Coronavirus Escondido, SD schools update

(Editor’s Note: We will be updating coronavirus information on a regular basis starting today, March 16, 2020. This is not intended as a comprehensive source, but aims to highlight resources and news of interest to the community.)

San Diego County schools closed, student meals continue

The kids, hopefully, will be — apologies to The Who — alright, but they’ll be doing it at home for the near, and possibly not-so-near, future. All of the county’s 42 school districts along with all 49 San Diego County Catholic schools closed on Monday. Most private and charter school were scheduled to close as well, and their students presumably know what to do.

That translates into almost 430,000 public school students and 15,000 parochial school students. They joined the movement of at least 14 states including Oregon, Washington, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico and Ohio as well as the District of Columbia who closed this weekend, according to Edweek.

At least 46,000 schools nationwide are closed or scheduled to close, impacting at least 26 million students, according to EdWeek as of Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. Most of those schools announced closures Friday.

“California has now entered a critical new phase in the fight to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic,” San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten and Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner said in a joint statement.

“There is evidence the virus is already present in the communities we serve, and our efforts now must be aimed at preventing its spread. We believe closing the state’s two largest school districts will make an important contribution to this effort.”

Student meals will continue to be available at Escondido and area schools

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Any student age 2 to 18 can go to any school site providing meals and receive food during this period of school closures due to COVID-19, the San Diego County Office of Education said.

San Diego Unified School District, the second-largest school district in California, announced that eight locations would provide free meals to students.

Daily prepared meals will be provided free of charge, distributed via drive-thru or walk-up by the district’s Food and Nutrition Services department, the district said.

Each child 18 years or younger may take one lunch and one breakfast for the next day, according to the announcement. For every listed district, children must be present to receive meals and all food must be consumed offsite.

Escondido Union Elementary and Escondido Union High school districts will open eight locations to cover breakfast and lunch on weekdays.

• Escondido, Orange Glen, and San Pasqual high schools will be open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for lunch.
• Central, Juniper, and Rock Springs elementary schools, Del Dios Academy, and Mission Middle School will be open from 6 to 8 a.m. for breakfast.

San Marcos Unified School District will provide to-go meals at all schools from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays.

Vista Unified School District will serve meals during the weeks of March 16 and March 23, but will not serve meals during spring break beginning March 30. Meals will be available from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the following locations.

• Roosevelt Middle School – 850 Sagewood Dr., Oceanside, CA 92057
• Vista High School – 1 Panther Way, Vista, CA 92084
• Grapevine Elementary School – 630 Grapevine Rd., Vista, CA 92083
• Rancho Buena Vista High School – 1601 Longhorn Dr., Vista, CA 92081
• Foothill Oak Elementary School – 1370 Oak Dr., Vista, CA 92084
• Boys and Girls Club of Vista – 410 W California Ave., Vista, CA 92083

Oceanside Unified School District will begin offering free to-go meals Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the following locations.

• Oceanside High School – 1 Pirates Cove Way, Oceanside CA 92054
• El Camino High School – 400 Rancho Del Oro Dr., Oceanside, CA 92057
• Mission Elementary – 2100 Mission Ave. Oceanside, CA 92058
• Libby Elementary – 423 W. Redondo Dr., Oceanside, CA 92057

This is not a complete list of every school district in the county. Please check with your local district for the latest.

Click here for the San Diego County Office of Education’s list of meal service sites.

