HAYWARD (KPIX) — After a week of remote learning due to COVID concerns, the Hayward Unified School District resumed in-person instruction on Tuesday.
“We just didn’t feel like we had sufficient staff to maintain a safe learning environment in our schools last week,” said district spokesperson Dionicia Ramos. “We did not transition to virtual learning because of student exposure – we still feel the risk of transmission in school is actually fairly low. It was really the issue of staffing shortages and testing shortages.”
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Ramos explained on the Friday before last week, they had 81 uncovered classrooms with 365 staff members out. As the district headed into this new week, she says they were in a much better position.
“As of yesterday at 5:00, the outlook for today was that we would only have 33 uncovered classes. That’s a much more manageable number,” Ramos said.
She says the district has implemented new safety measures which should help keep the schools safe for students and staff.
“We are providing N95 masks to all of our staff, and we’re providing surgical masks to students,” she said.
The district has also expanded its testing capabilities for staff, which is the biggest gamechanger, according to Ramos.
“We had staff who were ready to come back, who were feeling great, but maybe were awaiting test results that were delayed, or couldn’t get an appointment to get a test,” she said. “We’ve added additional testing to eliminate that issue, and that allows us to eliminate our staffing shortage issue.”
Ramos explained the district will soon expand testing capabilities for its elementary schools as well.
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“Right now in our school district, any student who is 12 or older that is not vaccinated does need to test weekly. So, we’ll be bringing that mandate to the 5-11 year olds soon,” she said. “Soon, we’ll provide another vendor that will give elementary students the ability to test weekly.”
KPIX 5 spoke with a few families at dismissal on Tuesday to get their assessment of the first day back in the classrooms.
“I feel like they should take a little bit more time to make sure this variant that everybody is catching really easily has gotten past its peak, and I know we’re not there yet,” said Dena Kondas, who has two grandchildren who attend HUSD schools. “I’m not really thrilled about it myself, I don’t feel it’s safe.”
Gabriela Chavez, who has 4 kids at HUSD schools, says she’s a bit uncomfortable with the situation – but decided to bring her kids back to school on Tuesday.
“It is a little scary,” she said. “I think that everyone is just crossing their fingers and hoping for the best.”
Julian Alvarez, a 6th grader, told KPIX 5 it felt like a normal day, but he was a bit nervous at the same time.
“Pretty nervous, but at the same time, it was fun because I got to talk to my friends,” he said. “A lot of people didn’t show up to school. So, I know they were probably scared to come.”
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The district is monitoring staffing numbers on a daily basis, and has plans in place for extra personnel to step in in case they’re needed, according to Ramos.
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