Dear Los Altos School District Community, 

As you may have heard, yesterday Santa Clara County Public Health Department (SCCPHD) announced encouraging news regarding the County’s progress to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  Based on the new State of California color-coded reopening system, as of Tuesday this week, Santa Clara County has stayed in the “Red” Tier for 14 consecutive days.

Schools May Reopen Countywide to All Grade Levels
SCCPHD’s announcement means that all schools in Santa Clara County are eligible to reopen for in-person learning at all grade levels, with modifications based on strict adherence to all state and local guidelines. Santa Clara County has been a leader in strong public health and safety standards to prevent the spread of COVID-19, ensure robust testing capability, and provide the contact tracing needed to reopening our economy and our schools.

Family Town Hall Forum
LASD will host a Town Hall Forum on Thursday, September 24 from 7:00pm-8:30pm to provide information and answer questions regarding our phased approach to reopening our campuses for in-person learning at the TK-6th grade level.  This town hall is particularly well-timed for our TK-1st Grade families, whose students will return to campus first.  To register, please click here.

With the announcement from SCCPHD, we now know we may reopen to all grade levels and are no longer operating under the waiver (as described in my prior messages). We will host another forum in the coming weeks regarding our reopening plans for our junior high schools. Please keep an eye out for an invitation from your principal.

LASD’s Reopening Plans
LASD has been preparing for months to safely and responsibly reopen our schools with a phased and measured approach to ensure our reopening remains sustainable.  We will proceed with returning students to in-person learning on our campuses according to our Reopening and Instructional plans.  We will always strictly adhere to any changes in state or local guidelines to ensure student, staff and community safety. Please visit our Reopening and Coronavirus web pages for more information and FAQs.

Reopening Schedule
The below chart shows the schedule for students’ return to campus by grade level with the coinciding deadline to switch programs.  It is important to note our TK, Kindergarten and 1st grade students will be returning first, so the deadline to switch programs for these students is coming up on September 28.  Please notify your principal by email by the corresponding grade level deadline if you would like to change your child’s enrollment to either the Virtual School or the Blended Learning (in-person) program, which will combine two days on-campus with three days of asynchronous learning each week.

As always, we will monitor the air quality to ensure student safety and provide for proper ventilation in our classrooms to protect everyone’s health.  If necessary we will delay the start date or learn remotely on days with poor air quality.

Thoughts on Going Back to School 
As educators dedicated to the academic success and emotional well-being of every one of our students, we believe the best place for children to learn is in our classrooms.  We recognize none of us have ever experienced a classroom as we will in the coming days:  wearing masks, physically distancing ourselves, regularly washing our hands, and disinfecting our classrooms.  While it’s hard to imagine school under these circumstances, what we’ve heard from colleagues across the globe is that despite these changes in our students’ physical environment and daily routines, the joy of learning and social connectedness will endure in this new educational world.  

For those students and families who prefer to remain in a distance learning model, we will continue to provide a robust academic experience with the well-rounded curriculum for which our schools are known through LASD Virtual School.  We will build community in LASD Virtual School and protect those ties that bind us to our neighborhood school communities, too.

As we move forward together in partnership to provide an excellent education to all students despite these challenging times, I am reminded of all that we have overcome and accomplished together since our schools first had to shut their doors in March.  I am constantly inspired by all of your dedication to our children and to one another.  If you have questions as we continue to move ahead, please feel free to contact me.  I’m happy to help. 

Sincerely, 

Jeffrey Baier
Superintendent
Los Altos School District