Novato High Schools Welcome Juniors, Seniors Back To Campus

NOVATO, CA — For the first time in almost a year, Novato's three public high schools welcomed juniors and seniors back to campus Monday.

The upperclassmen returned only for limited in-person learning.

But considering the time they’d spent in front of Zoom screens and away from classrooms, that didn’t seem to diminish the moment.

“It is such a great sight to see our students on our campuses again,” Superintendent Kris Cosca said in a statement.

The Novato Union School District's "Flexible In-Person" learning program for high schools began March 1 with Novato, San Marin and Marin Oaks welcoming ninth and tenth graders back to campus.

The schools had been shuttered for nearly a year amid the pandemic.

The reopening followed state guidelines with Marin County moving to the red tier of the state's Blueprint for a Safer Economy, NUSD officials said.

With Marin County moving to the red tier, NUSD officials said they were following the recently updated Reentry Plan.

Ninth and 10th grade NUSD students returned to campus on March 1, 7th and 8th graders returned Feb. 22. TK-6 students started returning to campus on Oct. 26.

“We’re really excited to see all our high school students on campus,” Cosca said.

“The end of this week will mark one year since schools in Marin transitioned to remote learning. A year ago, we thought we would be in remote learning for 3-4 weeks, it turned out to be 7-12 months depending on the grade level.”