SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- A milestone in the push to reopen schools came Monday when the Alpine Union School District reopened all five of its campus for in-person learning for its entire student body.
"We wanted to make sure everyone felt safe, got used to the protocols, and now we were able to say it's time to bring our students back," said Superintendent Rich Newman.
Since September, the district had been operating by a hybrid model, with students home three days a week and on-campus the two others.
"And those two days they came home happier and learned more than the three days that my husband and I would try to teach them," said Carly Maritz, who has two children in the district.
Alpine Union qualified for a waiver for its hybrid model before the region went into the Purple Tier, which cut off other districts. Since then, it has vaccinated its staff and invested $1 million into new ventilation systems and social-distancing infrastructure. Students will be on-campus each weekday except for Wednesday, when campuses will be deep cleaned.
Should the county enter the state's red tier of Coronavirus restrictions Tuesday, as expected, then other districts would be able to follow suit and begin on-campus instruction. They would still have to follow the state's safety protocols, such as four-feet of social distancing.