Four schools on the eastern peninsula will open to all students five days a week starting Monday.
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District classrooms reopened Jan. 11 after three months of distance learning. While coronavirus case counts were still relatively high, seventh- through 12th-graders returned on alternating schedules twice a week.
But the eastern peninsula reported seven cases in the last 14 days, bringing it down to the district’s “medium risk” tier. Now, all students in Seward and Moose Pass will be back in school five days a week.
Like Tegan Retzer, a senior at Seward High School.
“I never realized how much I took being in school for granted," she said.
Eastern peninsula schools were the first in the district to shift to 100 percent remote learning in early October, as the virus ramped up on the peninsula.
Retzer said she gets energy from being around other people and is thrilled to be back. There are some kids who try to avoid the mitigation plan.
“But a majority of the students are wearing their masks and staying six feet apart, which I’m very, very grateful for," she said.
The central peninsula and southern peninsula are still considered “high risk.” The district said the earliest it will fully open to all students in other regions is Feb. 1.