SLO County’s largest school district to continue distance learning through rest of school year

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. -- Students in the Lucia Mar Unified School District will continue distance learning through the remainder of the school year.

The Lucia Mar Board of Education made the decision at a meeting held Tuesday night.

"It was a hard decision to come to," said Superintendent Andy Stenson. "We've seen this coming. There have been multiple indications from the state that this is where things are going statewide. We came to the conclusion that it was time to declare that for the school year at this time."

In a letter sent out to parents Wednesday morning, the district stated the resumption of school in a normal fashion could not be accomplished safely under current social distancing guidelines.   

The email said in part, "Given the complex nature of maintaining social distancing requirements in the school setting, and in an effort to protect the health of our students, staff, and the broader community, the Board of Education provided direction to the Superintendent to cancel in-person instruction for the remainder of the 19-20 school year."

The Board determined key aspects of schooling, including bus transportation, classroom seating, cafeteria service, etc. could not be held under current statewide physical distancing parameter measures

It added the Board of Education has requested that district staff begin to prepare for the likelihood of distance leanring continuing through summer school.

With the district now set to continue instruction exclusively online, it is also beginning to formulate alternate plans for end-of-the year activities, including graduation.

"We feel incredibly sad for our seniors," said Stenson. "There really is no way to replicate the end of the senior year from a distance perspective. We are sending out to our senior students and senior parents a survey to find out what kind of alternative graduation ceremony they would like. We're going to do our best to honor those kids, but I can't say it's going to be the same as having 4,000 people in a football stadium cheering for kids."

The survey was emailed on Wednesday afternoon.

"We're really proud of the survey because we're really going to let the students and the parents drive a lot of this," said Stenson. "Safety is the number one concern, obviously, so whatever we do, we'll have to observe social distancing."

Stenson added some alternative plans are already being vetted, including a drive through ceremony or a virtual event.

However, he wasn't optimistic an online ceremony would take place.

"From what I'm hearing from my counterparts in other districts and at the college level, it appears as students do not have a strong appetite for the virtual idea," said Stenson.

Free food service for students will continue Monday through Friday at designated district campus locations.

Lucia Mar is now