LAUSD goes back to school Monday with relaxed COVID protocols

Back to school for LAUSD students comes with relaxed COVID protocols

The Los Angeles Unified School District returned to the classroom Monday, with new policies on COVID-19 testing and more.

LOS ANGELES - Things may start to look "normal" again on the campuses of the Los Angeles Unified School District as the 2022-2023 school year begins Monday.

This time last year was controlled chaos as mask-wearing students were corralled into class having to prove they'd tested negative for COVID-19.

Earlier this month, however, LAUSD announced that many of those COVID precautions would be drastically changing. For starters, students and staff will no longer need to undergo weekly COVID testing. Mask-wearing will still be only strongly recommended indoors, and the district's COVID vaccination requirement for students remains on hold until at least next year.

"Instead of requiring every student and employee to test weekly with a PCR test, only those who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, or who have been in close contact with a person who has tested positive, will be required to test," the district said at the time.

LAUSD goes back to class Monday with relaxed COVID protocols

The Los Angeles Unified School District's 2022-2023 school year begins Monday, and this year will be back to mostly "normal" as the district has relaxed many COVID-19 protocols.

LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho spent the weekend going door-to-door, visiting families of children who had been exceedingly absent last school year. He says that they expect a percentage of students to not be present in class the first week.

Some people are welcoming the changes in the district this year, including student Andy Constanza. "It was crazy," he said, about last year's policies. "It was just standing in line when it's so hot waiting just to get tested, it was boring."