Five Local Schools Have Applied For Waivers to Open

Although a total of five schools are engaged in the process, the Pasadena Public Health Department has received just one completed application from a local school for a waiver to open, which has been forwarded to state education officials for further consideration, according to a video released Thursday by city Health Director Dr. Ying Ying Goh.

Pasadena public health officials are currently working with two other schools that submitted incomplete applications. Two additional schools have also submitted waiver applications.  

The city will not name any of the schools for now.

“The Health Department has been working with public and private schools for many months since early summer to support the restarting of in-person instruction,” Goh said in the video. 

The city has been accepting waiver applications since Oct. 5 to allow preK-second grade students to return to school. Some special needs students have also been allowed to return to class. 

In Pasadena, school waiver application components have been posted for two months to allow schools to prepare for reopening. Health Department officials have been visiting local schools to provide hands-on consulting. 

The Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisor Kathryn Barger to allow elementary schools to begin applying for waivers needed to reopen grades preK-2 in local schools, prioritizing schools with a high number of low-income students.

Los Angeles County is still listed in the state’s highest-risk category for COVID-19 under its four-tier economic recovery roadmap. The county remains in the “purple”’ tier, signifying continued widespread transmission of the virus locally.

Contract talks between the Pasadena Unified School District and the union representing its teachers, United Teachers of Pasadena, are ongoing.

Last month, the California Teachers Association authored a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom demanding the statewide implementation of safety measures at schools prior to a return to in-person instruction.

The district said last month that schools will not open until January.