PUSD Students Return to School as Virus Surges, While PCC Goes Back Online

Students returned to school at campuses across the Pasadena Unified School District on Tuesday.

“As we return to in-person school this week, I want to acknowledge concerns expressed about returning to campus safely. I too am deeply concerned about the rise in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron varian,” said Superintendent Brian McDonald on the school district’s website.

The return comes as the Omicron variant of the virus continues to surge across the country. Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier pledged that 6 million school age students would receive take home tests, but so far those tests have been slow reaching some school districts including Pasadena.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, our district’s top priority has been the safety and well-being of our students and employees.” McDonald said.

On Monday, hundreds of Pasadena students were tested at the school district’s headquarters.

The district is scheduled to resume its regularly scheduled testing at schools this week. The LA County Office of Education reportedly has also made available a take-home testing kit for K-12 students, which the PUSD said it will make available later this week.

The testing and vaccinations were the second round made available over the past week, as the district also held three days of testing on December 20, 28 and 30, testing 827 students and staff members at the Rose Bowl.

The virus has once again forced some learning institutions to temporarily return to online learning, including Pasadena City College.

“As the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues its unprecedented surge, and following a strong recommendation made by the California Community College’s Chancellor’s Office, Pasadena City College has made the difficult decision to move the first two weeks of the Spring 2022 semester completely online.” the college posted. “During this time, most classes and college services will be conducted remotely. This is a temporary response to this surge in cases and the college intends to resume face-to-face instruction and operations on Monday, January 24.”