On Thursday April 9, members of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) board sent a letter to Governor John Bel Edwards asking him to consider keeping K-12 public school facilities closed statewide for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year due to coronavirus. Louisiana school superintendents made the same request the day before.

In the letter BESE said since school closures in mid-March, “local districts around the state have pivoted quickly to provide ‘continuity of education’ to all students. It should be noted that Local Education Agency (LEA) Distance Education Plans were never meant to be a solution to such an unprecedented situation; however, more than half our school systems have moved to online learning to some extent, while nearly all have implemented some level of distance learning (online, paper, or some combination) for students.”

Additionally, BESE says “upon the directive to extend closures, LDE can and will immediately focus attention on a long-term plan to address loss of instructional time, as well as a long-term plan for distance learning. With the input from many stakeholders, there is much work to be done—we are ready to focus on solutions for the children of Louisiana and appreciate your leadership during this time.”