Dear Manhattan Beach Unified School District Families and Staff,
I hope this letter finds you well. MBUSD continues to closely monitor the state of COVID in our schools and community. Today’s message focuses on steps we are taking to bring clubs and other student activities back to our campuses in a safe and prudent manner, along with other COVID-related updates.
On-campus Activities
Extra-curricular, co-curricular, clubs, and other on-campus activities are an important part of each student’s educational experience in MBUSD. Parents and other volunteers are a big part of making these special events and programs happen. We will begin to slowly bring parents and other volunteers back on to our campuses, beginning with a very small number of vaccinated individuals in non-classroom settings, and please watch for school-specific messaging from MBUSD principals.
Likewise, popular school events that take place outside of school hours, such as movie nights and bingo events, will begin next week at some of our schools. All of these events will be held outdoors, families will be seated in household pods and should not mingle, masks must be worn at all times unless eating or drinking within the designated pod, and 6 feet of physical distance must be maintained at all times. We will need to keep records (including contact information) for all attendees in case of a subsequent need for contact tracing. Anyone subject to a current isolation or quarantine order will be prohibited from attending.
We were pleased to resume MBX after-school elementary enrichment activities this week and are grateful for our partnership with MBX and for MBX’s commitment to implementing strict protocols to prevent potential exposure.
For now, all club activities will be held outdoors, with distancing, masks and seating charts required in order to avoid creating potential close contacts in these settings.
RUVNA Screening
Daily RUVNA screening is an important part of the individual and collective practices we can all take part in to reduce the spread of COVID in our schools and ensure as many students as possible receive in-person instruction at school every day.
Following guidance from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, we will add additional symptoms to the daily RUVNA screening for students beginning on Monday. The symptom list will now include:
- Runny nose
- Headache
- Sore throat
- Digestive Problems
- Nausea or Vomiting
- New Cough
The symptom screening is intended to ask parents to evaluate whether students have any symptoms that are new or out of the ordinary and “different from baseline.”
Thank you for checking your student each school day for any of these symptoms.
Masks
Our schools’ health and safety efforts are focused on ensuring our ability to continue to support and provide daily in-person instruction for our students. We are following guidance from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the California Department of Public Health requiring indoor masking at all times on school campuses which are important parts of this work. Wearing masks outdoors on MBUSD school campuses remains a requirement and please watch for an update on this and any changes to COVID quarantine protocols in next week’s message to the community.
Please note there are certain mask types not allowed on our campuses. The types of masks not allowed include masks with exhalation valves, bandanas, gaiters, handkerchiefs or other non-mask face coverings. Any student who needs a face mask at school will be provided one. Lastly, masks should fit snugly around the nose and chin without gaps around the sides of faces.
COVID Testing
We continue to work towards developing a robust testing program. Beach Cities Health District is providing tests for individuals whom the District identifies as being close contacts or symptomatic. We have already implemented required testing for unvaccinated high school athletes and will be implementing a program for middle school athletes next week. In addition, we are planning for required testing for unvaccinated staff. Finally, we are developing a program which will allow us to offer voluntary testing opportunities for all students and staff who wish to participate on a weekly basis.
COVID and Flu Vaccinations
The rate of MBUSD students aged 12-18 who have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine has risen from 89.1% to 89.9%. We strongly encourage any eligible student, family member and staff to get vaccinated against COVID.
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.
Let’s all continue to support our community, schools and one another.
Sincerely,
