Horace Mann Elementary School in Beverly Hills is one of the campuses that has received approval to reopen. Beverly Hills Unified School District officials said more steps must be taken before reopening occurs. (photo courtesy of the BHUSD)

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced on Feb. 16 that elementary schools serving students in transitional kindergarten through sixth grade can reopen for in-person instruction if they follow strict protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The news came as public health officials said the case rate in Los Angeles County meets state requirements for the reopening of schools. The county’s adjusted case rate remained under 25 new cases per 100,000 people for five consecutive days, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported on Feb. 16. Students in transitional kindergarten through sixth grade are permitted for onsite learning if campuses are in full compliance with state and county directives including mask wearing and distancing, as well as many other requirements.

Schools are required to submit a plan and receive approval from the county before reopening. COVID-19 safety plans must adhere to state laws governing virus safety in workplaces. Administrators are also required to consult with labor, parent and community organizations regarding reopening plans. The rules for reopening can be viewed by visiting publichealth.lacounty.gov.

Once individual schools are allowed to reopen, each classroom must form a stable group with fixed membership and they may not mix with other groups, according to county directives. All onsite school activities must occur within the same cohort of students and adults. The size of classroom groups will vary depending on maintaining that  students and adults can remain six feet apart in a given room.

Schools must also ensure sufficient ventilation in classrooms and shared spaces and have ventilation systems evaluated by a licensed professional before reopening. Campuses are also required to have a plan that includes symptomatic testing and surveillance testing for the virus. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health will conduct onsite visits to help schools manage outbreaks if they occur. Administrators are required to immediately report clusters of three or more positive cases of COVID-19 occurring within 14 days among students or staff.

It remains up to individual elementary schools and school districts to decide when to reopen for in-person instruction. School districts and individual private schools are also encouraged to continue offering virtual educational instruction because some parents may not be comfortable sending children back to school, county health department officials said.

“While we remain attentive to the potential for outbreaks in schools, the data both nationally and here in L.A. County indicate that schools are not high-risk settings in terms of transmission of COVID-19 as long as they are following safety requirements and protocols,” Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said. “It is important to understand that, when cases increase overall in L.A. County, this has a ripple effect on cases of COVID-19 among staff and students in our schools. It is clear that in order to keep schools open and our students and school staff safe, we as a community must work to keep transmission across the county as low as possible.”

Middle school and high school reopening will not be permitted until the county’s case rate drops below seven per 100,000 people.

Schools had been able to apply for waivers that allow campuses to reopen prior to the announcement on Feb. 16. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported that 12 school districts, including the Los Angeles Unified School District and Beverly Hills Unified School District, have submitted COVID-19 safety plans and are approved to reopen. The county also reported that 173 private or charter schools have received approval to reopen.

LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner has stated that teachers, administrators and school staff must receive COVID-19 vaccinations before in-person instruction resumes. On Feb. 11, Beutner joined 60 community organizations in sending a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda Solis, 1st District, asking that vaccinations be made immediately available for teachers and school staff. The superintendent said safety comes first.

“As difficult as the decision was to close school classrooms, reopening is even harder. We must balance the learning needs of students, the support we provide to working families and the responsibility to protect the health and safety of all in the school community,” Beutner said in a statement on Feb. 17. “We cannot – and will not – compromise on health and safety.”

Beutner was also critical of the county’s numbers regarding case rates, stating that they represent an average over a wide area outside LAUSD territory and that they may not accurately reflect the rates where LAUSD students live.

“There were headlines this week when Los Angeles County announced that the state threshold for reopening elementary schools – an adjusted rate of 25 cases per 100,000 people – had been reached,” Beutner said in the statement. “But in a county as large as Los Angeles, what does that number mean? Take a closer look and one finds that the average L.A. adjusted case rate of 20 includes communities like La Canada with a case level of less than two and a median household income of $175,000. Those are not the families Los Angeles Unified serves. In the communities we serve, 80% of the families live in poverty, more than 80% of families are Black and Latino and the rates of infection are significantly higher.”

Beutner estimated that approximately 25,000 LAUSD school staff members will need to be vaccinated.

“Vaccinating 25,000 people will allow us to reopen elementary school classrooms for 250,000 children and help their half-million-plus family members start on the path to recovery and allow many of them to go back to work,” Beutner added.

The Beverly Hills Unified School District has received approval for the reopening of Horace Mann Elementary School, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s website. The school district is working on plans for reopening, which include sending forms to parents asking if they want their children to return for in-person instruction, Superintendent Michael Bregy said in an online statement to BHUSD families and staff. Parents will have the option to continue with at-home instruction.

Tabulating the results from the questionnaire will help guide specific plans for staffing and other factors associated with the resumption of in-person classes, Bregy said. Other steps that must also be accomplished before BHUSD schools reopen include consulting with labor partners and giving a 10-day notice for staff to return.

Some private schools in the local community are in the process of formulating plans for reopening, while others have already reopened after implementing safety measures and receiving waivers.

Stratford School’s campus in Hollywood has reopened with strict health and safety measures in place for in-person instruction. (photo by Edwin Folven)

Stratford School, a private campus on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, welcomed students back on Dec. 7. The school serves 30 students in pre-kindergarten through second grade, Head of School Candi Schreuders said.

“We got the waiver because we have a small campus and are able to stay in small groups,” Schreuders added. “We have to follow strict guidelines and make sure we stay in small cohorts. The biggest challenge has been keeping small children 6 feet away from each other, but we have lots of space and have been able to do it. We are doing great and haven’t had any big problems.”

Pilgrim School, an independent, co-educational college preparatory campus at 540 S. Commonwealth Ave., has also reopened with small chorts of early education through sixth grade students, said Marissa Viramontes, director of admissions and marketing.