Milpitas Unified schools are moving to online learning until mid-January

Falling in line with other Bay Area school districts forced to close schools after facing staffing shortages, low test availability and high COVID-19 case rates this week, Milpitas schools will move classes back online temporarily for most students starting Monday until mid-January.

The Milpitas Unified School District’s Board of Education voted Thursday night to send kids back to virtual learning until Jan. 18. The school board hopes the timeframe will give students enough time to quarantine for 10 days at home if they are sick from the virus and return to school healthy.

“This week we have had an exorbitant number of positive student and staff cases, resulting in an even higher number of students and staff placed in quarantine,” a letter to the school community from the superintendent’s office reads. “Given the number of cases, the possibility of being in close contact with a positive case has increased.”

The district is also facing a teacher and staffing shortage. The district had 167 substitute teacher positions and 107 support staff positions go unfilled this week, requiring administrative staff to cover classes in place of teachers who stayed home.

In Oakland, an organized teacher sick-out Friday caused the Oakland Unified School district to close at least 11 schools for the day. The teachers are demanding better safety measures for students, staff and teachers, and are calling for the district to hold online classes rather than in-person classes for two weeks.

In Milpitas, parents will need to sign a contract for independent study to allow their children to attend school virtually while campuses are closed. The district is also allowing parents who must work, or whose households have inadequate internet connection, the option of sending their kids to school, where they will join class virtually on laptops provided by the district. All students enrolled in the in-person option will be supervised, said Scott Forstner, a spokesman for the district.

West Contra Costa schools and some private and charter schools are also closing temporarily, and others around the Bay Area are scrambling to keep classrooms open amid testing and staffing shortages.