'Zoomers and Roomers:' Los Gatos elementary schools resume in-classroom learning
LOS GATOS, Calif. - Exactly a week after the regional stay-at-home order was lifted, students will be heading back to the classroom in Los Gatos.
Starting Monday, the Los Gatos Unified School District will bring students in kindergarten through third grade back to in-classroom learning, followed by grades 4-6 on Feb. 8.
Los Gatos fourth grade twins Luca and Giovanni Cocchiglia are thrilled to be in the same room as their friends and teachers after months of glitchy wifi and other technological challenges while distance learning.
"I also really want to go back to the classroom so I can see my teacher and I can hear her better," Giovanni Cocchiglia said.
The school district has not set a date for their siblings in middle and high school to return.
As for teachers and staff within the school district, 65 of them were vaccinated last week with their first dose at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, even though Santa Clara County currently does not allow educators to be vaccinated. The hospital's CEO apologized for what he called an "error" in distributing what were believed to be extra vaccines that would have otherwise expired.
"We just need to make sure our teachers feel safe, and that means they need to be vaccinated and prioritized as essential workers and there needs to be a thoughtful, strategic way to do that," Kate Gude, mother to twins Luca and Giovanni, said.
The California Teachers Association sent a letter to Governor Newsom on Wednesday urging schools in purple tier counties to not go back to the classroom for 100 days.
Teachers in Napa County have begun getting vaccinated, and Sonoma County plans to begin vaccinating educators in early February.
"If we can get them vaccinated as quickly as possible, that would hopefully get to the goal that we all want, namely we want to get the children back to school for the good of the children, fo the good of the parent, and in many respects, fo the good of the teachers," Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a virtual town hall with teachers on Thursday.
New research from the Centers for Disease Control published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association cited research to support resuming in-classroom learning, stating, "as many schools have reopened for in-person instruction in some parts of the US as well as internationally, school-related cases of COVID-19 have been reported,but there has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission."
Oakland Unified School District has no immediate plans to return to the classroom just yet, meanwhile San Mateo has seven districts currently back in the classroom, and Marin County has had nearly all elementary schools continue in-person learning since the fall, according to the Mercury News.
Los Gatos elementary schools plan to sue a hybrid model they're calling "roomers and zoomers." Some students will be distance learning, while others are in the classroom, and they'll switch throughout the week.
When Luca and Giovanni Cocchiglia go back to the classroom, they and their peers will have already tested negative for COVID-19, and will be required to socially distance, wear masks, and have their temperatures taken when they arrive at school
"I miss seeing my friends," Luca Cocchiglia said. "Actually, one of my friends I haven't seen for one year because of COVID."