More and more schools in San Diego County are slowly expected to reopen soon after nearly a year of closures due to the pandemic and the latest districts to update their plans are Encinitas Union School District (EUSD) and La Mesa-Spring Valley School District (LMSVSD).
In a letter to parents sent on Tuesday, Encinitas Union announced K-6 grade students will have will expand from two days of in-person learning per week to five starting April 12, just after students’ spring break. Those students’ in-person schedule will be 8 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The move comes as a downward trend of coronavirus cases in the region seem optimistic, with San Diego County’s current virus case rate at 15. It would need a case rate of less than 7 to shift back to the state’s less restrictive red tier.
“It seems evident that the red tier is imminent and rather than waiting for that particular marker, we felt strongly that all trends and date point to a safe return to five days per week when all necessary adjustments for changes in guidance for 4 feet distancing between student desks are met,” EUSD said in its letter.
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Also on Tuesday, LMSVSD’s school board members voted 4-1 in approval of Superintendent David Feliciano’s push to reopen the district’s classrooms.
Citing new California Department of Public Health guidelines that state preschool to 6th grade students can return to school if their respective counties’ case rates fall below 25 for five straight days, the superintendent urged the board to approve the district’s reopening plan.
“It is necessary for the Board to approve the district’s school reopening plan and determine a reopening date (or timeline) for preschool through 6th grade,” Feliciano said in his push.
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Under the district’s reopening plan, K-6 students would continue learning remotely via Zoom in the mornings and in cohorts split into two groups, and would attend school in person about twice a week. The hybrid model will begin April 19.
The move comes after San Diego Unified School District, California’s second-largest school district, announced all grade levels will return to in-person learning on April 12.
