Thousands of young students who have spent the last year learning from home in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic finally arrived to their first day of in-person classes on Monday, making the Long Beach Unified School District the largest in the state to welcome students back to classrooms.
School district officials said 14,000 students in transitional kindergarten through fifth grade were welcomed back to their classrooms on Monday on a hybrid schedule. Under this type of model, students will spend about 2.5 hours at school each day, five days a week. The remainder of each school day will be finished at home where students will complete their studies on an independent schedule.
“It’s the moment we have all been waiting for,” Superintendent Jill Baker said on Twitter, describing the vibe at Alvarado Elementary School in Signal Hill on Monday as “alive with energy and excitement.”
The school environment will likely feel quite different for some for the students who have returned to campuses. Teachers and students must wear masks at all times, social distancing is required, staff and students’ temperatures are being taken upon their arrival and parents must answer health screening questions at the start of each school day. Despite the added layers of required COVID-19 protocols, students said being back at school was much better than being on Zoom.
“The best part was to be with all my friends and actually see them,” one girl told KTLA after her first in-person school morning Monday.
In a series of photos posted on Twitter, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said the LBUSD is now the largest public school system in California to reopen school campuses.
Long Beach, which has its own health department, has administered COVID-19 vaccines separate from Los Angeles County. Because of the city’s educator vaccination program, thousands of school employees were given the opportunity to receive the COVID-19 shots.
“This is possible because we vaccinated all of teachers and school staff early. Everyone on this site has received both of their vaccinations, ” Mayor Robert Garcia told KLTA after greeting students at Alvarado Elementary.
Aside from the students who are on the hybrid schedule, 16,000 students will remain on all-virtual learning from home.
“To all the parents and kids still in virtual learning, we love you and support you also as you finish the semester,” Garcia added.
Students in middle and high schools are scheduled to be back to in-person learning on a hybrid model in April. High school seniors will return to school on April 19, grades sixth through eighth on April 20 and grades 9 to 11 on April 26.
The Long Beach school district is made up of 70,000 students and is the the fourth largest in California.