Novato Unified School District Superintendent Update And Timeline - September 24, 2020

Press release from the Novato Unified School District:

September 24, 2020

En español

Dear NUSD Family,

Last week I shared that we would be using the bulk of this week to assess our readiness to return students to on campus learning and to develop a plan to work with the NUSD Board of Trustees to determine our best path forward. Further, I committed to provide you with an update on where we are and next steps.

In this communication, I will focus on:

• Assessment of readiness to return students to on-campus learning
• Timelines

Assessment of readiness to return students to on-campus learning

What did we look for?

As promised last week, our leadership team spent much of this week assessing our readiness to return students to campus. These visits focused on the Marin County School Guidelines: A Public Health Guided Return to Site-Based Classroom Instruction. We assessed the development of our school-site specific protection plans and we reviewed the feedback received from our community members who believe we need to get students back on campus now and those who believe it is too soon.

What did we see?

We saw great progress towards meeting the requirements outlined in the guidelines. We also saw areas where we are making progress but are not yet quite there. These challenge areas were typically in the areas of bathroom use, ventilation of interior spaces, and finalizing plans for student flow around campuses. Clearly, these are all critical elements that must be thoroughly and thoughtfully addressed prior to any decision to return to school.

An additional concern

An additional area of concern that arose this week was the changing CDC guidance indicating that it was “possible” that COVID-19 spreads via airborne transmission and that it can transmit over a distance beyond six feet. If accurate, this suggests that indoor ventilation is a key to protecting against the virus. Across our school sites, we have many differing heating and cooling units. These units have varying abilities to filter viruses. Additionally, different spaces on our campuses have a range of abilities to create air flow in the best of times. While the CDC has since retracted this guidance saying it was shared in error, it heightens concerns around the potential for airborne spread of the virus and the need for greater ventilation and filtering of our interior spaces.

How will we address this?

To address this issue, we are developing a filtration and purification plan for each campus based upon the existing heating and cooling systems. We believe this work is essential. Unfortunately, it will take several weeks to address as we will need to purchase items that are currently difficult to attain and subject to production and delivery delays.

Timelines

With all the above in mind, here are the known timelines:

• October 5: Students will not be returning to school campuses.
• October 6: The NUSD Board of Trustees will consider staff recommendations regarding a reentry plan for elementary, middle and high school students
• October 13: All School-Site Specific Protection Plans will be approved by Marin County Public Health
• October 19-23: We will host parent and staff information sessions to demonstrate our readiness for return to school and to answer questions for campuses scheduled to reopen on October 26
• October 26: Based upon Board direction, this is the earliest we can expect a staggered return of students to on-campus learning. It is likely that any return will initially focus on students who are struggling the most with distance learning. Please know that this is not a firm date, but the best estimate we can provide at this time in advance of receiving Board direction.

I appreciate your patience as we navigate these challenging waters.

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.