Elementary schoolers in Malibu will officially head back to in-person school on April 12, according to a joint press release from Dr. Mark Kelly, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s assistant superintendent of human resources, and Sarah Braff, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association.
“On April 12, elementary schools will implement a five-day school week with students attending school on-site/in-person four days per week and engaged in one day of synchronous/asynchronous learning,” the statement said.
It cited “rapidly improved case rates, the availability of vaccinations for educators and changes to the reopening protocols for schools” as reasons for the district and union agreeing to move to in-person learning sooner than they had originally planned.
The statement said that local SMMUSD principals will communicate to parents the specifics of the return to in-person learning. School day schedules will remain similar to what they were pre-pandemic, the union agreement stated; for example, a school that used to be in-person from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. before the pandemic hit might return on April 12 with minimally adjusted hours, such as from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Another stipulation of the union agreement is that the district will contract with an industrial hygienist to assess HVAC upgrades and ventilation and will implement a system for reporting COVID-safety protocol violations and concerns.
The statement said SMMUSD would continue to allow students who want to remain learning completely from home to do so.