Vaccination Rate Among L.A.’s Grade School Aged Kids Just 18%; One-Third Of LAUSD Students Stay Home In First Week Back

deadline.com:

The incoming superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District visited with administrators, staff and students at an Elysian Heights elementary school campus today, saying there is no end in sight to the difficulties Covid-19 will present for the district and students.“I’m one who believes in science, and we recognize that probably Covid-19 is here to stay,” said Carvalho during his campus visit.LAUSD officials mandated Covid testing for all students and staff before they were permitted to return to campuses this week.

According to figures released by the district Thursday, 13.3% of district employees have tested positive for the virus ahead of the start of classes, and 15.6% of students.

District officials have touted that those rates are lower than the county at large, where the current positivity rate is about 20%.Unfortunately, the vehicle by which students were to provide their test results, the Daily Pass app, crashed on the first day of school Tuesday, meaning school staff had to try and determine who was positive in other ways.Preliminary attendance figures from the first week back at school show a 33% absentee rate among students, according to the district.

While Culver City and some other smaller districts have gone back to remote learning for limited periods, there is no provision for at-home instruction for those of the LAUSD’s 600,000 students who don’t wish to return to campus.