Dear SPUSD Families, Faculty, Staff, and Administrators,

 

There is good news for our community in that Los Angeles County continues to see a decrease in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. SPUSD remains vigilant in following the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) mandates and mitigation measures to help keep positivity rates low. While we have seen new cases this week, to date we have no evidence of transmission of the virus in our schools. Yesterday, LACDPH released modified quarantine guidance for all public schools within Los Angeles County. Members of the SPUSD Health Team and administration will be reviewing the implications and feasibility of this recommendation and will keep you informed if and when we make any changes to the current protocols.

 

We must continue to work together to combat COVID-19, and parent support in this effort is critical. Please keep your child(ren) home from school when they are sick. Anyone who has symptoms of infectious illness must stay home and seek testing and care. It is also very important to adhere to the LACDPH travel advisories, linked here. The advisories are very clear for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, especially for children who do not meet the age requirements for vaccination.

 

Remember that what occurs outside of our schools enters our school classrooms. Please help us minimize the impact of COVID-19 by doing your part at home, on the weekends, and before sending your child(ren) to school. Thank you again for your support.

 

This month’s School Board meeting on September 14 included some terrific information on a variety of topics. Following are some highlights from the meeting:

 

Update on COVID-19 and Kids
Dr. Ken Zangwill, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Director of Infection and Control, parent, and member of the SPUSD COVID Compliance Task Force shared a presentation titled, “Kids and COVID-19: Where are we now?”. I encourage everyone to take the time to listen to the research which is consistent with what we heard from the LACDPH this week. Case rates are decreasing and the decreases occurred even as children returned to school. The data supports that mitigation measures in schools are working. Here is a link to the presentation.

 

Vaccine Mandate for SPUSD Employees
The SPUSD Board also passed a resolution requiring all District employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (Resolution 2021-2022-02) before November 12, 2021. This is an update to our previous California law that required employees to provide proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing.

 

California Voting Rights Act (CVRA)
SPUSD, like many other school districts in the State, is required by law to change the process of how members of the Board of Education are elected to office. In 2020, the SPUSD Board directed staff to begin the process of moving SPUSD from at-large elections to by-trustee area elections. The District has hired an outside demographer to help with this process and held the first of four public hearings on September 14 during the board meeting. The second public hearing is scheduled for October 12, 2021.

 

For a complete explanation of the CVRA, please refer to the information posted on our website and to the presentation given during the board meeting. A community forum to further explain the CVRA and to gather the public’s input will be held on Monday, September 20, 2021. We hope you will join us.

 

Regards,

 

Geoff Yantz, Ed.D.
Superintendent