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

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — It appears California students will be learning from home for the rest of the year, according to a statement from the State Superintendent on Tuesday.

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond issued a statement Tuesday saying "it currently appears that our students will not be able to return to school campuses before the end of the school year."

This comes two weeks after Governor Gavin Newsom initially said he believed schools would be closed for the rest of the semester due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Thurmond wrote that schools should plan and prepare for distance learning for the remainder of the year.

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

"This is in no way to suggest that school is over for the year, but rather we should put all efforts into strengthening our delivery of education through distance learning," Thurmond said.

According to Thurmond's statement, the Department of Education is working with schools to make sure distance learning is available to all students.

"We are in unprecedented times, and it's hard to tell what the future holds as we are all doing our best to flatten the curve. From what we know right now, our schools will be closed longer than we originally thought, and it will be best if our schools are prepared for that extension, by having their distance learning models prepared to go until the end of the school year," Thurmond said.

The superintendent will speak more about school closures and distance learning in a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

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