We spotlight Nurse Monica Chan who visits Tri-Community in Compton, one of 10 county community schools on her weekly case load. LACOE community schools help local students who have been expelled graduate from high school and find careers. After a year of remote learning at home due to COVID-19, community schools also returned to in-person classes.

"School nurses had many roles and responsibilities before the pandemic, says Nurse Monica. "During the pandemic the past two years, we are facing even more challenges."

Tri-Community has free on-site school COVID-19 testing every Wednesday. Testing helps detect new cases and prevent outbreaks at schools and reduce transmission in the community. Once a case is identified, Nurse Monica calls families for contact tracing and gives isolation instructions. She makes sure students and staff are safe to return to school.

Many students find the one-on-one attention in small classes at community schools a better learning environment. They prefer to be interacting with their peers and teachers in person. "I didn't like Zoom and I was behind," says Hawk Freeman, a 9th grader.
"I feel much better now that I'm back in school. I can concentrate without distractions I had at home." "Everybody should have the opportunity to learn and online school wasn't doing any justice for us," explains 10th grader Juliana Aguirre. "I couldn't focus and needed a teacher to help me understand my work. It's better to be here in person and get that experience together."