After being closed for most of the COVID-19 pandemic, public schools are open again in San Francisco.
After classrooms reopened on Monday for in-person instruction, the school district is doing everything it can to keep students safe from the virus in classrooms and in the cafeteria.
"We are welcoming back over 50,000 students to the San Francisco Unified School District this morning and we couldn’t be prouder," Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews told KCBS Radio in an interview on Monday.
He said they are taking all pandemic precautions and following the state health order that all teachers and school staff be vaccinated or be tested weekly for COVID-19.
Masks, of course, are mandatory.
"We know what we want to do is bring students back and then surround them by vaccinated adults," he said. "That is why we are encouraging, pushing and now mandating our people to be vaccinated."
The one time that masks have to come off is during lunch and snack times.
"I'm just going to eat as far away as I can from other people," fourth grader Jayden Alemu said. He also would prefer to eat his lunch outside "because it is a little bit safer."
Health experts and Dr. Matthews agree.
"We are definitely working with our schools to get students as far apart when they are eating, as well as we definitely are going to use outdoor spaces for the maximum," Mathews explained, adding that whether students can eat outdoors depends on the facilities of each school.
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