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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2.24.22 Board Correspondence - FW_ COVID-19 Impact on Schools and the Pivot Out of the Pandemic.ATTENTION: This message originated from outside Butte County. Please exercise judgment before opening attachments, clicking on links, or replying.. From:Paulsen, Shaina To:BOS Subject:Board Correspondence - FW: COVID-19 Impact on Schools and the Pivot Out of the Pandemic Date:Thursday, February 24, 2022 4:51:10 PM Attachments:Pivot to Endemic Letter to the Governor 2-24-22.pdf Please see Board Correspondence from the Butte County Office of Education. Shaina Paulsen Associate Clerk of The Board Butte County Administration 25 County Center Drive, Suite 200, Oroville, CA 95965 T: 530.552.3304 | F: 530.538.7120 From: Jacqueline Dillard <jdillard@bcoe.org> Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2022 4:46 PM To: governor@governor.ca.gov; gavin.newsom@gov.ca.gov Cc: Mary Sakuma <msakuma@bcoe.org>; senator.atkins@senate.ca.gov; Clerk of the Board <clerkoftheboard@buttecounty.net>; nick.hardeman@sen.ca.gov; assemblymember.rendon@assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Gallagher@assembly.ca.gov; assemblymember.dahle@assembly.ca.gov; senator.nielsen@senate.ca.gov; tomas.aragon@cdph.ca.gov; York, Danette <DYork@buttecounty.net>; ballen@cde.ca.gov Subject: COVID-19 Impact on Schools and the Pivot Out of the Pandemic To The Honorable Governor Newsom, The attached letter is being sent on behalf of the Butte County Superintendent of Schools, Mary Sakuma, and the Butte County School District Superintendents. We have come together to voice our concerns regarding the impact of COVID-19 on schools and the pivot out of the pandemic. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. Emailed on behalf of: Mary von Rotz Sakuma Butte County Superintendent of Schools Butte County Office of Education 1859 Bird Street Oroville, CA 95965 ( By: Jacqueline Dillard Communications Officer Butte County Office of Education 1859 Bird Street Oroville, CA 95965 CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This communication and any documents, files or previous e-mail messages attached to it, constitute an electronic communication within the scope of the Electronic Communication Privacy Act, 18 USCA 2510. This communication maycontain non-public, confidential, or legally privileged information intended for the sole use of the designated recipient(s). The unlawful interception, use or disclosure of such information is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, or have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply email or by telephone and delete all copies of this communication, including attachments, without reading, forwarding or saving them electronically. “WHERE STUDENTS COME FIRST" Mary Sakuma Superintendent msakuma@bcoe.org Ann Bates Senior Executive Assistant abates@bcoe.org Board of Education Karin Matray Alan White Brenda J. McLaughlin Amy Christianson Mike Walsh Julian Diaz Daniel Alexander 1859 Bird Street Oroville, CA 95965 (530)532-5761 Fax (530) 532-5762 www.bcoe.org An Equal Opportunity Employer February 24, 2022 To: Governor Gavin Newsom California Governor's Office 1303 10th Street, Suite 1173 Sacramento, CA 95814 Sent Via Electronic Mail Re: COVID-19 Impact on Schools and the Pivot Out of the Pandemic Governor Newsom, On March 13, 2022, it will be two years since school campuses first had to close due to COVID-19. Over the past two years, school districts, staff, students, and families have had to make enormous life-altering changes and sacrifices for our schools to re-open safely for in- person learning. We have endured multiple waves of the virus, various spikes, and variants, along with a constant change to guidance and requirements from local, state, and national agencies. We now write to share how the COVID-19 response has taken over all aspects of public schools and provide recommendations on policies to address these challenges. We are currently in a state of emergency within our schools, significantly impacting our students and their learning environment. School personnel attend to the health mitigation practices, strategies, recommendations, and requirements. This is usurping time and resources from our focus on education and support services to students. Our students need our support, and this is the time that warrants a focus from schools and school personnel on accelerating learning and recovery from the isolating impact of COVID-19. Yet, school site and district personnel have been swept into a realm of daily and consuming COVID-19 public health responsibilities. Additionally, we have families protesting at alarming and growing numbers. We have a school with 80% of students chronically truant due to the quarantine requirements. We have a district that has seen a dangerous and disturbing rise in suicidal ideation and other mental health issues. In addition, our schools are suffering from extreme staff shortages that cannot be addressed with additional funds. This dialogue is urgent as we transition through the latest surge and begin to pivot from pandemic to endemic. There is a disconnect between the state and the local level. The range of students and parents who previously