Downey schools to remain closed until May 5

DOWNEY - Downey Unified School District announced on Monday that student dismissal will continue through May 5.

DUSD students have remained home since the Board of Education voted to put in-class education on hold starting March 16, doing so in direct response to the coronavirus emergency.

Originally, it was planned that students would return at the beginning of next week. However, the board’s most recent vote will see DUSD follow in the footsteps of Los Angeles County Unified, which announced that it’s schools would remain closed until May 1 earlier that same day.

The school’s meal distribution program will stay in place through the closure, except for during Spring Break, which will occur from April 13-17.

The District also announced that all state testing had been canceled per the state of California, however all Advanced Placement examinations will continue in more of an online format.

In a video announcing the changes, Superintendent Dr. John Garcia addressed the senior class directly.

“Guys, we’re thinking of you,” said Garcia. “We know that you’ve been looking forward to this your entire educational career and I want you to know that we feel that, we feel you. We’ll continue to work with our high school principals, high school teachers to figure out what it is we can do.”

“We don’t know what the future is going to look like, especially as it gets deeper into April and May. As we start the beginning of May we know that that is the last few weeks of your senior year; we know that there are a lot of activities. We’re going to continue to work on what it is we can do… We want to figure something out and we’re going to work really hard to do that.”