Students wait in line before entering Emerson Elementary on the morning of April 13. Third, fourth, and fifth graders returned in person to school in more than a year on April 12. Photo: Pete Rosos.
This week, several thousand Berkeley students returned to campuses in person for the first time in months, joining students in transitional kindergarten through second grade. Celebrations settled into a new sense of normalcy as BUSD elementary and middle schools filled with students once again.
On April 12, elementary students of all grades were back in person and middle school students returned in a hybrid model of four hours of in-person instruction a week. A final count indicated that 80% of elementary students returned to school for in-person instruction and 20% remained remote, according to Trish McDermott, a press information officer for BUSD.