facebook.
There are currently no coronavirus cases associated with LCUSD.
“Please know that the determination was not made lightly and we recognize that it will introduce some hardships for many of our families,” the system wrote in a statement, adding that administrators would provide regulars updates given the “rapidly changing nature of coronavirus outbreak.”
The Las Virgenes Unified School District said teachers will be working with students to prepare for remote teaching. All schools in the district will then close on March 16 and 17 to prepare the teachers and to test technology in case the decision is made to close schools.
The district also said it will be suspending all events through at least March 27.
A number of other private schools, including The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica and Harvard-Westlake would close their campuses over coronavirus concerns.
The Webb Schools in Claremont will be closing its campus and suspending in-person classes starting Thursday afternoon. Online classes will begin on March 20, according to an online announcement.
Harvard-Westlake is also halting its sports program and said that one parent was being tested for the virus, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Los Angeles Unified School District announced Wednesday that all large student and staff gatherings have been canceled.
All LAUSD schools are currently open, but student competitions and sporting events will continue without spectators, the Times reported.
More than a dozen Southern California colleges, including UCLA and USC, have suspended on-campus classes.
