Dear Superintendents and School Leaders,

I'm writing with updates on several COVID-19-related items that have arisen since my last message.

Gov. Newsom announced this morning that, beginning March 1, each county will set aside 10% of its vaccine doses for school employees and child care workers. According to the announcement, within the county, the priority will be school staff currently working in person, then staff that will be in person in the near future. The governor’s office is expecting to release more details around this by Tuesday. We will share additional information as it becomes available.

If the trends hold, we could see the county’s tier placement change as early as March 9, with schools eligible to reopen without county or California Department of Public Health (CDPH) review as early as March 15. While that is more possibility than prediction, there’s a lot of work to do between now and then to prepare for that milestone.

To ensure that school plans have been updated to reflect the current guidance, all school leaders, including principals and assistant principals, should read the consolidated framework and associated FAQ. For resources on how to implement the guidance, the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence Health and Safety Guidebook is an excellent resource.

The next reporting window will open Feb. 22 for districts, charters, and private schools to report details on in-person instruction for the state dashboard. On Monday morning, a reminder email with a link to the data submission site will be sent by the state to each district, charter school, and private school point of contact who has registered.

CDPH released today new guidance on outdoor and indoor youth and recreational adult sports activities. The guidance applies to all organized youth sports and recreation — including school- and community-sponsored programs, and privately organized clubs and leagues — and adult recreational sports. The guidelines will take effect Feb. 26.

While districts and schools should follow this guidance for all extracurricular activities, and should use the tiers to determine which physical education activities they should engage students in, they should use the Jan. 14 consolidated schools guidance to guide all other decisions related to physical education.

The County of San Diego has asked districts, charters, and private schools that are planning to use the state’s safety review process to please email a copy of your documents to COVID-Education@sdcounty.ca.gov.

Thank you for all you are doing during these unprecedented times. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or need support.

Sincerely,

Paul

email: paul.gothold@sdcoe.net