The California Supreme Court has rejected a petition filed by two children’s advocacy groups to require the Los Angeles Unified School District to partially reopen schools for in-person instruction for students experiencing the greatest need.

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday did not issue a written ruling in denying the petition, which alleged that L.A. Unified was violating state law by not offering in-person instruction “to the greatest extent possible.”

The organizations, the Alliance for Children’s Rights and the Learning Rights Law Center, were seeking to force the district to provide as much in-person instruction as possible under Los Angeles County public health guidelines, which has allowed for small cohorts of up to 25% of a school’s enrollment with safety protocols in place.

The groups filed the petition to the state’s highest court five days after L.A. Unified Supt. Austin Beutner announced the district was shutting down all school campuses for in-person instruction as COVID-19 cases surged in the county. At the time, Beutner said “extraordinary and quite dangerous” infection rates were too high to resume in-person instruction.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.