The Los Angeles Unified School District ordered all students and staff to present a negative Covid test before returning to class next week, amid continued spread of the Omicron variant.
The district currently does not plan to implement remote learning when classes are scheduled to resume. However, L.A. County public health director Barbara Ferrer told district officials at a briefing on Monday that potentially 10 percent of students could test positive for Covid before coming to class, the Los Angeles Times reported.
For the new plan, students are required to upload the results of a Covid test to the district’s Daily Pass system by January 9 in order to return to class the next day. Students may use a PCR or antigen test obtained from the district or an outside facility, and may use home tests as well.
Around 664,800 students were enrolled in L.A. schools as of last year, making it the second-largest district in the country after New York City schools. L.A. Unified currently conducts the largest weekly testing operation of any district in the country, and required all students and staff to be tested for Covid every week during the fall semester, regardless of vaccination status.
L.A. Unified initially planned to allow vaccinated students and staff to forgo the weekly testing requirement. However, that requirement was reinstated by Monday along with the new test-to-return requirement.
Additionally, masks will be required for all students whether indoors or outdoors on school property, and those masks cannot be made of cloth. District employees must wear medical-grade masks indoors.
“As a united Los Angeles Unified community, we will work together to ensure the safety of our students,” Interim Superintendent Megan Reilly said in a letter to parents announcing the new policy.
The new requirements come after 450,000 students throughout the U.S. began learning remotely during the first week of January, according to the New York Times. Meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union is voting on Tuesday on whether to refuse to work, with teachers demanding the district implement a testing requirement for students to return to class.
New York City teachers have made similar demands. While almost all city schools opened for in-person learning on Monday, roughly one-third of students did not attend class, the Times reported.