Santa Ana Unified Schools will remain closed for the rest of the academic school year because of the coronavirus, said Superintendent Jerry Almendarez in a letter Wednesday. The district has been shut down since March 16th because of this crisis. This news comes a couple of weeks after the extension of the temporary closing that was supposed to end on May 1st. 

As parents and teachers wondered if their children and students would really be able to return back to school next month, the district decided it would be best to follow the recommendations from Governor Gavin Newsom, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and Orange County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Al Mijares. 

“It was pretty obvious that [we weren’t] going to be returning back to school this year. The coronavirus is going to take longer to go away, and so I think it’s best that we don’t go back to school given the circumstance of the way things currently are,” said America Rosas (12). 

Now that students are informed that they won’t be returning to school for the rest of the academic year, the list of questions they have has grown longer. 

Many of the main questions students have were answered in the letter. In which, Almendarez mentioned that all end-of-the-year activities are canceled. This includes commencement ceremonies, Grad-Night and Prom. 

Senior Exit interviews were scheduled to take place in either students’ Government/Economics class, or English class when school returned, but as of now, there is no update on how that will change. 

Some things will still not change. SAUSD will continue to serve meals to children with their grab and go meal service, and as of right now, all work assigned after the closure will be counted as enrichment. This means that work is not mandatory and will not negatively affect students’ grades. Nevertheless, students are encouraged to work on assignments as these assignments can only boost their grades.

Senior, Josue Cambara says, “Students that need to improve their grades should take advantage of the fact that their grade is only going to go up right now, and not look at it as if they don’t need to do it.”  This is one of the many dilemmas that students are placing themselves in. 

With the end of the school year coming to a fast, and unexpected ending, students have about a month and a half to try their best to finish the year strong.