supported our efforts are now angry and no longer being tolerant and cooperative. The mask mandate changes in other states and the perception of mixed messages from local public figures have made the enforcement of mask mandates nearly impossible. School staff are not medical experts yet are called upon to keep abreast, implement and aid on detailed and complicated COVID-19 isolation and quarantine guidance from the CDPH. The demands of these safety efforts placed upon schools in addition to our primary responsibility for teaching and learning and attending to the pandemic's social- emotional toll on students and stress on employees. We have done our part. Butte County schools have provided facilities for vaccination clinics and communicated the importance of vaccination. Butte County Public Health data shows that 55% of the county population is fully vaccinated and 6% is partially vaccinated. Data also shows that local confirmed cases have dropped significantly since the start of the new semester, from 2,156 new cases in early January to 40 new cases in mid-February, with ages 0-17 years making up 14% of confirmed cases since the pandemic began in 2020. Additionally, no serious side effects have been documented by Butte County Public Health in COVID-19 cases of Butte County youth ages 0-17 years. Studies show that youth are the lowest age group at risk of severe side effects from contracting COVID-19. With the lifting of the Statewide indoor mask mandate on February 15, 2022, schools are now caught in the middle of a complicated and escalating situation, where enforcing the continued mask mandates has become nearly impossible and quickly turning towards becoming dangerous. Our already-taxed teachers and administrators should not and cannot be the mask police. Students should not and cannot be excluded from their education. We fully understand the complexity and intensity of the emergency and, as such, make the following recommendations as we believe these will contribute to the overall safety, wellbeing, and education of our students: •Adjust masking to be optional and encouraged by educating students and asking them to mask with no further actions of exclusion from class or school events, effective no later than March 12, 2022. •Make the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program more flexible with an extended timeline and allowance of carryover funds, so there is not a missed opportunity to provide these supports to our students •Eliminate, reduce or fully transition responsibility for COVID-19 testing, isolation, and quarantine to the healthcare and insurance providers or public health sector as appropriately defined. •Expand access to Over-the-Counter COVID-19 testing kits for individuals and families to access as needed. •Provide schools and districts with reprieve through extension or modification from some of the traditional compliance mandates and reporting requirements such as the LCAP supplement, the A-G Incentive Grant plan, and the Career Technology Incentive Grant reports. •Provide a reprieve from chronic absenteeism accountability given the skewed data resulting from the COVID-19 impact. Chronic absenteeism data will reflect the days missed due to COVID-19 and direction from health agencies for persons to stay home if they are not feeling well, social and emotional needs, and more. •Establish dialogue now with school districts about the pivot to living in the new era of endemic. Build upon relationships forged during the crisis and support schools in their mission of teaching and learning and supporting the needs of students. Thank you for the opportunity to share our comments. We welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these observations and our recommendations. We are eager to partner to identify a solution-focused path forward. Respectfully, Mary Sakuma, Butte County Superintendent of Schools Lauren Albert, Superintendent/Principal, Bangor Union Elementary School District Doug Kaelin, Superintendent, Biggs Unified School District Kelly Staley, Superintendent, Chico Unified School District John Bohannon, Superintendent, Durham Unified School District Joshua Peete, Superintendent, Golden Feather Union Elementary School District Justin Kern, Superintendent, Gridley Unified School District Gary Rogers, Superintendent, Manzanita Elementary School District Dr. Spencer Holtom, Superintendent, Oroville City Elementary School District Dr. Corey Willenberg, Superintendent, Oroville Union High School District Kathleen Andoe Nolind, Superintendent, Palermo Union School District Tom Taylor, Superintendent, Paradise Unified School District Patsy Oxford, Superintendent, Pioneer Union Elementary School District Gregory Blake, Superintendent, Thermalito Union Elementary School District CC: Toni Atkins, Senate President Pro Tempore, California State Senate Butte County Board of Supervisors Nick Hardeman, Chief of Staff, California State Assembly James Gallagher, California State Assembly Member Megan Dahle, California State Assembly Member Jim Nielsen, California State Senator Anthony Rendon, Speaker, California State Assembly Dr. Tomás Aragón, California Department of Public Health Danette York, Public Health Director, Butte County Brooks Allen, Executive Director, California State Board of Education