Dear friends and partners, 

As LAUSD welcomed students back to school for full-time, in-person instruction this week, the excitement, resilience, and adaptability of our school communities was palpable. I was thrilled to kick off the new year with fourteen visits ranging from a pre-dawn meeting to thank our hardworking bus drivers before their first morning pick-ups, to an alphabet scavenger hunt with our youngest learners, a real-world drone challenge demonstrating the innovative robotics program at Webster Middle School, and more. 

Even with increased case rates due to the Delta variant, we know that the safest place for the vast majority of our kids to be is back in the classroom. That’s why we implemented strong, multi-layered protocols—including an employee vaccine mandate—to keep kids in the safest possible learning environment. Despite a few bumps in the road adjusting to a new kind of “normal” school day, our staff, families, and partners went above and beyond to make sure that the return to campus went as smoothly as possible. 

We will continue working with school communities to streamline these processes and make sure that students and families are at the center of our decisions. ​​With the rise of the Delta variant, we are unfortunately in a different place than we had hoped to be for the start of the school year. With that in mind, I have been pushing for a more transparent COVID exposure policy that also minimizes time away from the classroom and keeps quarantined students more connected to their classroom and supported by their teachers. We will continue to monitor and update any protocols as health conditions evolve.

Thank you to all our parents, educators, employees, and partners for your part in making this long overdue return to school possible for our students. I will keep pushing for the academic, socio-emotional, and physical support our students need to recover from this past year and thrive in those to come.

Onward,