An East Bay school district will close all of its classrooms on Friday and Monday following a "challenging" few days back on campuses, according to a letter published on the district's website.
West Contra Costa Unified School District Superintendent Chris Hurst wrote in a message to families on Wednesday that a significant number of teacher absences due to the COVID-19 omicron variant forced the district to use two flexible days off California education officials allow schools to use at their discretion.
"The virus and a large number of absences is putting an immense strain on our system," Hurst wrote. "The rapid spread of the virus requires an aggressive response to ensure safety."
Hurst said of the district's schools "will undergo a deep cleaning" on Friday, while all district offices will be closed on Monday. He also pleaded with students and staff to get tested before returning to school on Tuesday, either through a healthcare provider or rapid at-home test.
More than 31,000 students enrolled in 56 K-12 schools in the district last year, according to the Contra Costa County Office of Education. Ninety percent of the district's students are people of color, according to the district's own estimates. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Wednesday that two-thirds of the district's students are from low-income families.
Although 78.4% of Contra Costa County had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Wednesday, according to county data, just 34.5% of children aged 5-11 had been. More than 51% of children in that age group hadn't been vaccinated at all against COVID-19.
Westa Contra Costa Unified spokesperson Ryan Phillips told the paper on Wednesday that an "outbreak" had spread to "nine classrooms" at Richmond's Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School when students returned to campus this week, forcing the school to transition to remote learning on Tuesday. He said 10 students students tested positive, "a number that grew" Monday afternoon.
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