Education

COVID-19 cases soared at New Orleans Public Schools during the first week of instruction in 2022, mirroring the skyrocketing cases across the city and the state, while some East Baton Rouge Parish schools pivot to virtual learning in January.

Some Louisiana colleges and universities have adjusted their spring semester plans to respond to the omicron variant, though they’re taking varying approaches.

Louisiana’s public schools will reopen this week largely as planned, many without implementing guidance from the state’s health department meant to slow the omicron variant’s spread.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards is moving forward with a Louisiana Department of Health plan to add COVID-19 vaccinations to the list of required immunizations for Louisiana school children, overriding the Republican-controlled state legislative committee that voted against the rule last week.

Louisiana State University’s Baton Rouge campus lifted its mask mandate Wednesday morning, but will continue requiring monthly COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated students, according to a statement from LSU President William Tate IV.

Louisiana, despite being well accustomed to hurricanes, has no policies in place to help public schools recover from a disaster financially.

Some Louisiana parents will soon have the option to decide whether to send their child back to school or keep them at home following a suspected COVID-19 exposure.

More than 72,000 K-12 students in Louisiana have not returned to the classroom since Hurricane Ida hit late last month, Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley told state legislative members during a Tuesday meeting.

The new superintendent of schools in East Baton Rouge Parish is facing criticism for a proposal that would bring students and staff back to the classroom two weeks earlier than planned.

Terrebonne Parish School Board members voted Tuesday night to close Pointe-Aux-Chenes Elementary School.