K-12 Livermore students head back to school for limited, hybrid school

LIVERMORE, Calif. - Kindergarten through 12th-grade students in Livermore Unified School District head back to school on Monday. 

Like other Alameda County public schools that have reopened, Livermore students will return for hybrid- or part-time instruction.

For middle and high school students, that means a half-day, two days a week in-person, while the majority of their schooling will still be online.

Elementary students will come to class for a couple of hours a day, four days a week.

The Livermore district announced last month they would be bringing back all grades on this date. Other school districts have phased-in their return.

Livermore schools superintendent Kelly Bowers said they decided to bring everyone back at once, because many families have students in multiple grades, and it makes things more simple, schedule-wise.

Bowers and the Livermore teacher's union say that giving educators vaccine priority was a major factor in bringing everyone back to campus.

"99 percent of the staff who wanted to be vaccinated have been vaccinated," Bowers said. "That was key to the overall safe feeling of all staff, as well as our community."

Student Alexis Traynor said she thinks school will be fun but "also weird." 

"We can't eat lunch or anything at school," she said. 

The Livermore school district has 13,900 students.

Students and families still have the option to stick with distance learning for the remainder of the year.

And while it varies by individual school and grade level, about 60 percent of students chose in-person learning.