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Softening his earlier stance, President Donald Trump on Thursday acknowledged that some schools may need to delay their reopening this fall as the coronavirus continues to surge. It marks a shift from Trump’s previous demand for a full reopening of the nation’s schools. Speaking at a White House news conference, Trump said districts in some virus hot spots “may need to delay reopening for a few weeks.” He said the decision will fall to governors. (Binkley, 7/23)

President Donald Trump is still demanding schools reopen, even after nixing his Republican National Convention keynote events in Florida next month. The president argued Thursday that "a permanent shutdown was never the strategy, which would ultimately lead to greater mortality and irreversible harm." The prosperity of the U.S. economy hinges on children returning to school in person this fall, he contended, noting that the Council of Economic Advisers has estimated more than 5 million parents won't be able to go back to work if their kids don't return to campus. (Quilantan and Miranda Ollstein, 7/23)

San Francisco officials are readying an unprecedented educational assistance program for the fall meant to help up to 6,000 children with their distance-learning needs, as parents and students confront the reality of starting the school year without classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting in September, dozens of recreation facilities, libraries and community centers across the city will be transformed into “learning hubs,” spaces where young students who may struggle with remote instruction can go each day to access their digital classwork and the social interactions that virtual schooling cannot provide. (Fracassa, 7/23)

Alka Tripathy-Lang’s 5-year-old son is supposed to start kindergarten this fall, but her district in suburban Phoenix has already delayed its start and announced that classes, when they do start, will be online for at least the first couple of weeks. What those lessons will look like is unclear, as are details about how much parental involvement will be required, and how or when the school is going to implement the dual immersion Mandarin program her son is supposed to begin. Tripathy-Lang’s current plan is to start him in an online-only option, but if it’s not working, she’ll pull him out to be home with her 3-year-old, who she and her husband have already decided not to send to preschool this year. (Sohn, 7/23)