Monday marked the first day of school for hundreds of students in San Diego as the San Diego Unified School District returned to online learning.
Back to school used to mean rushing through the door to drive children to their schools before the bell rings, but these days, it means hopping on a laptop for SDUSD students to log in for virtual learning.
“I don’t feel that great about not going back to school,” said India Zubiller, an SDUSD student. “I’m going to miss my friends.”
The coronavirus pandemic forced schools nationwide to shut down during the last term in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Spring semesters were primarily held behind the screen, and schools helped students obtain tools like laptops and Wi-Fi hot spots to participate in the online curriculum.
While SDUSD will continue with virtual learning methods, some schools in the region are anticipating a return to traditional in-person learning.
The Cajon Valley Unified School District will be giving its schools the green light to reopen for in-person instruction beginning on Tuesday.
“I think we’re all ready to move on and progress,” said Sarah Becker, whose children go to school in the East County district. She told NBC 7 that her kids will participate in hybrid learning, in which they’ll be in class for two days of the week and online from home for three days.
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“I have a lot of faith and I trust the school on how they are doing it,” Becker said.
All schools were expected to be given permission Tuesday to return to in-person instruction as the county reached two weeks of virus cases below the state-calculate case rate. The ultimate decision in returning to class is up to each district, however.
SDUSD already said it will stick to virtual learning until it satisfies the stricter guidelines it imposed. County public health officer Dr. Wilma Wooten told public and private school administrators that she expected schools to stay open in the future even if the region lands on the state watch list again. However, she said schools would once again close if the case rate becomes “astronomically high.”
