PUSD reopens for all K-6 Graders

But superintendent says changes aren’t that great

Porterville Unified School District has reopened to all kindergarten through sixth grade students of families who choose to have their children return to the classroom.

But PUSD superintendent Nate Nelson said the fact that all of the district’s elementary schools are now reopened hasn’t really created much of a change to what the district had already been doing. PUSD has allowed some students to return to school under the “cohort” system in which students can return to the classroom in which smaller class sizes are used.

“That doesn’t change a whole lot of what we’ve been doing,” said Nelson about all of the district’s elementary schools being able to open.

K-6 students at Los Robles, Monte Vista, Santa Fe, Belleview, Roche Avenue, Olive Street, Vandalia, Westfield, West Putnam and John J. Doyle Schools can now return in a hybrid system in which they continue distance learning in the mornings and receive in-person learning in the classroom four days a week.

All K-6 students will also have the chance to return to in-person learning in the Burton School District, beginning on Monday.

Nelson continues to say the district is looking forward to when Tulare County has a COVID-10 case rate of 7 or less per 100,000 residents over a 7-day period. That’s when all K-12 students can return to the classroom with far less restrictions.

As of Thursday, Tulare County’s unofficial, preliminary case rate was 12.9 per 100,000. “We’re going in the right direction,” Nelson said. “It’s heartening to see.”