Across the Oakland Unified School District, teachers are wiping down desks and preparing their classrooms to welcome back students Monday.
"Disinfecting spray, wipes, gloves, anything a student might need," high school art teacher Catie Rice said. "I also have face shields."
The district says out of 36,000 students, 850 students are still sticking to virtual learning.
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"I’m really going to focus on community building in the class, so learning who my students are, decompressing from the last year, because they haven’t been in the classroom for a year," Rice said.
The district is not requiring all teachers to be vaccinated. For those who choose to be unvaccinated, mandatory testing is not required, unless they are potentially exposed.
Social distancing is not going to be a requirement this year. But with Brentwood and Oakley schools already reporting cases of students testing positive, what’s the plan in place if a student gets sick?
"We have quarantine spaces," Lucinda Taylor from Madison Park Academy said. "A student who is not feeling well will move either to our health clinic, the Native American health clinic. The assessment will be made. Parents will be called."
Rice can't wait for her students to return to the classroom.
"Eventually my walls will be filled with student work," she said. "That’s my favorite part is putting up student work for them all to see."
