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Families Embrace Distance Learning As Schools Could Remain Closed Until Summer

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Could California's schools be closed for the year?

California's State Office of Education Superintendent sent a letter to county superintendents across the state to be prepared for the possibility and to gear up for distance learning in the meantime.

READ MORE: State Superintendent: It Appears Students Won't Return To School Before Summer

Sacramento sixth-grader Fiona Strachan has been out of class for weeks with her school shut down. Her father is ready for some educational direction from Sacramento City Unified School District.

"What I'm looking forward to the most is not being the teacher anymore," Rockie Strachan said. "Because quite frankly I don't have any talent in that department."

The Strachan family received an email from Fiona's teacher last week saying distance learning will begin April 13th across Sacramento City Unified School District.

"I think it's probably not going to be fun," Fiona Strachan said.

Sacramento City Unified's distance learning is beginning as a letter was sent from the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond to county education leaders across the state. The letter reads: "...It appears that our students will not be able to return to school campuses before the end of the school year..."

READ: Coronavirus Update: Placer County Schools Extend Closures Through May 1

Sacramento County's Superintendent of Education David Gordon said the letter is not an order and schools in Sacramento County are scheduled to be closed only until May 1, as of now.

"Whether school will ever re-open again this year is still an open question," Gordon said. "But I think our state superintendent wants to be sure that we're doing the best possible job in the interim."

For the Sacramento City Unified School District, that includes training teachers on distance learning platform Google Classroom and dispersing 20,000 Google Chrome books to students without computers already in their homes.

The new norm - a California without classrooms. And the question, how long could it last?

"It'll just be nice to have a schedule, you know, and some regularity to it," Rockie Strachan said.

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