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7th & 8th graders return to Ripon USD campuses
classroom

For the first time in nearly eight months, seventh and eighth grade students at Ripon Unified were back on campus this week.

"It went by pretty well," said Superintendent Ziggy Robeson at Monday's Ripon Unified school board meeting.

Returning students at Ripon Elementary, Ripona, Colony Oak, Weston and Park View followed safety protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic, from wearing face masks and sanitizing to maintaining social distancing. Transitional kindergarten through sixth grades returned earlier this month.

"They wanted to be together," said Robeson.

Some opted to continue with distance learning.

For that, Kathy Coleman, who is the Director of Curriculum and Categorical Programs, indicated those students are doing so via live-stream through Zoom at the same time of in-person instructions.

A one-time stipend of $1,000 was approved by the school board for seventh and eighth grade and special education classroom teachers to provide the web streaming for students, who will be expected to log on to Zoom by 8:15 a.m. daily for attendance and morning instructions.

While subjects such as Math and English will be synchronous instructions every day, not so for Science Social Studies and other activities -- those subject areas may vary from day to day based on the teacher's plan.

The high school plan, which kicks on Nov. 30, will be similar to that of the middle schools.