Dear Los Altos School District Families, 

I want to update you on new restrictions and recommendations from state and local public health officials related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.  With the upcoming Thanksgiving and winter breaks, it’s essential we heed these warnings to keep our community safe and our schools open.

Santa Clara County to Purple Tier
Due to a dramatic increase in cases in Santa Clara County, Governor Newsom announced the state is moving our county back to the most restrictive, Purple Tier, on Tuesday, November 17. With the fall back into the Purple Tier, the county and state will reinstate many restrictions, including the closure of indoor dining and new limits on other high risk activities, to prevent the further spread of illness.   You can read the full press release from Santa Clara County here and the state here. 

Impacts to Our Schools 
Now that our schools have already started to reopen, our students can continue to return to our campuses in our phased approach despite Santa Clara County’s move back into Purple Tier.  With all state and local health and safety measures implemented and with a strong tracking system in place, LASD is in a position to ensure we mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in all our schools.  

To that end, California has implemented a localized solution to measure the spread of illness in our schools and determine when a school or school district closure is required. In short, a school must close if 5% of the totality of its staff and students test positive in a 14-day period and a district must close if 25% of its schools close.  As always, LASD will continue to work with state and local public health experts to ensure we stay vigilant in implementing all public health requirements to keep our schools safe, healthy, and open for all students and teachers in our community. 

Update: California Issues Travel Advisory, Limits to Interactions
Santa Clara County issued guidance to local residents regarding the upcoming holiday season, safer celebrations and a recommendation to quarantine for 14-days after travel. Likewise, the State of California issued a Travel Advisory urging residents to stay home or in their region and avoid travel to other states or countries.  The Advisory urged anyone arriving in California from other states or countries, including returning residents, to quarantine for 14 days after arrival.  It is important to recognize travel alone is not the high-risk behavior to avoid. The high-risk behavior is mixing one household with another, even for just an evening. California urged residents to limit their interactions to people in their own household only. 

Doing Our Part to Prevent the Spread
Wearing masks, staying physically distanced and regularly washing your hands are key preventative measures to stay safe and healthy.  As a school community dedicated to our children’s success, we know the best place for many of our students to learn is on our campuses.  To keep our schools open, please take the time to review and acquaint yourself with our Community Expectations for Healthy Schools.  Whether your child is in Virtual School or our Blended Learning program, all of us must adhere to these guidelines to prevent the spread of illness. 

While this Thanksgiving will be like none other we’ve ever experienced, I hope you are able to enjoy a safe celebration.  I’m grateful to all of you for your commitment to our schools and our community’s health.

Sincerely, 

Jeffrey Baier
Superintendent
Los Altos School District
 

Dear LASD Community, 

Yesterday, we welcomed our first cohorts of TK-1st Graders back to campus! It was a wonderful day of learning as students and teachers greeted each other in their classrooms. With TK-1st graders and SDC students on campus again, we offer a huge thank you to our amazing teachers and staff for their hard work in this amazing endeavor.

While we're very pleased with this milestone, there are a number of challenges that come with implementing complex health and safety measures to help prevent the spread of illness and keep our entire community healthy.  We appreciate everyone’s attention to and cooperation with the LASD Community Expectations for Healthy Schools. 

Revised Reopening Schedule
We have always believed that a slow and measured approach to bringing students back to school for in-person learning will give us the best chance for a sustained reopening and continuity of instruction for all of our students. For that reason, and now that we better understand the logistics required as we return students to campus, we have revised our reopening schedule for the rest of the grade levels. Each returning group of students will continue to have at least a three-week separation of return dates to ensure health and safety protocols are in place and operations are running smoothly.  

We have made three important changes to the return schedule: 

1. We are shifting the return dates of the 2nd through 5th grade return back by one week to better align with the academic calendar, including the end of the first trimester and the Thanksgiving break. 
   1. Second and Third Grades will now return November 9 instead of November 2
   2. Fourth and Fifth Grades will return December 7 instead of November 30
2. We are moving the return date for 6th through 8th graders to January. The decision to delay was not taken lightly, but the instructional programs for grades 6-8 are much more complex than for our TK-5th grade students. Students in grades 6-8 have multiple teachers specializing in each subject, which is very different from the single teacher lower-elementary stable cohort model. Thus, it is taking longer than expected to determine the best way forward to ensure safety while delivering the best possible instruction. 
   1. Sixth Grade will now return January 11 instead of November 30
   2. Seventh Grade will now return January 20 instead of November 2
   3. Eighth Grade will now return January 20 instead of November 30
3. We are altering the "program switch dates." As you may recall, our prior plan allowed families to switch between the Blended and Virtual models every six weeks.  With experience we have learned that such a cadence is not sustainable for students, teachers, staff and the district office.  Under the new plan, families can change their child's program to Virtual or Blended prior to their child's grade-level return date and then on two additional "program switch dates" available to all grade levels. We believe that this reduction in frequency of program switches will provide much more stability for all teachers and students.

Please take a look at the updated table of return and notification dates below.  A reminder:  to change your child’s program to either Blended or Virtual, please email your principal by the Notification Deadline noted below.

We recognize that these changes may cause an inconvenience for our families and understand distance learning is difficult for many of our students. However, we also know that our families share our commitment to a safe return to campus with an excellent instructional program to continue our students' success.

As we continue to move forward, our principals and I will provide additional information on the detailed plans for our 6th-8th grade students, including a presentation to the Board of Trustees at its meeting on Monday, November 9th. We will also plan to hold Parent and Staff Town Halls to answer questions and concerns before the Thanksgiving Break (tentatively, the week of November 16). Please stay tuned for more information. 

Thank you as always for your partnership. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at jbaier@lasdschools.org.

Sincerely, 
Jeffrey Baier
Superintendent
Los Altos School District