California’s school closure debate boils over By MACKENZIE MAYS and KATY MURPHY 11/18/2020 07:27 PM EST Updated 11/18/2020 10:12 PM EST 2020-11-18T10:12-0500 SACRAMENTO — Pandemic politics have reached a boiling point in California’s school reopening debate. A hands-off approach by Democratic Gov.
Gavin Newsom and public pressure from powerful labor unions has led the state’s biggest city districts to keep schools shuttered, leaving most of California’s 6 million public schoolchildren learning at home. Even San Francisco, which has had one of the lowest infection rates for any U.S. city, hasn’t attempted in-person teaching
. As the pandemic wears on, more Democrats are sounding the alarm after staying silent earlier this fall. They are increasingly distressed that California’s approach has widened the gap between low-income communities of color and wealthier white families.
Frustrations hit a new level in October, when Newsom said his own children had returned to private school in Sacramento — while public school students in the surrounding neighborhoods remained home. Now leaders in the governor’s own party are turning on him, saying the status quo […]
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