Tulare County elementary school defies Newsom order and reopens for in-person classes
A Tulare County elementary school just outside of Visalia opened its doors this week for in-person classes despite the governor’s order that mandates schools in counties with climbing coronavirus cases to stay closed.
Tulare County Department of Public Health is aware that Outside Creek Elementary School is operating and has students on-site, health department spokesperson Carrie Monteiro said in an email to The Bee.
“We are in communications with state authorities and actively reaching out to school officials,” Monteiro said. “Ensuring the health and safety of children, teachers, staff, and all of their families is our top priority.”
Last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all public and private K-12 schools in counties on the state’s monitoring list must stay closed. Counties need to stay off the list for 14 consecutive days before they are eligible to reopen campuses. Tulare County, along with Fresno, Kings, Merced and Madera, have remained on the watch list.
Outside Creek Superintendent Derrick Bravo and Tulare County Schools Superintendent Tim Hire did not respond to requests for comment.
It’s unclear if Outside Creek, which has about 90 students, will be ordered by Tulare County health authorities to shut down, like another school that opened in Fresno County this week.
Immanuel Schools in Reedley opened for in-person classes this week and on Thursday was ordered by Fresno County health officials to shut down. However, the K-12 private Mennonite-faith based school opened again on Friday morning despite the order.
Tulare and Fresno county health officials also put out statements this week announcing they would not be granting waivers to reopen elementary schools, an exception school districts could apply for through the county public health department to reopen elementary schools even if the counties were being monitored by the state.
Outside Creek was the last school in California to stay open back in March when schools started to shut down to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Positive coronavirus cases in Fresno and Tulare counties continue to soar. Tulare County added another 258 cases in its Friday update, but reported no new deaths in the county. Fresno County has seen a daily average of more than 312 new positive cases over the past two week, including 346 reported on Thursday.
Nearly 600 people in the central San Joaquin Valley have died of the virus. The region has seen 143 deaths — an average of 10 deaths each day — this month.
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Read more from The Bee’s Education Lab here.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 2:38 PM.