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Education

Only A Handful Of LAUSD Students Will Stay Online, As Most Return To Campus

A sign posted on a chain-link fence reads: "Keeping safe and healthy is everyone's job!"
A sign posted at LAUSD's Euclid Avenue Elementary encourages students and staff to practice social distancing. In the upcoming school year, officials say students and staff will maintain distance whenever possible — but state and county guidelines no longer mandate hard-and-fast social distancing rules.
(
Kyle Stokes
/
LAist
)

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The vast majority of Los Angeles Unified School District students are set to return to campuses for in-person learning when a new school year starts next week.

But 12,542 students — around 3% of LAUSD's students — have opted into an online independent study program, spokesperson Shannon Haber said on Monday afternoon. Families had faced a Friday deadline to sign up.

Unlike last spring, students who select LAUSD's online option will not be taught by teachers at their home school. This semester, parents have to re-enroll their children in another LAUSD school: the district's longstanding independent study program, which is called City of Angels.

The enrollment process involves additional paperwork that parents can access here.

District officials initially set a July 30 deadline for parents to sign up for the online option. But the district gave parents an extra week to signal their interest. Meanwhile, reports were indicating a rise in COVID-19 cases among minors.

That extra week made a difference in enrollment numbers. As of July 28, just under 1,700 students had signed up.

Updated August 9, 2021 at 4:08 PM PDT

This post was updated to reflect a new Monday afternoon count of LAUSD families who have signed up for online independent study instruction.

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