Las Virgenes Welcomes Back 4th and 5th Graders To Campus

AGOURA HILLS, CA —Las Virgenes Unified School District was the first LA County public school district to welcome back students in the fall, and now it is one of the first to welcome back fourth and fifth graders. On Monday, the district said it was "thrilled" to welcome back the 1,400 new students.

With this newest return, LVUSD will have 3,600 of its 10,500 students back on campus. Some sixth graders are also being welcomed back, but only if they are in elementary school. That means that only sixth graders at the Mariposa School for Global Education, a Waldorf-inspired K-8 school in Agoura Hills, can return Monday. Students in grades 6-12 can return once the county reaches an adjusted case rate of seven per 100,000, according to Superintendent Dr. Dan Stepenosky.

The school obtained a waiver to welcome back special needs students and students in grades TK-2 in October, and welcomed back third graders in November. Thanks to an investment of $1.8 million in stringent health and safety regulations and personal protective equipment like infrared wellness-screening scanners, sanitizing systems for regular deep cleans, face shields, plexiglass, and more, Stepenosky said the school has not had any COVID transmissions so far.

Students are in a hybrid schedule with morning and afternoon cohorts, separated by a mid-day cleaning. At the beginning of the day, parents fill out a health screening form that they must show to staff before their student can enter the building. At a designated campus entry point, students pass through a scanner showing that they do not have a temperature. During the day, one student can go to the bathroom at a time, and this is monitored by a staff attendant. They get a playground break, and all equipment is sprayed down after use. School personnel move throughout campus sanitizing handles, faucets, and high-touch surfaces, and a team of maintenance staff deep-clean the entire building between cohorts.

Parents who do not feel comfortable sending their students back to campus have the option to keep their children enrolled in the Virtual Learning Academy, a separate school offering a separate, all-virtual curriculum. Still, most LVUSD parents are anxious to return. On Feb. 8, more than 100 students and parents gathered at Chumash Park in Agoura Hills to push for the reopening of all LVUSD campuses.

"“What has been taken from us and what we’ve been asked to sacrifice is beyond comprehension,” said Agoura High senior Grace Teague. “We didn’t get to play our sports, rage at our last homecoming, dress up for Halloween. We didn’t get to celebrate each other’s birthdays or exchange holiday gifts."

Two days later, the LVUSD Board of Education approved a resolution calling for the reopening of campuses, given the relatively low number of COVID-19 cases in the community. Calabasas currently counts 1142 cases and 29 deaths, while Agoura Hills has had 978 cases and 17 deaths. By comparison, nearby Canoga Park counts 9,004 cases and 149 deaths.

Monday is also the first day that educators and school staff under 65 who are not involved in health services can get vaccinated. Though some teachers may be anxious about returning before they are vaccinated, they will still need to apply to go on leave if they do not feel comfortable returning. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently said that California is setting aside 10 percent of its weekly allotment of vaccine doses for education workers. Nearby Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District reached a deal with Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica to prioritize vaccines for teachers who will be on campus March 15, when the district will reopen to TK-5 students.