Just three Garden Grove Unified School District campuses remain in the modified evacuation zone that law enforcement announced Monday evening.
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With progress made in securing a malfunctioning tank containing a flammable, volatile chemical used in plastics and manufacturing at an aerospace plant in West Garden Grove, officials announced a smaller footprint for the evacuation zone.
With the new evacuation zone set Monday evening, nine Garden Grove Unified schools are no longer affected and will reopen normally on Tuesday, Garden Grove district officials said in an online post.
Still evacuated were Alamitos Intermediate, Lawrence Elementary and Wakeham Elementary, they said.
“We are grateful to our emergency responders and partner agencies for their continued work to improve conditions and support our community throughout this incident,” district officials said in their Monday evening update. “While this remains an active situation and mitigation efforts are still ongoing, district staff will continue working closely with emergency officials to monitor conditions and prioritize the safety of all students and staff.”
District officials had warned previously that students who attend schools remaining in the evacuation zones should be prepared to pivot to online learning on Tuesday if the evacuations continue and to watch for more information from their schools. They also said affected students in evacuation areas would “be held harmless in respect to attendance and grades during this challenging time.”
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County officials said about 16,000 people remain under evacuation orders as of Monday evening, and that was not expected to change overnight.
High school graduations scheduled to begin Tuesday are currently expected to go on as planned, officials have said.
Scheduled to have commencement ceremonies at 2 p.m. on Tuesday are Bolsa Grande High at the campus stadium and Garden Grove High at its Michael A. Monsoor Memorial Stadium. Both stadiums are outside the evacuation area.
At 6 p.m. Tuesday, ceremonies are planned for La Quinta High at the Bolsa Grande stadium and Santiago High at Monsoor Stadium.
More graduations are planned for Wednesday.
The Westminster School District, which had Fryberger Elementary and Sequoia Elementary within the active evacuation zone before it was reduced Monday evening, said all of the district’s schools are now free to open and will resume normal in-person operations on Tuesday.
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