The Los Angeles Unified School District is entering the second phase of its return-to-campus plan.
On Tuesday, most of LAUSD’s elementary and early education campuses began reopening to students for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit — another milestone in efforts to restore some normalcy in California’s K-12 education system.
The first phase of LAUSD's plan rolled out last week, when about 10% of the district’s elementary and early education campuses welcomed preschool and elementary grades back to campuses, as Superintendent Austin Beutner noted on Monday:
“The joy on the faces of students, staff and families — evident even from behind their masks — made the previous 411 days feel like a distant memory, if only for a moment.”
During last week’s reopenings, some 30,000 LAUSD students got an invitation to return to campus. After this week is over, about 244,000 district students will have the option to spend at least part of their day in a classroom.
That said, LAUSD expects most students to continue their lessons online. At the elementary level, less than half of the district’s parents have said their students will return to campuses. (In neighborhoods where the pandemic has hit hardest, parents are even more reluctant.)
The district’s preschoolers, kindergarteners and first graders come back on Tuesday. On Wednesday, second and third graders return. On Thursday, the oldest elementary grades return (Grades 4-5 on some campuses; Grades 4-6 on others).
