School is back at Oxnard Union High School District

OXNARD, Calif. -- Wednesday was the first day high school students and staff stepped back on campus in over a year at the Oxnard Union High School District.

The Oxnard Union High School District was allowed to start hybrid in-person learning for the first time after the county entered the less restrictive Red Tier of the state's reopening plan.

At Pacifica High School students were greeted by friendly faces as they entered campus for the first time in more than a year.

“This is like Christmas day for me,” said Ted Lawrence, principal at Pacifica High School. “I am so excited to have my kids back. Greeting them as they entered the gates today was amazing, and we are keeping safety as our top priority.”

All 11 schools will follow safety protocols and rotating schedules.

“Every kid that came through the gate we scanned them with a thermal body scan, and we checked them in for contact tracing purposes and gave them their breakfast and lunch, and sent them to a distance learning pod,” said Lawrence.

Those pods look different at each school. At Pacifica high school, the pods are in a classroom, while Rio Mesa's are in a tent. Students go to the pods if their teacher opts out of in-person learning, but those with teachers went back to in-person learning.

“It feels great,” said Abraham Lopez, a Senior at Rio Mesa. “It is better than being home.”

“I miss it,” said Destiny Marquez, a Senior at Pacifica. “It’s been really hard.”

A lot of students made the decision to stay home and continue distance learning.

“As of Monday, it was one freshman per period that said they were coming,” said Pacifica teacher Allison Holicky. “But several factors came in to play. A lot of it was home stuff. If they have younger siblings at home in school they have been helping out.”

“A lot of my friends aren’t coming, one, mainly because of COVID and two, because their teachers won’t come,” said Diego Luna, a Pacifica senior.

“It is OK to feel anxious that not all of our teachers are coming back,” said Elizabeth Botello, a member of the Oxnard Union Board of Trustees. “I think a lot of them are getting their second dose of the vaccine and I feel that will encourage them to come back on campus. I am really happy to see a lot of our teachers in person right now and I know we will get more as weeks progress.”

To read more about Oxnard Union High School District's reopening plans, click here.