Some Clovis Unified junior high, high school students return for in-person learning
Clovis Unified welcomed back thousands of middle school and high school students for the first time in nearly a year on Tuesday.
CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- Clovis Unified welcomed back thousands of middle school and high school students for the first time in nearly a year on Tuesday.
Campuses were filled with students and teachers later Tuesday morning as the school district begins in-person hybrid instruction for seventh through 12th-grade students.
Around 7,500 junior high and high school students joined about 14,000 elementary school students who have already been learning on campus.
"Really, really exciting. The spirits on our campuses I was on this morning were very high, the staff is just excited to see faces," said CUSD spokesperson Kelly Avants.
RELATED: Small cohorts of students return to Fresno Unified campuses
Clovis Unified initially planned to reopen for seventh through 12th-grade students on January 5, but the date was pushed back due to high COVID-19 numbers in Fresno County.
Administrators say extra precautions were in place to keep students safe, including increased cleaning and COVID-19 safety checks.
"At our large high school campuses, we're looking at 500 to 600 students where we typically have 2,500 students on campus because we've spaced out desks, and we've turned it into a hybrid schedule," said Avants.
Students who arrived on campus were greeted with temperature checks.
Administrators say most classrooms have less than 15 students at a time.
RELATED: More Central Valley schools bring back students for in-person learning this week
"All of my teachers in their classrooms have done a really good job at spacing them out so they are using desks and marking them out with blue tape to mark them off and not let the kids sit there," said Kastner Intermediate Principal May Moua.
The return to in-person instruction comes just days after Governor Gavin Newsom said the state will soon be setting aside 10% of all the first round vaccine doses it receives specifically for teachers and childcare workers.
In Fresno County right now, those 65 and older are first priority to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
"We already have about 750 of our employees who were either over 65 or considered health professionals because of the work that they do on our campuses that were offered the vaccine," said Avants.
While about half of all district families elected to continue with online learning, those students who have decided to return to campus will do so with a hybrid schedule, meaning they attend school in person twice a week and do the rest remotely.
