PUSD welcomes back 7-12 graders

Also begins full day schedule for K-6 grades

With the hustle and bustle of students arriving on campus and walking down the halls, it was almost like the first day of a brand new school year for the Porterville Unified School District (PUSD) as students returned back to their respective PUSD campuses on Monday morning.

Porterville High School (PHS) Principal Jose Vadez was at one of six entrance points on Monday morning, greeting students as they approached for their temperature check. When asked how PHS has modified the campus in order to follow CDC guidelines, Valdez said temperature checks happen for each student upon arrival, desks are spread out to follow social distancing, and classrooms are equipped with plexiglass barriers to keep students and staff safe.

“At the end we are really stressing social distancing and students wearing face masks at all times,” said Valdez. “In the classrooms we’re social distancing. Our teachers spent last week preparing the classrooms to allow for the spacing.”

Valdez also explained teachers are keeping track of when students leave and return to their classrooms for a bathroom break. PHS is doing this in order to keep track of students who may come in con

tact with each other in the restrooms. If one of those students tests positive for COVID through tracking the school can then notify the other students who may have come into contact with the student who tests positive.

Valdez stated roughly 40 percent of PHS students returned back to campus, while the remaining student body chose to continue distance learning. PHS students who chose to return to campus will work on the following schedule; Monday and Thursday are for periods 1, 2

and 3, while Tuesday and Friday are for periods 4, 5, and 6. All students will participate in distance learning on Wednesday. On-campus students will be released at 11:20 a.m., and those students will join students who opted to remain at home to participate in distance learning in the afternoons of each week day.

Kindergarten through sixth grade students at all PUSD elementary schools also returned to a full-day in-person learning schedule on Monday. Students of families who have chosen to send their kids back to school are now in the classroom on a fullday schedule four days a week in the district’s

elementary schools.

K-6 students are attending school from 8 a.m to 2:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday remains a distance learning day for all students.

The district is also providing supervision and academic support for students who need it at elementary schools until 5:30 p.m.

“It was great to see kids back,” said PUSD superintendent Nate Nelson about 7th through 12th graders returning.

Nelson said the first day of school for 7th through 12th graders went well. “So far, so good,” he said. “Just real excited to see kids in class.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PORTERVILL UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT Top is the Porterville Unified School District’s full-day schedule for in-person learning for K-6 graders at its elementary schools. Bottom is the district’s hybrid schedule for in-person and distance learning for 7-12 graders at its middle and high schools.

RECORDER PHOTO BY ALEXIS ESPINOZA Safety precautions, like plexiglass barriers, are implemented in PHS classrooms. Ms. Vielma’s class receives a run down of the new safety protocols for PHS students on Monday morning.