Novato Unified School District Superintendent's Weekly Update For January 15, 2021

Novato CA

16 January, 2021

1:59 PM

Description

Press release from the Novato Unified School District: January 15, 2021 Dear NUSD Family, I want to start with a simple thank you to each of you for all you have done during the pandemic. Each and every one of you has made sacrifices. Thank you. Topics included in today's update are: COVID Testing for Staff Vaccinations for NUSD staff Home Learning Pods Status of Plan for Full Return Yakult Probiotic Drink Donation Martin Luther King Junior Holiday Weekend Virtual Learning Academy Newsletters COVID Testing for Staff Beginning next week, NUSD staff members will have the opportunity to be tested within NUSD and typically at their work location using the Curative tests. Twenty-five percent of staff will be tested each week. This testing will allow for easier access to testing, a less invasive test and faster notification times for our employees. We are excited to be able to offer this service to our team on our campuses. While testing is not mandatory, it is strongly encouraged by the CDC. School sites will be communicating directly with their staff about testing schedules. Vaccinations for NUSD staff Marin County Public Health, in partnership with Marin County Office of Education and all Marin County School Superintendents, has developed a process to provide vaccinations to all NUSD employees and support staff serving our students. While unlikely, it is possible that this process could begin as early as this weekend. Thursday morning, I shared information with each employee regarding the process we will use to notify employees of their time to be vaccinated by the County. Vaccinations will take place seven days a week, so it will be important that employees routinely check their work emails. We are working closely with employee groups who do not typically check emails routinely to ensure they have access to their emails. Employees should expect to be vaccinated in Marin County regardless of their county of residence. For all Marin County School Districts, employees will be broken up into four tiers. We are unable to adjust these tiers or to add additional layers of tiers that could slow down vaccination distribution. The tiers are as follows: Priority I: All food service workers; employees providing in-person instruction and services in the Special Day Class including teachers and paraprofessionals/1:1 aides; bus drivers; custodial staff working in person Priority II: All other employees working in-person Priority III: All other employees working remotely/distance learning Priority IV: Trustees and all other ancillary personnel The NUSD team is working together to ensure that all of those who support our students are accounted for in this process including substitute employees, contracted employees, community partners, coaches and many more. Home Learning Pods As we partner with Marin County Public Health, we are seeing a trend of positive student cases coming about as a result of participation in Home Learning Pods where groups of families cluster their children together for support with child-care needs and learning from home. While we understand the rationale and need for these learning pods, I am writing to remind you that these learning pods are a violation of the current stay at home order which states, "All gatherings with members of other households are prohibited in the Region except as expressly permitted herein." Status of Plan for Full Return Over the past several weeks, we have received questions about our plans for a full return. We have developed several potential plans for a full return over the course of the pandemic. Each of those plans was set aside due to changing COVID numbers, guidelines, etc. While each of those plans is still available to us, they are all a little dusty. Our current focus is on keeping our schools that are open safe, providing the best distance learning experience we can for those who are not yet on our campuses, and preparing to get our remaining students into hybrid learning when State-wide guidance allows us to do so. As COVID numbers decline and we see Marin County moving positively between the four tiers, we will share additional information about our future plans. Yakult Probiotic Drink Donation NUSD Has received a generous donation from Yakult a probiotic nonfat drink this week. FANS will distribute these extra items to the sites 1.15.21 SP Kris communication starting next week with our meal distribution. They provided a set of 5 to go with every meal at all our sites and one set of 5 per all staff. We appreciate their generosity. Thank you, Yakult! Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Holiday Weekend This is a reminder that Monday is the Dr. Martin Luther King Junior holiday. Schools will be closed on Monday, January 18. I hope that you and yours will take an opportunity to reflect on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior and the difference he made in our world. Virtual Learning Academy Newsletters Here are links to the Virtual Learning Academy newsletters: Elementary – January 14, 2021 Secondary – January 14, 2021 Again, I want to remind each of you that we are all in this together. Our safety is dependent on our behaviors and the behaviors of those around us. Please take care of yourself and those around you. Sincerely, Kris Cosca www.nusd.org/COVID This press release was produced by the Novato Unified School District. The views expressed here are the author's own.