COVID Update

Updated 7/30/20

Dear Parents and Educators,

I have spent the afternoon navigating what it actually means to be on the State Monitoring List and the impact on our schools. Here is the most accurate interpretation of the information I have right now. I have also learned that the data on the state's website is not always in-sync with county data, so you may see some variance between sites.

    • The County was informed last night that San Mateo County is in the 3-day “Active Engagement” phase that precedes placement on the State’s monitoring list due to the county's case rate/100,000 population exceeding the State benchmark of 100.
    • The rate today is 110.4
    • The figure from yesterday was 104.6
    • Should the county case rate remain above 100 for three consecutive days, the activity restrictions announced by the Governor on July 13 will apply to San Mateo County. These include:
    • Closing additional indoor operations for certain sectors which promote the mixing of populations beyond households and make adherence to physical distancing with face coverings difficult. Within those sectors, those that are not able to continue their business through outdoor operations must close that portion of their business effective immediately in order to further mitigate the spread of the virus. This applies to the following sectors and would be effective for a minimum of 14 days:
        • Gyms and Fitness Centers
        • Places of Worship
        • Indoor Protests
        • Offices for Non-Critical Infrastructure Sectors as identified at covid19.ca.gov
        • Personal Care Services (including nail salons, massage parlors, and tattoo parlors)
        • Hair Salons and Barbershops
        • Malls
    • The Governor also has directed that schools in counties on the watch list cannot open in-person at the middle or high school levels until 14 days after being taken off the monitoring list and must work with the County Health Officer, via a waiver process, if an elementary school seeks to offer in-person instruction.
    • The State has relayed that the above restrictions would go into effect at 12:01 AM on Saturday, August 1.

In terms of the waiver process, Dr. Erica Pan, State Epidemiologist, would provide guidelines for a waiver and those guidelines have not yet been provided to county offices of education or local school districts. According to Nancy Magee (San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools), districts (with elementary schools) interested in a waiver would need to have specific re-opening plans that include contact tracing and testing of staff.

Again, this waiver process has not yet been shared with schools, so we will continue to be on the lookout for additional information. At this time, following the mandates from the Governor, we will be opening our schools via Distance Learning.

As a reminder, we have a Board Meeting (via Zoom) on Wednesday, Aug. 5th at 5 PM. Matthew Lindner, Director, Educational Services and Maureen Sullivan, Director, Instructional Technology and Remote School Coordinator will give an update to the Board on Distance Learning and Remote School.

I will continue to update you and will send a communication to you on Friday including the Zoom link for the Board Meeting.

Thank you for your continued support and patience as we prepare for the start of school.

Louann

Louann Carlomagno, Ed.D.

Superintendent