Huntington Beach Union High School District heads back to school

Take the sack lunch, but don’t forget your mask, too.

It was the first day of school Wednesday in the Huntington Beach Union High School District, as thousands of students poured back onto the campuses at Edison, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Marina, Ocean View and Westminster high schools.

Marina High School students leave the campus on the first day of the new school year.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

The district, which is home to more than 16,000 students, is returning to full-time in-person instruction for the 2021-22 school year. This comes after the HBUHSD expanded to four days a week of in-person instruction last April, for the end of the previous school year.

Masks continue to be required indoors for students, staff and visitors during the coronavirus pandemic, per instructions from the California Department of Public Health and Orange County Public Heath Care Agency. The exception is if a student has an exemption due to a medical condition, mental health condition or disability, as diagnosed by a licensed healthcare provider. Masks are also mandatory on buses, but they are optional outside.

Members of the band at Marina High School practice on Wednesday, the first day of school for the 2021-22 year.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

District spokeswoman Hayley Berbower, who spent her day traveling around to the different school sites, said the first day of school was “smooth” and there were no issues with mask usage.

“It was a great day districtwide,” she said in an email.

The three K-8 school districts that feed into the HBUHSD — Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach City and Ocean View — all begin classes next week. The Fountain Valley and Ocean View school districts start on Sept. 8, and Huntington Beach City the following day.

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