Councilmember Garry Bredefeld addressing what he sees as government overreach and on the re-opening of non-essential businesses in this April 2020 file photo.

Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld Wednesday announced his intention to place an agenda item for the next city council meeting to initiate a lawsuit against Fresno Unified School District.

The purpose of the suit, according to a media release by Bredefeld’s office, is to require District schools to immediately allow students to return in-class instruction. The reason, Bredefeld said, is that students are not receiving the proper education they need, while lower income families are falling behind.

“Many are depressed, anxious and socially isolated,” Bredefeld’s statement said. “Suicide amongst high school children has spiked.”

Bredefeld also cited the recommendation of the Centers of Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics that in-class instruction should resume with proper safety guidelines put in place.

“We want to validate that we all want to be back on campus with our Fresno Unified family, but our return must be done safely based on our local Covid-19 situation,” said Vanessa Ramirez, public information officer for FUSD. “As of yesterday, Fresno County is at a case rate of 30.3 and these rates are still higher than before we left for Winter break when we had to shut down some academic and athletic small cohorts on campuses due to COVID-19 exposures.”

Fresno City Council Vice President Nelson Esparza says the suit will not be considered and intends to remove Bredefeld from the Council’s education committee.

“We all want schools to reopen, but this obviously isn’t the way to do it,” Esparza said. “ Right now, we need to trust our public health experts and education leaders as we move toward their established school reopening plan that puts the health and safety of students, staff, and faculty first.”