Spring break to break open Hermosa, Manhattan, Redondo schools
Hermosa Beach’s new Vista School (formerly North School) will open for TK through second grade students on Monday, April 12, following spring break. Photo by Kevin Cody
by Donald Morrison
Hermosa Beach City School District students will begin returning to full day, in person classes at the new Hermosa Vista School on April 12, beginning with transitional through second grade.
The announcement was made by HBCSD Superintendent Jason Johnson at a virtual town hall hosted by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-66th District) on Thursday, March 26.
Redondo Beach Superintendent Steven Keller and Manhattan Beach Superintendent Mike Matthews said on campus classes are also planned for their students following Spring Break
“Reopening is happening fast,” Johnson said during the town hall. “When we return from Spring Break, we will begin returning on a full day schedule starting with TK-2 and then rolling up.”
Schools across the South Bay began ramping up reopening efforts on March 11, after the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced that the County would move into the less-restrictive Red Tier by March 15.
HBCSD third through eighth grade students will begin attending in person classes at Hermosa Middle School, on an a.m/p.m. rotation basis, this coming Monday, on March 29.
All TK-12 students in the Redondo Beach Unified School District will return to in person classes under a hybrid learning model by April 12, Redondo Superintendent Stephen Keller told listeners.
Sixth graders in the RBUSD returned to in person classes two days a week, on March 10, in a hybrid learning model with limited classroom sizes.
Seventh and eighth grade student
s in the RBUSD are also scheduled to return to campus this Monday, March 29. Ninth graders will return to campus that day, as well, but only for a brief orientation.
According to Keller, 95 percent of students will be enrolled in hybrid learning, with five percent choosing to remain completely online. RBUSD has lost three percent of it’s student population since the pandemic began, he said.
There will be a special RBUSD school board meeting on Tuesday, March 30, to discuss a return to full day classes, based on updated guidelines from the LACDPH.
Students TK-12 in the Manhattan Beach School District are also returning to in person classes this Monday, March 29 under a hybrid model. Plans are in place to further ease restrictions in the weeks after Spring Break, MBUSD Superintendent Michael Matthews said.
Muratsuchi noted that parents in Manhattan Beach had been particularly passionate about school reopenings.
“It appears that the Manhattan Beach parents have been the most vocal about getting schools to reopen and getting kids back in classrooms,” Muratsuchi said.
All three Beach City districts superintendents said they hope to return to full day, in person classes next school year and believe it will be possible if the current rollout goes smoothly. ER