Dear Los Altos School District Community,

As a school community, parents, staff and students are guided by core values rooted in respect for one another.  This shared sense of commitment to one another’s safety, health and well-being is one of the reasons why our schools are wonderful places to teach and learn.

In the midst of this pandemic, we all must take these core values just one step further, with a consistent mindset to prevent the spread of illness.  We must think more deeply about our own health and its effect on others because our individual actions and decisions will make a huge difference and help us minimize the risk of illness for all the members of our community. While it is very likely there will be isolated COVID cases in our community, by strictly adhering to all state and local regulations we will help prevent the further spread of illness.

As we resume in-person school, we ask all community members, including those who are not physically returning to campus, to commit to the Los Altos School District Community Expectations for Healthy Schools.  Please carefully review these expectations below.

Los Altos School District 

Community Expectations for Healthy Schools

In the year ahead, we ask all community members--children, families, staff--to commit to the following:

• Limit the spread of COVID-19 by making your own health and safety, as well as the health and safety of other community members a priority.
• Abide by all policies, procedures, and orders related to COVID-19 implemented by the state, county, and school district.
• Practice good personal hygiene consistent with public health protocols, such as frequent hand washing for 20 seconds and appropriately covering coughs and sneezes.
• Conduct daily symptom checks before entering campus via the daily email and/or text you will receive from LASD. Carefully monitor symptoms of your child(ren), yourself and household members (including any individuals working in your home).
• Be more mindful and extra cautious. Do not come to campus if you or your child feel at all unwell, if you have tested positive for COVID-19, or are a close contact to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Stay home and isolate.  In short,  no one should come to campus if they do not feel well.
• Notify your school office immediately, if you have tested positive for COVID-19 or been exposed to someone who has tested positive.
• All adults and all TK-8th grade students will be required to wear a face covering on campus at all times, unless eating, drinking or engaging in vigorous physical activity. 
• All staff and students are strongly encouraged to receive a flu vaccination before returning to campus.
• Practice physical distancing by maintaining at least a 6-foot distance from others.
• Avoid all large gatherings and environments in which people are not wearing face coverings and not practicing physical distancing. 
• Per SCCPHD guidelines, children and youth may only participate in one after school or non-classroom cohort program at a time and may not move from one program to another more than once every three weeks.
• Abide by all current local, state and federal guidelines regarding unnecessary travel. 

Understand that to keep our campuses healthy, parents, staff and students may need to move to distance learning on short notice due to an identified COVID-19 case in the cohort or in the school. Flexibility will be required to continue our students’ education while protecting our community’s health and safety.

Our ability to keep our schools open is dependent upon all of us strictly adhering to these guidelines to prevent the spread of illness. We should all feel empowered to encourage and remind one another to abide by these guidelines. 

We look forward to welcoming students back to campus and continuing top-quality education for all students, both in our neighborhood school classrooms and LASD Virtual School.

Sincerely, 

Jeffrey Baier
Superintendent
Los Altos School District