Andrew Garcia, left, and Manuel Rocha, right, do work in the computer lab while in the Computer Integrated Manufacturing class of the ACE Academy at Jordan High School in Long Beach Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

The Long Beach Unified School District is sending COVID-19 tests home with students over the next few days—weeks after they were promised by the governor, who said he hoped they would head off a surge of potential omicron infections after winter break.

The tests are iHealth antigen rapid tests with results promised within 15 minutes, and each student is getting a box with two tests in it. Students will receive additional kits in the weeks to come.

“Some tests will go home starting today, and the distribution should be completed districtwide (K-12) by end of week,” said LBUSD spokesperson Chris Eftychiou.

A pack of rapid tests the LBUSD is sending home with students this week. Photo by Mike Guardabascio.

The tests are the ones promised by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, with the original intent being that all students in California could test prior to returning to campus after winter break. Instead, with the tests arriving from the state over two weeks late, the LBUSD is asking families to use theirs not for general asymptomatic screening, but to test after a possible exposure.

“COVID-19 tests are recommended for your child when you receive a notification that your child has been exposed,” according to an LBUSD message sent to parents.

As Los Angeles County is starting to see signs that the omicron variant wave of COVID-19 may have peaked, the LBUSD is seeing encouraging signs of that as well. Districtwide attendance last week dipped to 78%, well below the district’s average of 95%, but many teachers on Tuesday reported higher attendance in their classes after the three-day weekend, and the district saw many fewer teacher absences as well.

On Friday, 508 of the district’s approximately 3,400 teachers were absent. Today, that number fell to 394, comparable to the first day back from winter break two weeks ago. The district and the Teachers Association of Long Beach have said that most absences were due to teachers who had either contracted COVID-19 or were waiting for tests to clear them after a possible exposure. The district has been operating a staff- and student-specific testing site at Cabrillo High School to try and alleviate citywide strain on testing capacity.

The district’s own substitute teaching pool has been strained as well, with the unusually high number of teacher absences. When subs aren’t available, the district has filled classes with administrators or other staff holding teaching credentials. Last Friday, 205 of the 508 teacher absences weren’t filled by a substitute teacher, and on Monday, 116 of the 394 vacancies weren’t filled by a substitute teacher.

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