'We should not prepare to bring our children back into the school setting': Calif. Gov Newsom

Oakland students and families carry out grab and go meals prepared by the cafeteria staff in the Oakland High School cafeteria on March 19th, 2020. Schools in the district are closed due to shelter-in-place orders due to the the COVID-19 coronavirus. less Oakland students and families carry out grab and go meals prepared by the cafeteria staff in the Oakland High School cafeteria on March 19th, 2020. Schools in the district are closed due to shelter-in-place ... more Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close 'We should not prepare to bring our children back into the school setting': Calif. Gov Newsom 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

California Gov. Gavin Newsom confirmed Wednesday children across the state will unlikely be returning to school before the end of the academic year.

"We should not prepare to bring our children back into the school setting," Newsom said, and instead school districts should be focused on improving and enhancing distance learning.

Based on the modeling showing the virus peaking in coming weeks, he said, the right thing to do for children and schools is to increase class time through distance learning and not physically on school sites.

"Schools are closed but classes are in," he said.

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond echoed Newsom's statement and said he's advising districts "to proceed as if we can only educate our kids through distance learning through the remainder of the school year."

"We believe it is most important that schools maximize their efforts around distance learning," Thurmond said. "We know this is difficult. We have to rise to the challenge."

"Quite frankly, none of us knows when it’s safe enough for our students to return to campus,” he added

To improve families' access to distance learning and address the digital divide, Newsom announced a partnership with Google and the Mountain View-based tech company has committed to providing 4,000 Chromebooks to California students and free wi-fi to 100,000 rural households.

Newsom said he hoped more companies like Google would step up to offer additional assistance to improve distance learning for the state's children. Read more about the state's partnership with Google.

A father of four children, Newsom gave a shout out to parents and particularly moms across the state who are stepping in to help with at-home schooling.

“Moms are already carrying a disproportionate amount of weight in the household,” he said. “As someone who is trying to homeschool their children, trust me, I know how difficult it is.”

School campuses across California closed in March to stop the spread of coronavirus. Originally, schools planned to reopen until April and then many districts pushed the closure until May 4 to meet the rules of the shelter-in-place orders that were extended into May. Now, it's unlikely that children will return to school campuses until the 2020-21 academic year.

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Amy Graff is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.