It is not likely Colorado students will return to the classroom to carry out the remainder of the academic year in person, Gov. Jared Polis said during a Wednesday news conference on the latest impacts of the global coronavirus pandemic on the state.

“While it’s possible that schools may return this year, it’s increasingly unlikely,” Polis said during the news conference, also mentioning an emergency childcare program being formed to help the 80,000 workers in essential jobs such as first responders and health care workers who have young children.

“We want to make sure that just because in-person learning is suspended” that education continues online, Polis added.

The governor has not ordered Colorado’s schools to close, but scores of districts across the state have temporarily halted classes in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. The state teacher’s union has called on the rest of Colorado’s districts to follow suit.

While Jeffco Public Schools embarked on its second day of online learning Wednesday, other districts such as Denver Public Schools took their extended spring break to plan for a future of remote learning.

DPS has yet to announce an official end of in-person teaching for the year. On Monday, Superintendent Susana Cordova said the district was preparing to teach remotely, looking into a number of options including a partnership with public television and utilization of smartphones to try to reach children without access to computers or internet at home.

Lisa Sigler, a parent of two juniors at Denver’s South High School, hoped remote learning would begin sooner rather than later.

“I see the toll it’s taking on my kids,” Sigler said. “They are very stressed, very bored and need something to do, and walking around the neighborhood with the dogs only goes so far. I think it would really be better for the kids to be able to focus on something other than Snapchat and people calling this the end of the world and them going on social media and seeing everyone freaking out. They need to be focused on school and learning and continuing their education and homework. … It’s not just continuing school, which is very important, but this is about their mental health, as well. I really don’t think we should stop learning because some kids can’t connect to the internet.”

DPS’s website offers daily schedules and lesson plan ideas for kids at home, separated by grade levels. The website also connects family to free wifi hosted by Xfinity.

Staff Writer Alex Burness contributed to this report.

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