Kids across the Bay Area are eagerly awaiting a return to in-person learning, and for some this could come sooner rather than later. Students in one district could be back in school as soon as Monday.
Amid ongoing disagreements about when schools should reopen, several districts have developed a plan to phase kids back into classroom-based learning. Under the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, schools can reopen once their county has been in the red tier for 5 days. That means four to seven daily new cases per hundred-thousand people, and five to eight percent positive tests.
San Mateo County qualifies. And on Monday, some Kindergarten and first-grade students in its San Carlos Unified School District will begin transitioning to in-person learning.
Schools in San Francisco haven’t set dates for reopening just yet. Under the agreement between the S-F-U-S-D and teachers unions, schools can begin reopening once all teachers have access to vaccines and the city and county are in the red tier, or earlier if the county is in the less restrictive orange tier.
In the East Bay, Berkeley Unified School District agreed to a plan with the city Tuesday that also hinges on vaccine availability for teachers. Pre-K to 2nd graders there could be back in classrooms as early as March 29th.