LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles Unified School District will open 60 ``Grab & Go'' food centers tomorrow to provide students with meals during the district's coronavirus-prompted closure, while the governor warned that schools across the state may remain shuttered for the rest of the school year.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, speaking in Sacramento, said he did not want to ``mislead'' people into thinking the coronavirus crisis will pass quickly.
``I would plan and assume it is unlikely that many of these schools, few if any, will open before the summer break,'' Newsom said.
In the face of that warning, LAUSD officials will move ahead Wednesday with the opening of its food centers for students.
The district had originally planned to open 40 Family Resource Centers, offering more complete services for families of students, including child care. But Superintendent Austin Beutner said Monday the district was unable to secure needed health and public safety approvals.
``At this time, state and local health and public safety officials cannot assure us it will be safe for the children and adults at the Family Centers for us to provide care for children at these sites,'' Beutner wrote in a statement Monday.
``We are deeply disappointed -- we had an outpouring of support from the community and many thousands of employees signed up to serve at the centers,'' he said. ``But we said from the outset we would only open these if we could be certain it would be safe and appropriate to do so and, unfortunately, health authorities cannot give us that assurance. I cannot ask anyone to work at one of the centers, or open them to children, unless we can be assured of their safety.''
With the Family Resource Centers derailed, the district instead will open the ``Grab & Go'' food centers, which will provide students with two meals. The centers will be open daily from 7 to 10 a.m.
A full list of the center locations is available on the district's website, lausd.net.