LAUSD Classes Start Monday Amid A Spike In New Daily Infections Due To Delta Variant
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - As the ongoing challenges of the pandemic continue, Monday is the first day of full-time, in-person learning at Los Angeles Unified School District.
"I'm very anxious. I feel a little bit nervous," Antonieta Garcia said.
Garcia's daughter is going into the fifth grade at LAUSD's Morris K. Hamaski Elementary, where she, like all students, was required to have a negative COVID-19 test to return to campus.
Many schools hosted COVID testing sites as late as Sunday morning and will test students and stuff on campus once a week.
"She just got one on the 12th. So, we just got her results yesterday and they were negative. I'm hoping for the best, that there's not any cases. I told my daughter if there's a case, I'm sorry, but I'm going to pull you out and have you online," Garcia said.
Less than 3% of the district's students opted for online and independent learning. So, most of the more than 600,000 students in the district will be heading to their campuses Monday.
"My kids, they've been apprehensive through this whole thing as well. They feel better that people will be masked and people will be tested on a regular basis," said Lily Liu Chen who has a daughter going into the sixth grade at LAUSD's Mark Twain Middle School.
Chen believes the district has been doing a good job taking all the necessary safety precautions for reopening, including recently mandating - alongside the teacher's union - that all staff show proof of vaccination or get weekly COVID tests.
"That really put my mind at ease, especially I'm sending a kid who is only 11 back into the school system. So, 11, obviously, she doesn't meet the threshold to get vaccinated," Chen said.
Despite the precautionary measures put in place by district officials, the Delta variant has is causing concern among many parents, fears that in-person learning many not last.
"I'm very nervous that we're going to be right back where we were a year and a half ago. I think it would just be really disheartening and a huge blow to our morale as a community if things go that bad again," Chen said.
For its part, the district said says it's put in place many measures to keep both students and staff safe. Each LAUSD school will do weekly COVID testing on campus for everyone, regardless of vaccination status.
