Conejo Valley Unified Students Return To High School Campuses

THOUSAND OAKS (CBSLA) - High schools have had to fight especially hard to bring back in-person learning because of the safety concerns raised by changing classes.

So while young children in Ventura County's Conejo Valley Unified came back in November, high school students had to wait until Monday.

A total of about 3,600 students returned to Westlake as well as Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks high schools.

The school's principal says safety protocols and infrastructure upgrades are in place, and many of the districts teachers have started getting vaccinated.

"We're going to have about a third of our student population on campus in the morning, and another third in the afternoon, and then we have a third of students who chose to keep learning remotely," said principal Jason Branham.

This week, LA County will continue pushing to get all its educators vaccinated. Teachers say the majority of its members do not want to return until all teachers have the opportunity to get both shots.

Cheer coach John Lopez is waiting for a vaccination appointment. He tells us he'll take every precaution possible to avoid returning to learning and cheering on Zoom.

"We're such a tight-knit group, so for us not to be together really meant an adjustment," he said.