COVID Update
Student vaccination rates continue to rise, and the rate of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County continues to remain low. This is good news and supports our primary goal of ensuring that as many students as possible are able to participate in in-person instruction for as many days as possible. We are also working to ensure safe and healthy classrooms and campuses and to approximate a normal and regular school year as much as possible, despite the COVID variants present in our community. These are all good goals; at the same time, they will sometimes compete with each other as we implement our educational programs and daily instruction, and we must mediate the tension between them to find the right balance for our schools. We are accomplishing this by taking purposeful, coordinated and calibrated steps as we launch important co-curricular, extra-curricular and student and family engagement activities.
As an example, we were thrilled to welcome our many MBX after-school classes back on our campuses the week of September 13. We have been allowing clubs to meet on campus outdoors, and on October 4 they were able to move indoors. Mira Costa High School has provided a terrific week of homecoming activities that have included spirit wear days, a pep rally, tonight’s home football game and halftime show, and tomorrow’s “On the Red Carpet” indoor and outdoor Homecoming dance. All of this was done with careful attention to safety protocols; for instance, over 1000 students submitted negative COVID PCR test results taken in the days preceding the dance in order to be able to attend.
Important school site developments include a gradual return of parent volunteers (who must be vaccinated) and we are in the process of turning outdoor water fountains back on over the next month. Outdoor masking will no longer be required on the Preschool campus, beginning Monday, October 11, though it will still be recommended. This is because we understand that for some Preschool students, it is challenging to keep a mask on at all times through a long school day and because Preschool students are not included in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Modified Quarantine which the District recently began implementing. Preschool students must follow the traditional quarantine timeline program (requiring seven to ten days of quarantine) if exposed to COVID, regardless of whether or not a mask was worn.
Modified Quarantine (MQ)
MBUSD began implementing the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) Modified Quarantine on Monday, September 27. This program directly supports our goal of making sure as many students as possible are able participate in in-person instruction. Under the modified quarantine option, an unvaccinated grade TK-12 student who is identified as being a close contact due to exposure to a confirmed COVID-19 case while at school can continue in-person instruction at school if the school can verify that both the positive case and the close contact were masked during the entire period of potential exposure. The close contact must be tested periodically and must remain under quarantine at home outside of the regular school day. Our outdoor masking policy at the elementary and middle school levels is critical to ensuring that we are taking full advantage of the flexibilities provided by the MQ, and we are grateful that LACDPH’s data provided evidence that a Modified Quarantine could be implemented in school environments because of the mitigation measures we have in place, along with low school and community transmission rates.
COVID Testing
Regular COVID testing is an important part of our effort to mitigate the spread of the virus. If your student is not already enrolled in our free weekly on-campus COVID testing program, we encourage you to provide your consent for them to participate. You should have received information from your school site about this program; you can find the registration form here.
COVID and Flu Vaccinations
If your child has been vaccinated, we are requesting documentation of their full vaccination status. This is voluntary, but highly encouraged as this information is helpful in determining whether a student needs to quarantine when deemed a close contact of someone who has received a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.
If you have already submitted a copy of your student's vaccination record in paper form to the office or as a student athlete, you do NOT need to re-submit.
All students who are fully vaccinated should complete this MBMS Form or this MCHS Form as soon as possible. Please note you must use your student’s @mbusdapps email address to submit proof of vaccination.
Per the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the following are acceptable for proof of vaccination:
- COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card (issued by the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, or WHO Yellow Card, which includes the name of the person vaccinated, type of vaccine provided, and date of last dose administered), or;
- A photo of a Vaccination Record Card as a separate document, or;
- A photo of a student’s Vaccination Record Card stored on a phone or electronic device, or;
- Documentation of COVID-19 vaccination from a health care provider, or;
- Digital record that includes a QR code that when scanned by a SMART Health Card reader displays to the reader student name, date of birth, vaccine dates and vaccine type.
We strongly encourage any eligible students, family members, staff members, and community members to get vaccinated against COVID. We know that the rate of MBUSD students aged 12-18 who have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine has risen from 89.1% to 91.6% over the last month - this will be extremely beneficial to our community in protecting against infection and reducing the need to require students to stay home to quarantine.
Governor Newsom recently announced plans to require COVID vaccinations for students once vaccinations are approved by the FDA. Based on what we know now, the earliest implementation date for this requirement would be July, 2022. More details will be shared once known.
It is also flu season, and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health recommends that everyone six months and older should be immunized for flu, including healthy children and healthy adults. You can find out how to obtain a free or low-cost flu shot here.
