Students and staff are encouraged to return to in-person instruction this coming fall on the Central Coast.In a joint statement, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz county superintendents said they collaborated with their public health officers to announce that they are encouraging full-day, full-week, in-person instructional programs in classrooms for all grades in the fall. The superintendents said they will continue to require face covering as a "common-sense risk reduction strategy, in line with California Department of Public Health." “Public health leaders have learned from the research and from the experiences of classroom instruction from the fall of 2020 through the spring of 2021 that the risk of transmission among children wearing masks is very low,” said Krystal Lomanto, San Benito County Superintendent of Schools.According to the CDC, K-12 schools that have implemented prevention strategies, including the use of masks, have been able to safely open for in-person instruction and can remain open. Additionally, increasing vaccination rates helps reduce the spread of new variants that are more likely to infect those who are unvaccinated.To learn more about your school’s plans for fall 2021, contact your students’ school or district administration.