#SMMUSD Parents Mostly Keep their Kids Home from School. Attendance is Light in Santa Monica due to Omicron

SMMUSD schools began again on Monday and Tuesday, Jan 3 and 4th. But the majority of parents report sending their kids to just one or two days, then keeping them home in light of increasing covid numbers.

Those who did send children to school noted that traffic was light, and the classrooms were sparsely populated with students. On social media, various parents compared their experiences.

"My daughter went to school on Tuesday. 2 absent teachers, hardly any students. This in a week when no homework had been scheduled. I didn't see the point of exposing her to Omicron the rest of the week. School in name only," wrote, Jackie, mother of a SamoHi student.

"I made the same decision as well. Sent kid on Tuesday and kept her home rest of week as a precaution," wrote Mrs. Chou, another mom.

"My guess is that with the huge numbers in elementary and middle school, a lot of siblings had to quarantine and a lot of families decided to keep their kids home until we know more. I’m also assuming some Wednesday testing results came in and some Samohi kids had to begin quarantine. I think next week will have very low attendance, too," posted Andrea.

"hoping there will be communication from the administration before Monday! The COVID dashboard is offline so hard to make informed decisions as parents," posted Jean.

"This is crazy that we aren’t getting information or a plan of any sort and that the dashboard is down. It was crazy enough that the school was opened up without kids being tested and now his knows how many kids positive and crickets from administration," posted Stacey.

Some complained that the school's are not responding to requests for information, as the "Covid Dashboard" at http://www.smmusd.org is down.

Omicron is now the dominant Covid-19 variant in LA County. The good news is that it seems to produce less serious illness in the great majority of patients.