Bay Area school districts ready for return to in-person learning despite COVID-19 Delta variant
"We want our kids back in-person full time for instruction," Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
DUBLIN, Calif. (KGO) -- As the COVID-19 Delta variant continues to spread, some are already asking if schools should consider planning once again for hybrid learning.
School districts like Dublin Unified are aware of the concerns around the Delta variant. After months of preparing to reopen, they are confident schools will reopen on Aug. 16 for in-person learning.
"We've learned so much from the last 15 months that we can create the layered mitigation to keep our students and our staff safe," explained Chris Funk, superintendent of Dublin Unified.
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Dublin will allow parents to tour the schools to ensure classrooms are safe. All students and staff must wear a mask when classes begin.
The San Francisco Unified School District says it's planning for a full return and issued a statement saying, "We will continue to monitor updates and follow public health guidance."
Both the governor and the legislature have made it clear there is no going back to distance learning the way we saw during the pandemic and that model will not be funded by the state.
"We want our kids back in-person full time for instruction," said Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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If they're not, the district will not collect the Average Daily Attendance money, known as ADA.
"We're back to the traditional ADA collection so students need to be in school and in seats to collect that ADA," added Superintendent Funk.
Dublin will offer independent study for those with health issues that would put them at risk if they would return in-person. But so far only 200 out of 13,000 students there have signed up.
West Contra Costa Unified School District says it will do the same.
"We really don't want this to be a COVID strategy where parents are looking at this because they are afraid of COVID. What we're saying with we want everyone to come back in person," said Chris Hurst, West Contra Costa Unified superintendent.
In the meantime, West Contra Costa Unified wants to ensure that all eligible students are vaccinated.
On Monday, they offered a vaccination drive ahead of the school year.
VIDEO: UC to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for all students, faculty, staff for fall term
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