After one year, one month and 21 days, all students are on campus every day
CLASS: Rabbi Abraham Lieberman taught his 10th grade Modern Jewish History class in Room 305 May 4.
Evan Beller, Eli Weiss, and Jacob Hoenig
May 4, 2021
As of this week, for the first time in over a year all grades are present on campus for all five days, and in fact, school will stay that way until the end of the year.
The “all” does not include seniors, who finished their classes as of last Friday and are now on a class trip in Oregon. But since March 13 of 2020, no student at Shalhevet has had on-campus school every day until now.
“As a result of the combination of current numbers and trends within Los Angeles County, as well as our seniors no longer being on campus, effective this Monday, May 3rd, grades 9-11 will be on campus every day,” wrote General Studies principal Mr. Daniel Weslow in an email sent to parents and students April 27.
“No more rotations or changes!” Mr. Weslow continued. “For the remainder of the year students in grades 9-11 will be able to attend all of their classes in-person and be on campus daily (Monday – Friday).”
The senior class had its last day of school on April 30.
The last time the whole school was present on campus for a whole week was 14 months ago, the week of March 2, 2020.
Throughout this year, Shalhevet has gradually reopened, compared to last spring when all learning, teaching davening and co-curriculars were remote.
Last fall, though classes were all still online, certain co-curriculars were held on campus as “Camp Firehawks” after school, among them Model Congress, Drama, Robotics and Model UN, along with Judaic seminars.
Beginning in December, one grade was allowed on campus per day for outdoor Judaic Studies learning. Then, in February, two grades could come to school at the same time, for two days of in-person Judaic Studies learning per week.
And since a post-travel quarantine week after Passover, three grades have been on campus each day for all of their classes, some indoors. Now, with seniors gone, the remaining grades have the campus to themselves all day every day.
On April 29, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the county had a daily test positivity rate of 0.8%, with 416 new cases and 42 new deaths. Since then, the rate has continued to fall: on May 3, there were 255 new cases and 0.7% average daily test positivity.
