In-person instruction for transitional kindergarten through fifth grade is set to begin in Long Beach in late March, a timeline which will give all teachers and school staff the chance to be vaccinated with both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, officials announced Wednesday.
The tentative schedule is a phased in approach to in-person education with transitional kindergarten and elementary students expected to return on March 29 on a hybrid schedule. The Long Beach Unified School District, the fourth largest in the state, had planned to start offering in-person classes in January but pushed that schedule back because of surging coronavirus cases.
“For the first time since March 13, 2020 the adjusted COVID case rate permit us to plan for the phasing in of students for in-person instruction,” Superintendent Jill Baker said at Wednesday night’s school board meeting.
Parents will still be able to choose whether their children remain in online classes or return to campus. According to a parent survey, Baker said the numbers are at about 50% for each category.
Staff and students who return to campuses will go through a daily health screening, students will be required to wear a face covering, students’ desks will be six feet apart from each other and students will be required to stay with their cohort of classmates and teachers to limit their interactions with others, Baker said during a February video message.
Teachers will be allowed back into their classrooms on March 22 to give them time to prepare for the return of students and to get familiar with new safety protocols.
“We are planning for better days ahead,” Baker said.
Long Beach has its own health department and has been giving out the vaccines separate from Los Angeles County.
Baker said under the city’s educator vaccination program, 3,600 school district employees have been given the opportunity to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This week, 1,600 employees will have the option to get vaccinated.
“That is not happening across this country. We are at a rare moment where you can see a city that comes together around education. A city that values students and teachers, and has taken that value into its plan,” Baker said. “Many other cities have abandoned the opportunity to vaccinate educators as part of their front line workers.”
The reopening plan was also acknowledged Wednesday night by Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia in a tweet.
Los Angeles County reached the threshold where coronavirus cases dropped low enough to allow for immediate in-person school instruction on Feb. 16. However, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner said more work needs to be done before school doors can reopen and welcome students back in safely, including having all teachers vaccinated beforehand.
Beutner offered his support for Long Beach’s reopening plan in a tweet on Thursday morning.
“Mayor Garcia, thanks for making schools a real priority. This should be happening in Los Angeles,” Beutner tweeted.
The Long Beach Unified School District is home to about 72,000 students and 12,000 employees.
