Since May, we have been busy planning for school this fall. Our goal is to go into the next school year with a plan that provides high-quality instruction to students in a safe environment.

The reality is that when classes resume this fall, COVID-19 will still be here. Safety for our students, staff, and families remains a top priority and we are adapting to the realities that the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet contained, and in fact, cases are spiking throughout California, including our local area.

In our planning, we are following the safety guidelines outlined by the California Department of Public Health and the California Department of Education, as well as directives from local county health officers. We’ve also taken into account the feedback shared in the parent survey back in May. 

Our leadership team along with our employee associations have been considering and evaluating a variety of options for the fall to meet our student’s needs. In addition to planning from our leadership team, we created grade-level committees made up of staff from around the district. We have had multiple grade-level committee meetings to evaluate the best options for each grade level and all options include limiting group sizes, social distancing in all settings, and reducing student movement during the day and cross-contamination of classrooms. We also had our district safety committee develop recommendations for mitigation and safety measures for all school and we have narrowed it down to three educational options.

On Friday, July 17, 2020, in his press conference, Governor Newsom announced the California Department of Public Health has released updated Guidance for Schools and School-Based Programs and he also set the metrics that all schools (public and private) and county public health officials must use to determine whether to reopen schools to in-person instruction. This guidance addresses the wearing of face coverings, social distancing, increased hygiene practices and cleaning, as well as rules for operating home to school transportation.

You can find the Guidance for Schools and School-Based Programs here (it’s part of the covid19.ca.gov website). The specific metrics schools must meet to open to in-person instruction as well as metrics to remain open include:

• Schools and school districts can reopen only when their county has been off of the monitoring list for 14 days.
• Criteria for closing a classroom and/or school: “When there is one person confirmed with COVID19, the classroom cohort goes home for a 14-day quarantine period. A school goes home when multiple cohorts have cases or more than 5% of school tests positive.”
• Criteria for closing a district: “A superintendent should close a school district if 25% or more of schools in a district have closed due to COVID-19 within 14 days, in consultation with the local public health department.”

The 2020-2021 school year is scheduled to start on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 and based on the data at that time and following CDPH's metrics, a decision for the start of school will be made at our August 5, 2020 board meeting. 

Thank you for your continued support and patience and please keep doing your part and keep social distancing!