By Bethany BROWN

Glendale Unified School District students, staff and administrators returned to school campuses on Monday, Jan. 10 following winter break. They were greeted with newly implemented safety protocols resulting from the rapid spreading of the highly transmissible omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus.

All students and employees were required to receive a negative COVID-19 test before returning to campus. Other protocols were in place for those who tested negative and could return to campus. These included wearing facemasks indoors as well as outdoors – unless actively eating or drinking – until further notice, and employees are now required to wear upgraded surgical/respirator masks in accordance with the Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health. Students may choose the mask they wear; however, the LACDPH recommends a “well-fitting, non-cloth mask of multiple layers of non-woven material with a nose wire.”

KN-95 masks were distributed to all school and district sites and will continue to be made available to employees. The district has also made disposable surgical masks available in adult and child sizes for students who are in need.

GUSD Superintendent Dr. Vivian Ekchian emphasized that keeping students safe and ensuring they have access to in-person learning remains the district’s top priority. She said sacrifices will need to be made to accomplish this to keep students on campus this winter. Along with protocols such as masking and testing, she urged students to limit their activity outside of school to minimize their risk of exposure.

“I know this situation is less than perfect, but it is a small price to pay to ensure our students benefit from the educational opportunities they need and deserve,” Dr. Ekchian said. “We must continue to ask our community to remain vigilant and do everything [it] can to help us slow the spread. There are glimmers of hope that we are nearing the end of this pandemic but, until then, we must continue to trust, respect and show kindness to each other.”

On Wednesday the Biden-Harris Administration announced measures it is taking to help schools meet their testing goals. They will be sending five million free antigen tests, commonly known as rapid tests, to schools each month to help K-12 schools stay open and five million additional PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, which normally take between 24 and 48 hours for results, per month. In addition the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will work with local communities to address testing needs. They will also work with schools that want to set up their own testing programs.

Students are back in school this week and appear to be taking everything in stride. Speaking to students at Rosemont Middle School, most said they are ready to go back and feel safe with the measures that have been taken at their school.

“Our goal this entire school year has been to keep children in the classroom. We know the significant benefit in-person learning has on our students’ academic performance and emotional well being,” stated Superintendent Dr. Vivian Ekchian, Glendale Unified School District. “Thank you to our incredible staff and our partners at Vital Medical Services who have been outside more than 12 hours a day every day [last] week and through [this past] weekend providing COVID-19 testing to our students and employees.”

Mary O’KEEFE contributed to this article