Governor Gavin Newsom highlighted the reopening of California schools for the 2021-2022 school year on Friday in San Bernardino.
San Bernardino City Unified School District was the first school district to reopen in Southern California by beginning school on Monday, according to ABC 7.
“This was a big week in public education,” Gov. Newsom said. “First big district to open this week. Stockton opened as well. You’ll start to see CLA Unified and others open over the course of the next few weeks. We’re getting all our kids safely back into the in-person instruction and we’re doing it in a sustainable way, not an episodic way.”
Gov. Newsom added that the kids he spoke to earlier in the day expressed to him they were happy to be back in the classroom as well.
“Every one of these kids raised their hand when we asked what they preferred, be back in the classroom or be back online,” Gov. Newsom remarked.
“One child raised their hand and they went on to express emotionally. These young kids without the language expressing the stress and anxiety that they had last year paying attention and learning.”
Gov. Newsom went on to discuss the school budgets, saying “We are investing over 1.1 billion dollars in specifically to provide more support in enrichment by providing more resources so we can get more counselors and staff to help our teachers.”
Gov. Newsom then turned his attention to COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.
“We can end this pandemic, we can put this behind us in a month,” he said. “You’re gonna ask me about mask mandates. If we get everyone vaccinated, that’ll be the last time you have to ask that question. We can take these masks off once and for all.”
He added 76.7 million of the California residents who were eligible for the vaccine have gotten at least one dose, adding the state has administered more doses of the vaccine than any other state.