LAUSD students finally back in their classrooms
61 elementary schools, 11 early education campuses open more than 400 days after closure
More than a year after abruptly shuttering campuses in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the nation’s second-largest school district is embarking on a new chapter by reopening its first schools this week.
Sixty-one elementary schools and 11 early education centers kicked things off by welcoming some of Los Angeles Unified’s youngest learners to campus Tuesday. For some, it had been more than 400 days since they last stepped foot in a school building. For others, it was their first time in a classroom.
“Having them back around others their age is so important for their wellbeing. It may only be a few hours a day, but it beats being stuck at home.” — Scott Jones, Catskill Elementary parent
With safety at the top of everyone’s mind, signs of the new normal for schools amid a pandemic were evident everywhere on campuses: plexiglass shields along office countertops, protocol lists posted on bulletin boards and colorful banners reminding students to stay 6 feet apart and to keep their masks on.
Desks were set strategically apart in classrooms. Stations usually accommodating two students bore “do not sit here” signs on one side. Play structures were taped off to prevent, well, students playing on them.
Superintendent Austin Beutner, who started his day at Heliotrope Avenue Elementary School in Maywood, joked that the reopening of schools was “an overnight success 404 days in the making.” He visited four more school sites.
“None of us could have known … when we closed school facilities to keep all in the school community safe, that it would take more than a year to be able to bring students and staff back to school safely,” he said during a news conference at Heliotrope. “But it’s on that foundation that the path to recovery will begin here today.”
As of Friday, 39% of elementary students, 25% of middle school students and 17% of high schoolers districtwide were expected to return to campus this month.
Beutner called the approximately 40% return rate for elementary schools “a tremendous start,” but stressed that the goal is to get more students back into the classroom.
“The school that’s open without all children here isn’t our goal,” he said, noting that return rates among schools range from about 30% to 90%, depending on the community. Lowerincome communities that have been hardest hit by the pandemic are more hesitant to send their children back out of fear that they’ll bring the coronavirus home to a multigenerational household, Beutner said.
The district plans to phase in its school reopenings over the next three weeks. Students in preschool through the first grade returned Tuesday at 72 select sites, with second and third graders scheduled to return today, followed by fourth and fifth graders on Thursday.
An additional 508 elementary and early education sites also will reopen on a staggered schedule next week, followed by a similar rollout for 262 middle and high schools the week of April 26.
Asked why it took the nation’s second-largest district longer to reopen than other districts in surrounding areas, Beutner said LAUSD wanted to have all school employees vaccinated first and that communities such as Long Beach were able to start vaccinating sooner. The district also wanted to wait for infection rates to drop, he said.
“I’m proud we stood alongside our labor partners throughout this and did this the right way,” he said. “We didn’t have school staff marching with coffins in front of schools like New York; we didn’t have a strike like Chicago (almost) did. Because we felt it was critical to make sure our educators understood that school buildings would be safe.”
The district has upgraded classrooms with MERV 13 air filters — considered to be as effective as N95 masks — and will have air circulating at all times. It has installed hand sanitizer or handwashing stations throughout campus, doubled its custodial staff and will adhere to a 6-foot distancing policy in classrooms.
It also is requiring everyone to wear a mask and for students and staff on campus to be tested for the coronavirus a week before they arrive on campus and weekly thereafter. Students and staff must also answer daily health questions to screen for any symptoms.
Some parents have taken issue with the district’s 6-foot distancing policy and weekly COVID-19 testing mandate, including one group that’s suing the district over its school reopening plans.
Although fewer than half of all LAUSD students are returning to campus this month, many who did Tuesday were brimming with enthusiasm.
At Crestwood Street Elementary in Rancho Palos Verdes, 5-year-old Emry Mendez, wearing a “Goodbye Zoom” mask, shouted “Yay! Yay! Yay!” while jumping up and down outside the campus as her mom, Samantha Jeter, snapped her photo standing next to a school sign before class started.
“She’s so excited,” Jeter said.
At Harding Street Elementary in Sylmar, Principal Laura Fuentes said she walked into a kindergarten class when she heard a student whooping, “I am so happy!”
When she asked him why, he said, “because I’m back in school!”
It wasn’t just students who were excited to return, either.
“Our teachers haven’t seen each other in so long, it almost feels like a class reunion,” said Suzanne Zopatti, principal of Catskill Elementary in Carson.
At Brainard Avenue Elementary in Lake View Terrace, Principal Victor Yzaguirre bubbled with enthusiasm. Having kids on campus was the thing he missed most.
“When I became an educator, it was always about the kids. It’s just been empty without them,” he said.
Tuesday, the halls at Brainard were certainly not silent.
“I want to go now!” one student at the back of a line bellowed impatiently after learning that each class would take turns using the restroom, while students maintain social distancing.
Speaking of adapting to a new environment, Tuesday was a day of multiple firsts for 5-year-old Annalyn Stotler. She never attended preschool, so kindergarten was truly her first day of in-person learning. And, she was assigned to a new teacher whom she had not met when her parents opted to have her learn in person rather than remain virtual.
But her parents, Chelsea and Erick Gonzalez, said they had shared stories with Annalyn about their own memories of school to get her amped and said their daughter seemed particularly excited about getting to experience “cafeteria food.”
By day’s end, some parents were feeling good about their decision to send their children back.
“It seems like today went great,” Catskill Elementary parent Scott Jones said. “My son was happy to be back with his friends and not stuck in front of the computer.
“Having them back around others their age is so important for their wellbeing. It may only be a few hours a day, but it beats being stuck at home.”