San Diego judge rules to block enforcement of school closures

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 5:25 PM PT – Friday, March 19, 2021

A Southern California judge said that her ruling in a local lawsuit to reopen schools applies to districts statewide.

San Diego County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Freeland clarified Wednesday that her ruling, which blocks California from enforcing pandemic based school closures, applies to all school districts in the state.

FILE – In this Feb. 18, 2021, file photo, Clarendon Alternative Elementary School fourth-grader Ayla Einhorn worked on her computer at Midtown Terrace Playground in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

The Parent Association of North County San Diego filed the lawsuit against state officials closing schools. Freeland granted them and six other districts a temporary restraining order preventing enforcement of several pandemic rules, which the association alleged kept schools from reopening for in-person learning.

“The judge really indicated that there is a fundamental right to education, which we’ve always contended that there’s a constitutional right in the California constitution to an education, and that that wasn’t being met in this case, that distance learning does not meet the requirements,” Scott Davidson, a member of the Parent Association said.

A follow-up hearing is scheduled for March 31 to determine if the rest of California’s school districts can fully reopen.

Schools were told to bring their plans to reopen as close to full-time as they are able to do so safely.

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