Schools Plan Reopening For All Students In Laguna Beach

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — Superintendent Jason Viloria has presented guidelines toward reopening secondary Laguna Beach schools to all students at a recent school board meeting.

Laguna Beach Unified School District had planned a full reopening as of Thanksgiving week until the second coronavirus shutdown was put into place. As the county and southern California remained in the Purple Tier, middle and high school students remained distance learning.

During Thursday's school district meeting, as reported by the Daily Pilot, Viloria stated the school district was ready to reopen in November "so we're ready now," he said. "We'll continue to do what we need to do to ensure it's a safe place for students."

In order to reopen, Orange County would need to be in the red tier for five consistent days, or have an "adjusted daily case rate average between four and seven cases per 100,000 residents," according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Meanwhile, at Laguna Beach High School, sports are starting to return, the Pilot reports. Cross Country is back to competition while sports is slowly returning with some teams holding "workouts."

The return for the arts, clubs, and other electives will be "separate from sports programs," according to Viloria. Guidance from the state is needed before those activities can restart.

Since the pandemic began, 767 residents in Laguna Beach have contracted coronavirus and under five total residents have died due to the disease.