Elk Grove Unified School District students won’t start school again until August

Elk Grove Unified School District pushed its first day of school to August, so that all students and staff concerned over the coronavirus pandemic would no longer return to their classrooms in mid-July.

The decision was unanimously approved at the district board meeting Tuesday night. The decision largely affects students who attend schools with year-round schedules, where students attend classes for three months and take one month off.

Students on tracks B, C and D will begin school Aug. 3 instead of July 16. Students on track A will begin school Aug. 24

Students on the traditional calendar, which includes 60 percent of the district and all high school students, will begin school Aug. 13.

Many families called for the school district to reopen schools in the fall during virtual public comment at Tuesday’s meeting. Some parents called for better communication about the educational options that will be offered to students in the fall.

The Sacramento County Office of Education and the state released guidelines for school districts to consider when they reopen, but school districts have not yet publicly announced implementation of those changes. Elk Grove Unified created teams of school officials to work on meeting the guidelines to reopen in the fall.

Other significant changes in the calendar include a spring break that is set in place rather than subject to change, as Easter changes every year.

The 2021-22 school year calendar has not been changed as of Wednesday, so some students will begin their school year in July in 2021.

In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom said some schools may reopen as early as July. Those decisions are largely dependent on how the state has continued to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and labor negotiations between school districts and teachers unions.

Elk Grove Unified worked closed with its teachers union to rework the calendar before it was approved by the board, district spokeswoman Xanthi Pinkerton said.

Elk Grove Unified is the fifth-largest school district in California and serves more than 62,000 students at nearly 70 schools. It was one the first schools in the state to physically close its doors when the concerns over the coronavirus began to spread through the state.