News Update

Inland Empire elementary school receives waiver to reopen

A San Bernardino County elementary school is one of the first in California to reopen starting next Thursday with a hybrid model after receiving approval for a waiver that will allow the school to offer in-person instruction despite being located in a county on the state’s monitoring list for Covid-19.

Lucerne Valley Elementary plans to resume instruction with a hybrid model where no more than 12 students in a class at one time, according to Lucerne Valley Unified superintendent Peter Livingston. The district had already welcomed all of its students back to school virtually on August 6 before gaining approval to re-open the school.

Students will return in cohorts for two days per week and will do distance learning the remaining days they are at home. Classrooms will be outfitted with dividers between students in an effort to maintain six feet of distance between students, there will be temperature checks at bus stops and before students walk on campus, and lunch schedules will be adjusted to avoid clustering students together.

Families who prefer to continue with distance learning will have the option to do so, Livingston said, however the majority of parents told the district they would participate in the hybrid mode.

Waivers are only available for elementary schools and the requirements for approval are extensive. Located more than 50 miles northeast of the city of San Bernardino, Lucerne Valley has about 57 cases per 100,000 residents, which falls below the state requirement of 200 cases per 100,000 residents to be considered for an elementary school reopening waiver. In comparison, the threshold that puts counties on the state monitoring list is 100 cases per 100,000 residents.