Young students in Salinas stay indoors for eclipse

Cloud cover wasn’t the only thing stopping some people on the Central Coast from seeing the eclipse today. School funding also played a part.

We’ve heard so much about special eye glasses needed to watch the eclipse safely. but that point is moot if you can’t even get access to them.

That was the case for over 9,000 kindergarten through sixth grade students in the Salinas City Elementary School District. The district says they didn’t have the money to provide proper eclipse glasses to their many students, so they planned to treat the day as if it were a rainy day. Basically, during school hours, the kids would not be allowed outside and would have escorts for bathroom breaks. They then would spend their class time doing eclipse related activities, such as learning more about it and watching the astronomical event on tv’s and computers.

“I believe that many parents were very excited about the eclipse, they were excited that they were going to watch it inside, indoors. And that teachers were preparing activities in line to that. So we’re quite excited that the teachers and the students took advantage of this teachable moment,” said Salinas City Elementary School District Superintendent, Martha Martinez.

The main reason behind the rainy day protocol was safety. Looking into an eclipse can cause as much damage to our eyes as looking right into the sun. The school district wanted to make sure none of their kids hurt their eyes at all.

And that might have worked out for those students who watched indoors because, as we all know, those of us on the Central Coast who tried watching outside pretty much didn’t see anything thanks to the cloud cover that robbed us from seeing today’s phenomenon.