Dear SPUSD Families, Faculty, Staff, and Administrators,
Happy Holidays everyone! Thank you for being great partners and supporting public education in South Pasadena. Hats off to our teachers and support staff for all they have done this semester to provide an educational experience that is representative of South Pasadena Unified’s mission and core values. We continue to be a destination school district because of our incredible team and students along with parent and community support.
Please be safe during break and continue to take precautions to reduce the risk of COVID-19. If you and your children are eligible, fully vaccinate yourselves and get a booster shot. Also, it is important to continue masking, physical distancing, and being diligent about hand hygiene.
Remember that what happens outside of our schools comes back into our classrooms. If you are traveling during the break, please adhere to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health guidelines including the new travel advisories, linked here. When we return, please do not send your children to school if they are showing symptoms of infectious illness. Closely adhering to this particular guideline is a simple and extremely effective way for parents to assist our SPUSD health team and is less disruptive to the classes and schools.
During the break, SPUSD will not be offering COVID-19 surveillance testing on December 28, 2021 or January 4, 2022. The testing program will resume on Tuesday, January 11, 2022. Here is a link to testing sites in Los Angeles county if you or your families need to be tested while school is not in session.
On December 14, 2021 at the Board of Education meeting, Board members recognized Dr. Ruby Kalra for serving as the 2021 Board President. In a year filled with uncertainty, Dr. Kalra served as a strong advocate for students while also empathetically leading the Board through difficult decision making. The Board also approved the appointment of Zahir Robb as the 2022 Board President and Dr. Patricia Martinez-Miller as the new Board Clerk. Thank you to our entire Board for your continuous leadership, encouragement, and commitment to our families, students, faculty, and staff.
The Board meeting also included approval of the District’s Strategic Plan. Since September, the Board of Education has been reviewing, discussing and revising the plan. The Board approved the recommended updates at Tuesday’s meeting. The revised SPUSD Strategic Plan may be found here.
On behalf of the SPUSD, we wish you a wonderful holiday season and look forward to welcoming your child(ren) back to school on Monday, January 10, 2022. Please enjoy this bit of holiday cheer from Marengo 2nd graders in Mrs. Lang’s class who took a walking field trip to the South Pasadena Library’s Community Room last week and shared musical merriment with families and friends.
Enjoy the Winter Break,
Geoff Yantz, Ed.D.
Superintendent