Orange County’s more recent performance in curbing the spread of the coronavirus allowed the easing of some restrictions on businesses operating indoors and soon should allow for school districts to resume in-person learning.
Sept. 22 is the expected date when schools will be green-lit to return students to campus, but don’t expect thousands of public school students to turn off their computers because online learning is over.
Public school districts are largely phasing in a return to campus, planning a hybrid of online and in-person learning that will allow them to keep more space between students and teachers. And most are planning a cushion of at least several days before beginning their transition.
Here is what we know about public school district plans at this point, and we’ll keep updating this status report as we learn more:
Anaheim Elementary School District
K-6 enrollment: 16,500
Status: Instruction will remain online as the district monitors the number of COVID-19 cases in Anaheim. No date for reopening for in-person instruction has been released.
Anaheim Union High School District
7-12 enrollment: 29,900
Status: Instruction remains exclusively online, but Superintendent Michael Matsuda recently said the district is cautiously examining a pivot to some in-person instruction in mid-October.
Brea Olinda Unified School District
K-12 enrollment: 5,965
Status: Distance learning continues, but the district is targeting a mid-October shift to a hybrid plan, Assistant Superintendent Kerrie Torres said. The district, she added, is negotiating with the teachers’ union about safety protocols for teachers and staff. The hybrid plan would feature two modified days of in-person instruction per week, Torres said.
Buena Park School District
K-8 enrollment: 4,575
Status: Buena Park doesn’t have a timetable for pivoting to in-person instruction, Superintendent Ramon Miramontes said. “We want schools back as soon as possible, but we need to be safe.”
Capistrano Unified School District
K-12 enrollment: 47,000
Status: The county’s largest district plans a staggered shift to in-person instruction on Sept. 28, beginning with students in select special education programs. The district hopes to start in-person instruction for kindergarten and first grades on Sept. 29 and welcome back second- and third-graders on Oct. 1. Fourth- and fifth-graders would begin in-person instruction on Oct. 5, middle schoolers on Oct. 6 and the phased-in returns would be completed with high schools on Oct. 13. The district plans to use a hybrid of in-person and distance learning.
Capistrano Unified also has discussed applying for the elementary school waiver if the approved start of in-person learning is delayed beyond Sept. 22.
Cypress School District
K-6 enrollment: 3,900
Status: The district is aiming to reopen for in-person instruction on Sept. 23 if health conditions allow, Superintendent Anne Silavs said.
Fountain Valley School District
K-8 enrollment: 6,399
Status: The district plans to pivot on Sept. 22 to its hybrid model starting with in-person instruction for elementary schools. Students will be divided between morning and afternoon groups and attend in-person classes four days a week. Middle school students will begin their hybrid program – with two days of in-person instruction per week – on Sept. 24 and 25.
Fullerton Joint Union High School District
9-12 enrollment: 14,000
Status: The district announced that it will open to in-person instruction no earlier than Oct. 5. The high school district plans to pivot to a hybrid model.
Garden Grove Unified School District
Pre K-12 enrollment: 41,500
Status: Orange County’s third largest district is targeting Oct. 5 for the reopening of its elementary schools for in-person instruction. Middle and high schools aim to follow Oct. 12.
Huntington Beach City School District
K-8 enrollment: 6.811
Status: The district is operating in distance learning mode and has hinted a pivot to in-person instruction would not happen before Oct. 26.
Huntington Beach Union High School District
9-12 enrollment: 16,188
Status: The high school district hasn’t announced plans to reopen schools for in-person instruction and remains in distance learning mode.
Irvine Unified School District
K-12 enrollment: 35,393
Status: Irvine has announced it plans to reopen to in-person instruction on Sept. 24 and 25 for students who selected the in-person academic model. Students in the district’s virtual academy will continue to study online.
La Habra City School District
K-8 enrollment: 5,008
Status: The district remains in distance learning mode and hasn’t announced a date for in-person instruction.
Laguna Beach Unified School District
K-12 enrollment: 3,020
Status: Orange County’s second smallest district hasn’t announced reopening plans, but has filed for the elementary school waiver. The waiver would keep some of the district’s options open if health conditions decline. Laguna Beach has two elementary schools.
Los Alamitos Unified School District
K-12 enrollment: 10,000
Status: Los Alamitos became the first district in Orange County to use the elementary school waiver to reopen for in-person instruction on Sept. 8. The elementary classes are operating under the district’s hybrid plan, which divides students into morning and afternoon groups that alternate on campus. The district’s tentative plan is to open McAuliffe and Oak middles schools for in-person instruction on Sept. 22 with Los Alamitos High following Sept. 29.
Magnolia School District
K-6 enrollment: 6,000
Status: Instruction remains exclusively is online for the Anaheim-based school district. No date has been given regarding a transition to hybrid or in-person learning.
Newport-Mesa Unified School District
K-12 enrollment: 21,353
Status: The district will begin modified in-person instruction on Sept. 29 for transitional kindergarten through sixth-grade students, on Oct. 1 for students in grades 3-6, and Oct. 12 for students in grades 7-12. Students up through the sixth grade will be in their classrooms for half of a school day – one group in the morning and the other in the afternoon – each Monday and Tuesday and each Thursday and Friday, and every other Wednesday. The older students will be in their classrooms for two full days a week, either Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday.
Ocean View School District
K-6 enrollment: 8,300
Status: A target date for hybrid instruction to begin in this Huntington Beach based district is Sept. 22.
Orange Unified School District
K-12 enrollment: 29,000
Status: A transition would start Sept. 28 with preschool and elementary students, the superintendent said in a recent letter to families. At the second half of the trimester, on Oct. 1, middle schools would offer in-person learning and high schools would follow suit on Oct. 15, the start of the next quarter.
Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District
K-12 enrollment: 25,802
Status: “Aspirational dates” have been announced, but officials said local health data will be reviewed before plans are finalized for a transition to in-person hybrid instruction on Oct. 7 for its preschool and elementary students; Oct. 12 for middle schools; and Oct. 14 for high schools.
Saddleback Valley Unified School District
K-12 enrollment: 27,708
Status: The school board set Sept. 29 as the starting date for hybrid learning that would have students in classes five days a week.
Santa Ana Unified School District
K-12 enrollment: 49,790
Status: Distance learning continues. The school board met Sept. 8 to discuss a transition, but has not set a date for hybrid or in-person schooling. A district spokesman said in-person instruction might resume after the Christmas holiday break.
Savanna School District
K-6 enrollment: 2,400
Status: Distance learning is scheduled in this Anaheim-based district to continue through the first trimester that ends Oct. 30.
Tustin Unified School District
K-12 enrollment: 24,000
Status: A hybrid including in-person instruction begins Sept. 24 for students in transitional kindergarten through the fifth grade and on Sept. 29 for grades 6-12.
Westminster School District
K-6 enrollment: 9,390
Status: Distance learning began Sept. 2 and no transition schedule has been announced.