Hermosa Beach City Superintendent Escalante's COVID Update

From the Hermosa Beach City School District:

March 12, 2020

In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the district continues to take its guidance from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the California Department of Education along with the Los Angeles County Public Health and Education Departments.

As of today, HBCSD has no confirmed or reported cases of COVID-19. On March 7, 2020 the California Department of Public Health issued a “School Guidance on Novel Coronavirus or COVID -19” memo. This document listed four scenarios for which school districts should be operating under, detailing a range of actions to be taken based on the number of community transmissions of COVID-19. Scenario II is triggered by two or more community transmission cases of COVID-19. Community transmission cases are defined as those COVID-19 cases identified in the entire county.

We have been notified by Los Angeles County Office of Education that districts are no longer in scenario 1 level therefore HBCSD will begin operating under Scenario II, effective immediately. The following guidance from CDPH on Scenario II is as follows:

Scenario II: Measures to be taken if there are two or more community transmission cases of COVID-19, but no individuals within the school test positive. If the local public health department has confirmed two or more community transmission cases,but no individuals (staff or students) at the school have tested positive for COVID-19, in addition to the items outlined in Phase I, CDPH recommends school administrators implement the following steps:

• Teachers and staff with any fever and/or respiratory infection symptoms should not come to work. Teachers and staff should self- screen (i.e., check themselves for subjective fever and/or respiratory symptoms such as cough) for respiratory infection symptoms each morning before interacting with students
• Limit visitors to the school by not allowing those with symptoms of fever and/or respiratory infection or who have a travel history over the course of the last 14 days to an area identified by the CDC as Level 3 Travel Health Notice. Per this guidance, HBCSD is not allowing parent/adult classroom volunteers until further notice.
• Consider alternates to congregate or group programming within the school including any large or communal activities such as assemblies. Alternate approaches which limit close contact may include conducting assemblies via webcasts or intercom announcements.
• Consider implementing staggered recess times to limit the numberof students who are together; and if possible, group recess by classrooms.
• Consider relaxing requirements for a doctor’s note for the child to return to school after illness.

Specifically in HBCSD:

• Additional maintenance and operations staff will be added to assist in the cleaning and disinfecting of all common surfaces. Students are encouraged to wash their hands and then use hand sanitizer if needed.
• All HBCSD field trips, assemblies, performances are cancelled until further notice (graduation, graduation dance, afterschool sports are pending)
• I am in communication with public officials and superintendents in other cities and school districts on a regular basis. Today, BCHD held a meeting of MB, HB, RB officials, and regular updates are being issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and Los Angeles County Office of Education.
• As of this writing, school is open and there has been no disruption to instruction. We are preparing with our teachers and employees to provide continuous instruction through a distant learning platform should the schools be given direction to close.
• Parents should begin to have conversations with their employers in the event that the schools, EDP, and the city park programs are closed, to plan for the supervision of their children.

Resources:

• Access experts' advice on how to talk with our kids about the coronavirus. Featured tip from Child Mind Institute: "Take your cues from your child. Invite your child to tell you anything they may have heard about the coronavirus, and how they feel.”
• The mindful parenting page has many outstanding national resources that can help during this stressful time, and well beyond.
• There is also a resource page to support you in your efforts to help your kids cope with stress and anxiety in healthy ways.
• These resource pages, and more, can also be accessed on this month’s free SBFC e-newsletter.

Thank you for your attention to these updates and message. This is obviously a fluid process and information is changing on a frequent and rapid basis. For information and messaging from public agencies, please visit our COVID 19 page for all current HBCSD updates on the coronavirus.

Sincerely,

Pat Escalante
Superintendent of Schools

This press release was produced by the Hermosa Beach City School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.