Six Bay Area counties extend school closures until May 1

A message board outside of Brookside Elementary school is covered over with signs announcing the school is closed on March 17, 2020 in San Anselmo, California. Six Bay Area counties have decided to extend school closures to May 1. less A message board outside of Brookside Elementary school is covered over with signs announcing the school is closed on March 17, 2020 in San Anselmo, California. Six Bay Area counties have decided to extend ... more Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Six Bay Area counties extend school closures until May 1 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, six Bay Area counties are extending school closures until May 1.

In Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, schools will reopen on Monday, May 4.

If further extensions become necessary, counties will make decisions and announcements at the appropriate time.

The State of California requires schools to offer 180 days of instruction and many families may be wondering if days will be added onto the end of the school year, if and when schools reopen.

"Just because schools are physically closed, doesn’t mean that the learning has stopped," Kindra Britt with the California Department of Education said in a statement. "The situation that we are in right now is not considered a closure in terms of school days, but just a physical closure of the school itself."

Britt added: "They certainly can add days of instruction if they want to. They have the local control to do that."

Read the statement on the extended school closure from San Francisco Unified School District.

See the statement from Santa Clara Unified.

Find the statement from the Alameda County Office of Education.

Read the statement from the Marin County Office of Education.

See the statement from San Mateo County Schools.

Find the statement from Contra Costa County Schools.

This story was updated on March 25, 2020, at 3:35 p.m.

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:

Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here.

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