Almost Half of Pasadena Unified Students Have Not Returned to Campuses, Continue Remote Learning Only

Just under half of the Pasadena Unified School District’s 15,100 students have not returned to the classroom since the option arose under a hybrid learning model last month, roughly correlated with county and state figures, according to district data.

The PUSD reported 49.6% of all students were still attending only online instruction as of Monday. Statistics show 45.9% of students had returned to school in-person, while 4.5% were listed as not responding to remote instruction.

Breaking the figures down by grade level: 61.5% of students in pre-kindergarten through 2nd grade had returned to in-person instruction, compared with 55.6% of students in grades 3 through 5 and 44.3% of students in grades 6 through 8, according to PUSD data.

At the high school level, 28.4% of Pasadena public school students had resumed attending in-person instruction.

In-person attendance was returning even more slowly in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where officials announced only 7% of high school students, 12% of middle school students and 30% of elementary school students had been back in classrooms since the gradual reopening process began.

Statewide, 47% of public school students in kindergarten through 12th grade had resumed at least some in-person classwork, including 16% who were back full-time, according to a report compiled by the nonprofit EdSource.

Fifty-three percent of the state’s elementary school students had resumed at least some in-person learning, compared with 41% of California’s middle and high school pupils, the report found.

Meanwhile, state and county officials cleared the way for children as young as 12 to get vaccinated against COVID-19 beginning Thursday, with the Pasadena Department of Public Health scheduled to do the same on Friday.

City’s Public Health Department Begins COVID-19 Vaccinations for Children 12 to 15