Culver City Observer -

Students in the Culver City School District will not be able to attend school for in-person education next month.

At a special session last week, the CC Board of Education voted to start the school year using only distance learning in the light of the recent spike in Covid-19 cases.

With the board action, the local district joins a growing number of districts across the state that will resume online-only classes on August 18. Students will continue to learn at home as they did for the final months of the last school year.

"I know this is a disappointment to some parents and students, but our goal continues to focus on bringing our students and staff safely back to school campuses, and we don't believe that is possible given the recent and continuing spike in COVID-19 cases," Culver City School District Superintendent Leslie Lockhart said at the board meeting. "But I want to assure parents and students that distance learning in the fall will not be the same as distance learning at the outset of the pandemic in March."

The district had spent months of evaluating options, exploring hybrid plans that would include both distance and in-person learning models, and monitoring outbreak numbers from the County Department of Public Health and came to the conclusion that it would be prudent to keep students off-campus to open the school year, school officials said.

"We are committed to providing the best learning environment possible given these unprecedented times," Lockhart said. "We are looking especially at providing targeted intervention services for our most vulnerable students and families who need extra help and additional services during this time. We want to make sure all of Culver City's children continue to learn to the best of their ability even though we will be starting the year online and not in the classroom."

The superintendent continued that the 'return-to-school process changes daily. "Truly, agility and our ability to be nimble in the face of constantly changing circumstances will be the key as we move forward...We know these are difficult times, but we will get through them."