More Bay Area schools set to open this week

LOS ALTOS, Calif. - More Bay Area schools are set to open this week, bringing a transition for some students who have only ever known the online version of their school.

Some school districts say they plan to give extra focus to students in the transitional years, such as kindergartners and middle school students who are coming back to a school they've never attended in-person.

Twelve-year-old Bryce Kibble walked around the campus of Blach Intermediate School in Los Altos with his family Sunday evening, preparing for a most unusual introduction to Junior High.

"I'm checking out the school to know where my classes are going to be," said Kibble.

It's something usually done in August, not March.

This marks Kibble's first year at Blach, but because of the pandemic, the seventh-grader has never attended classes on-campus.

That changes starting Monday, when in-person classes begin for seventh graders for the first time this school year.

"I'm just excited to be in middle school and to be on the campus," said Kibble. "I'm tired of being on the computer."

He soon discovered his new classroom and found it outfitted with desks spread apart, and each with a shield attached.

"Basically the kids are in one room and the teachers rotate," said Bryce's mom Michele Kibble.

Michele Kibble is an elementary school teacher within the Los Altos School District and says she recently received her first vaccine dose as have other teachers in the district.

Elementary schools in Los Altos have been open for a few months.

Priya Anant chose for her elementary school students to continue with online learning out of concern for exposure to older relatives.

"We're most likely going to go back to school in the fall when everything opens up, but for the rest of the year we're going to be virtual," said Anant.

As for Bryce, because parents are discouraged from being on-campus during the school day, his mom instead took a "First Day At School" picture the night before.

Afterward, Michelle Kibble said to him, "Buddy, I'm excited!"