I hope you enjoyed a peaceful and rejuvenating Thanksgiving Break. I sincerely appreciate all the families who participated in safer Thanksgiving celebrations this year; we will need to keep that up as the December holidays approach. You may have seen that San Mateo County has moved back into the most restrictive Purple (widespread) Tier of the California Blueprint for a Safer Economy. While this brings further restrictions on our personal gatherings and business operations, schools are not included in the restriction. As such, MPCSD will be open in its Hybrid mode with B Week tomorrow, Monday, November 30.
We understand that remaining open when in an otherwise restrictive tier brings questions and concerns; we’d like to address some of those here.
Why is MPCSD opting not to move to Distance Learning now?
This is a reasonable question and one we addressed prior to Thanksgiving Break. The most important factor in the Board’s decision to “stay the course” is that many families depend on schools to remain open and those families have taken the necessary steps to refrain from risky behavior so that schools can continue to safely serve students. It is for those families that schools remain open.
Additionally, it is important to put our local and regional situation into context. Locally, since opening on September 8, MPCSD has experienced relatively low positivity among the students and teachers reporting in person. To date, only 13 students or staff have tested positive, none of whom contracted or spread COVID at school. This indicates what national data suggests about schools--when strict health procedures are implemented and followed, risks are significantly mitigated.
Regionally, SMC was the last of the Bay Area counties to be moved to the most restrictive tier: purple. While certainly concerning, when compared to health metrics in other states and nations, the metrics used by California are considered conservative. This is not to say that the increase is not a concern; it is. Rather it is to say that the conservative metrics offer the School Board greater confidence in the San Mateo County Health Department and San Mateo County Office of Education’s recommendation that already open schools remain open even under purple as long as their internal data indicate no evidence of spread. Recently, CHHS Secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, and CDPH Acting State Public Health Officer, Dr. Erica Pan discussed these issues in “COVID-19 Updates and Public Schools: A Conversation with State Public Health Leaders.”
I traveled or otherwise engaged in higher-risk behavior over Thanksgiving; what should I do?
Simple answer: stay home! I implore all families that traveled out of the Bay Area or participated in a large indoor gathering or any other risky behaviors over Thanksgiving Break to quarantine for 14 days, as the CDC strongly advises. Our teachers and front office staff are ready and willing to make accommodations for your student(s) to learn at home with an Independent Study Plan (ISP) while you quarantine. Please reach out to your teacher to create an ISP for your student(s). There are many reasons why a family may have traveled; we do not judge. However, for the safety of all students and staff and to help keep our schools open, please follow health guidelines and self-quarantine to prevent the unintentional spread of COVID within our community. Remember to report any positive COVID case within your home to your school principal and/or our District Nurse, Lianne Jemelian.
What are my options if my children are in Hybrid, BUT I’m nervous about sending them back to school when our county is in purple?
We understand the heightened concern, especially as there is so much uncertainty about how the Thanksgiving holiday will actually impact COVID spread. We invite Hybrid families unwilling to send their child(ren) back to school tomorrow to opt for an ISP (Independent Study Plan) for their child for one or two weeks to provide time for you to further assess the local data.
What standard is MPCSD utilizing to move back to Distance Learning for ALL?
The School Board will hold a special meeting this Thursday, December 3 at 5:00 p.m. over Zoom to discuss what internal metrics they will apply for the return of all students to distance learning beyond what the CDPH advises (5% positivity among students & staff). The Board has indicated that there may be a level of community spread at which they would move all classes back to distance learning, even if it were not required by the Pandemic Recovery Framework. To join the meeting live, please see details here. I will report any new guidelines the Board outlines following the meeting.
What COVID testing opportunities exist for my child and family?
In partnership with Curative, MPCSD will once again offer community COVID testing at Hillview on December 4 and 11, from 3-9 p.m. We expect demand to be very high following the Thanksgiving holiday. Curative has let us know that they cannot provide any additional capacity beyond their initial offering. Thus, acting fast to sign up for testing is essential if you want to test with Curative at Hillview. As soon as the registration link is available to us, we will share it directly with Hybrid families via email and post on the district website. There are also many local testing options listed at our COVID FAQ site here.
Remember, a negative test only indicates that you were “likely” negative when the test was taken. While still not foolproof, more than one test from 5-14 days after high-risk behavior is recommended to have the highest confidence in a negative result.
We hope to begin offering daily community testing as early as December 7; stay tuned for an official announcement.
Please stay well and keep up the great work following our local and state health guidance.
Sincerely,
Erik
