The Los Altos School District is currently evaluating various scenarios to reopen our schools in the 2020-21 school year, while taking into account the necessary public health requirements to keep our students and staff safe and healthy. While we all want a return to normalcy in the next school year, it is very likely that some form of distance learning will be required. For that reason, LASD asked parents, teachers and students to provide feedback regarding their experience in Virtual School this year so that we may improve our program and ensure we come up with a model for the upcoming school year that provides the best educational experience possible for all students. Please take a look at the summary results of the survey here.

This document provides an overview explaining the changes to program offerings that the Los Altos School District has made in response to school closures to address the COVID-19 emergency and the major impacts of the closures on students and families.

Dear Los Altos School District Community, 

In the midst of a global pandemic that has laid bare the persistent inequities in our nation, our hearts are heavy from the recent race-related killings and ensuing events.  As protests surge in our local communities and beyond, we feel the need to speak out.  Silence and inaction only perpetuate injustice, bias, and racism.

In LASD we value and teach equity, diversity and inclusion.  We actively teach our students conflict resolution, to communicate their own feelings of injustice, and to rise against intolerance in defense of others.

But, recent events clearly show we must do more.  As a school district, we must ensure our students understand the injustices people of color face every day and work with our children to build a more just world together.

We are all partners in this effort.  Below are some resources to engage in direct discussions on culture and race with children. Even our youngest children can learn about race and racism in ways appropriate for them.

●    NPR Podcast: Why All Parents Should Talk with their Kids about Social Identity
●    Teaching Tolerance: Lessons for the classroom and home and A Parent’s Guide to Preventing and Responding to Prejudice
●    Today’s Parent: How to Talk to Kids about Racism, an age by age guide

For our part and as the governance team of our school district, we commit to our families, students and teachers, that we, as an entire school district community, will work to ensure our students are empowered with the tools to build a more equitable and just world.

We can and will do better for our children.

As always, thank you for your partnership.

Jeffrey Baier, Superintendent
Bryan Johnson, President, Board of Trustees
Vaishali Sirkay, Vice President, Board of Trustees
Steve Taglio, Clerk, Board of Trustees
Vladimir Ivanovic, Member, Board of Trustees
Jessica Speiser, Member, Board of Trustees
 

We hope that all of you are doing well as we continue to shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this challenging time, Living Classroom is helping to balance out "screen time" with backyard "green time" with our at-home activity videos that help connect students with our nature-based curriculum at home. If you haven't done so already, please visit the Living Classroom Parent Page where you can find at-home activity videos as well as additional nature-based resources (click here to learn how to make pretzels at home or here to learn how to plant a Three Sisters garden). We encourage you to also check out the Living Classroom - Los Altos School District YouTube Channel where we are posting LASD specific virtual garden tours, including our new LASD Mystery School Series videos which highlight the plants growing in the Living Classroom gardens at each of the schools (click here to watch the first video in this fun series... can you guess which school we are at?). Please share these resources widely and check back frequently as new videos and activities are being added weekly.

Keep Calm and Garden On! - Living Classroom Staff