San Jose Unified superintendent has 'every intention' of students returning in-person in January

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San Jose Unified School District is planning for the possibility of having some students return to in-person classes after the first of the year.

This week, the district is holding webinars with parents about the district's plans.

During one of those sessions on Tuesday night, Supt. Nancy Albarrán said the district has "every intention" of opening for in-person instruction in January.

But that's only if the county is in the orange or yellow tier.

Parents can wait until next month to decide if they want their children to attend in-person classes or continue with distance learning.

In the meantime, the district is already preparing school sites for the return of students and is talking with labor groups about working conditions.

In Alameda County, the Alameda Unified school board approved a plan for reopening schools.

The board will send that plan to the Alameda County offices of public health and education.

The plan tentatively calls for some in-person classes to start in January.

Earlier this week, nearly two dozen teachers organizations in the East Bay publicly announced their demands before they'd consider offering in-person classes.

The top items on the list: Frequent, on-site COVID-19 testing, contract tracing, proper ventilation and online dashboard reporting cases, outbreaks and quarantines.

There has been no official word from San Francisco Unified and Oakland Unified on when those districts will begin to reopen classrooms to students, or even provide a hybrid model.

The mayors of both those cities, who don't hold power over the schools, have both said they want campuses to open some type of in-person instruction in January for children, many of whom are suffering educationally and socially with distance learning.