According to The San Diego Union Tribune, this is a list of when school districts will be closed, according to the county education office and school district announcements:

• Alpine Union School District (reopens April 14)
• Bonsall Unified School District (through April 6)
• Borrego Springs Unified School District (through March 27)
• Cajon Valley Union School District (reopens April 20)
• Cardiff School District (through March 27)
• Carlsbad Unified School District (reopens April 6)
• Chula Vista Elementary School District (reopens April 6)
• Coronado Unified School District (reopens April 6)
• Dehesa School District (through April 17)
• Del Mar Union School District
• Encinitas Union School District (reopens April 13)
• Escondido Union Elementary School District (through April 13)
• Escondido Union High School District (reopens April 14)
• Fallbrook Union Elementary School District (reopens April 13)
• Fallbrook Union High School District (through April 10)
• Grossmont Union High School District (through April 10)
• Jamul-Dulzura Union School District (through April 20)
• Julian Union Elementary School District (through April 3)
• Julian Union High School District (through April 3)
• La Mesa-Spring Valley School District (reopens April 13)
• Lakeside Union School District (through April 17)
• Lemon Grove School District (through April 17)
• Mountain Empire Unified School District (reopens April 14)
• National School District (reopens April 6)
• Oceanside Unified School District (through April 10)
• Poway Unified School District (reopens April 6)
• Ramona Unified School District (through March 27)
• Rancho Santa Fe School District
• San Diego County Office of Education schools (through April 3)
• San Diego Unified School District (reopens April 6)
• San Dieguito Union High School District
• San Marcos Unified School District
• San Pasqual Union School District (reopens April 14)
• Santee School District (reopens April 13)
• San Ysidro School District (through April 6 for staff, April 7 for students)
• Solana Beach School District
• South Bay Union School District (reopens April 6)
• Spencer Valley School District (through April 6)
• Sweetwater Union High School District (reopens April 6)
• Vallecitos School District (through April 14)
• Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District
• Vista Unified School District (reopens April 6)
• Warner Unified (through March 27)

Here are charter and private schools confirmed to close, according to the county education office. On top of this list, all of the other 46 charter schools authorized by San Diego Unified School District are closing, according to the local division of the California Charter Schools Association.

• Albert Einstein Academies (through April 10)
• America’s Finest Charter School
• ACES Academy (through April 5)
• AIM High – Mt. Helix Academy (through April 5)
• Aseltine School (through April 12)
• Banyan Tree Foundations Academy – San Diego (through April 5)
• Barona Indian Charter School (through April 17)
• Calvary Christian Academy (through April 3)
• Children’s Workshop (through April 5)
• City Tree Christian School (through April 6)
• Community School of San Diego (through April 5)
• Community School of San Diego High School (through April 5)
• Community Transition Academy (through April 5)
• COOK Education Center (through April 5)
• Diocese of San Diego – all schools
• E3 Civic High School (through April 10)
• Epiphany Prep Charter School (through April 3)
• Escondido Charter High School (through April 13)
• Excelsior Academy (through April 5)
• Gompers Preparatory Academy (reopens April 7)
• Greater San Diego Academy (through April 20)
• Guajome Schools (through April 3)
• Hawking STEAM Charter Schools
• Heritage K-8 Charter High School (through April 13)
• Integrity Charter School (through April 3)
• Kavod Charter School (through April 10)
• Keiller Leadership Academy (through April 10)
• Kidinnu Academy (through April 17)
• KIPP Adelante Preparatory Academy (through April 3)
• MAAC Community Charter School (through April 3)
• Mission Valley Academy (through April 5)
• Museum School
• National University Academy – Dual Language Institute
• NewBridge School
• North County Trade Tech High School (through April 6)
• Oak Grove (through April 5)
• Pacific View Charter School
• River Valley Charter School (through April 17)
• Sam and Rose Stein Education Center (through April 5)
• San Diego Center for Children Academy (through April 5)
• San Diego Global Vision Academy (reopens April 6)
• Sierra Academy of San Diego (through April 13)
• Sierra Springall Academy (through April 13)
• T.E.R.I. Inc. – Learning Academy (through April 5)
• T.E.R.I. Inc. – The Country School (through April 5)
• The Koonings Center
• The Preuss School UC San Diego (through April 6)
• The Winston School
• Urban Discovery (reopens April 6)
• Urban Skills Center (through April 5)