Los Angeles Unified School District is loosening some of its coronavirus protocols for students in the new year.
Although students 12 and older will have to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by January 10, 2022 to attend school in-person, here’s what is changing:
Instead of weekly COVID-19 tests for all students, LAUSD will only require unvaccinated kids to continue regular weekly testing. And if that applies to your family, you don’t have to worry about tests over the winter break. L.A. Unified isn’t starting tests until the first week of the spring semester.
If a student has had a confirmed exposure, instead of getting sent out of the classroom to quarantine at home, they can stay in school while wearing a mask in what the district is calling “in-school quarantine.” The idea is that kids miss less in-person instruction because secondary transmission while masked appears to be low among students.
Finally, if at least 85% of students in a school are fully vaccinated, they will not have to wear masks outdoors anymore. In the classroom and anywhere else indoors, everyone has to keep masks on regardless of vaccination status.
Students 12 and over who are not vaccinated by the January 10 deadline are being offered online instruction. All others will either need to be fully vaccinated or received a valid medical exemption to take classes on campus next semester.
Kids under 12 are encouraged to get vaccinated, so LAUSD plans to make those shots available on site at schools. But they will not be required to get vaccinated to attend class in person.
As of November 15, all LAUSD teachers and staff are already required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
