School closures extended to mid-April for Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley districts

Students in school districts across Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley will be out of their classrooms longer than originally hoped as part of efforts to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Closure of the Huntington Beach Union High School District‘s nine campuses will be extended through April 17, the district announced Wednesday evening.

“We will evaluate this fluid situation in the coming weeks and extend the closure if necessary,” Supt. Clint Harwick said in a statement.

The district said the extension of campus closures was prompted by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s news conference Tuesday, in which he said schools were unlikely to open before the end of the school year.

Huntington Beach Union’s statement said officials held an emergency meeting about extending the closures and how to continue caring for students and staff at the district’s six comprehensive high schools and three alternative education schools.

The Fountain Valley, Ocean View and Huntington Beach City school districts also announced their campus closures would continue through April 17.

All four districts previously anticipated the closures lasting through March 27.

All are working on plans for alternative instructions.

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Coronavirus threat prompts Newport-Mesa, Laguna Beach, H.B. and F.V. schools to shut down classrooms

Newport-Mesa Unified students won’t see the inside of their classrooms until at least April 13, Laguna Beach Unified students at least through April 3, the district boards decided Friday.

March 13, 2020

“[Wednesday] we were informed by the California Department of Education that Gov. Newsom was speaking as a parent — not in his capacity as governor — and that his intent was just to encourage people to begin thinking about long-term planning in regard to COVID-19,” Ocean View Supt. Carol Hansen said in a statement to the district community.

The Newport-Mesa and Laguna Beach unified school districts said their plans to keep campuses closed through April 3 haven’t changed, though both are monitoring the situation.

Spring break for both districts is scheduled to start April 6.

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