There were tears from parents and kindergartners alike at Los Robles-Ronald McNair Academy in East Palo Alto as they hugged each other at drop-off on the first day of school Wednesday, Aug. 25.

Some students returned to campus last winter in small, stable cohorts, but with everyone back this school year full time, some of the young students are experiencing their first days in school, having forgone preschool amid the pandemic.

Alex Quezada, principal of the K-5 school, said school staffers feel "excited, hopeful, energized and committed" to the prospect of restoring and strengthening relationships with students and families.

"We reaped the rewards of building strong relationships with students because our student cohorts were smaller, compared to a pre-pandemic year," he said in an email. "This fall, we continued to apply that knowledge and experience and designed the student experience to be more intimate and personalized."

Kindergarten teacher Ruth Cuellar said it's nice to see all the faces, smiles and laughs.

Starting Nov. 1, Ravenswood School District will require vaccination for eligible students in order to participate in extracurricular activities such as sports, according to the district’s 2021 safety plan. Students who become eligible for the vaccine during the school year will have two months to provide proof of full vaccination before this requirement applies.

If families give permission, the district will test students weekly for COVID-19.

Staff vaccination rates

Ravenswood district staff report a much lower COVID-19 vaccination rate than neighboring school districts. As of Aug. 12, 72% of certified staff (which includes teachers) and 73% of classified staff have gotten their COVID-19 vaccine.

To encourage vaccinations among staff, ​​the district has hosted vaccination clinics at its school sites to facilitate access and "will continue to find opportunities to do so throughout the year," said governing board member Ana Maria Pulido in an email.

In the neighboring Menlo Park City School District, over 95% of staff members are fully vaccinated. The staff vaccination rate is 90% in the Woodside Elementary School District.

Portola Valley and Las Lomitas school districts

Ormondale School Principal Lynette Hovland said things went smoothly on the first day on Thursday, Aug. 26. She called her students "mask-wearing champions" who are used to the safety protocols since the district reopened on a hybrid basis last school year.

"The energy and buzz outside as I was greeting students and parents was electric," she said in an email. "We started our day with an all-school virtual assembly where the counselor and I read our first book of the month, ‘Everyone is Welcome.’"

One difference for the students this year is that recess is divided into grade level cohorts instead of just classroom cohorts. They’re also excited their library has reopened, Hovland said.

The district is updating its COVID-19 cases on a weekly basis on its website. One case, in the

district of a little under 500 students, was reported at Ormondale the week of Aug. 23, prior to the start of school.

Construction projects, which kicked off this summer as part of Portola Valley School District's $49.5 million bond measure project, are ongoing. The projects include classroom and courtyard renovations.

The projects are on track, said Adam Lint, director of bond and facilities for the district. The district will provide an update on the construction at the governing board's meeting on Thursday, Sept. 2.

The Las Lomitas School District, home to Las Lomitas Elementary School in Atherton and La Entrada Middle School in Menlo Park, reopened on a hybrid basis last school year. Students at the schools also returned for the fall term on Wednesday, Aug. 25.

"The first week went really well," said Superintendent Beth Polito in an email. "Lots of happy faces."

The staff vaccination rate is over 90%, she said, and the district will update its COVID-19 case dashboard on its website.