Heath and Safety on Campus – October 26, 2020

Monday, October 26, 2020

Dear Parents,

We continue to be grateful to each and every member of our community for their care in adhering to the health and safety protocols for in person learning. It is through your partnership that we are continuing to keep things moving forward on a daily basis.

We know it can be hard for families outside of school to maintain social distance, avoid large groups of people, and not have family gatherings. We recognize that there is a developing amount of fatigue as it pertains to the pandemic and to quarantining our families. However, as we enter into the holiday season, beginning with Halloween this weekend and then Thanksgiving, Chanukah, and Winter break, we want to remind all of our families of the importance of our communal responsibility in keeping the school open and everyone safe.

We know families are beginning to explore options for the upcoming breaks in November and December, and we want to remind everyone of the current school policies:

1)At any time should your family travel outside of the United States, you are going to be required to self-quarantine for 14 days upon your return home before your student(s) may return to school.

2)We are also monitoring a possible change to health department guidelines, which may require anyone who travels anywhere on an airplane to quarantine for 14 days upon returning home. We are strongly urging our families, faculty and staff to avoid this type of travel during these upcoming holidays, as this new rule may very well go into effect.

3)We are strongly urging our families to follow the guidance of the LACDPH in terms of gatherings for these upcoming holidays and to limit your exposure to others whenever possible (Halloween Guidance Click Here / Thanksgiving and Winter Holiday Guidance Click Here). When gathering, please limit the number of families to no more than 3, hold gatherings outdoors, wear masks at all times, and practice social distancing.

As hard as this is, it is important for all of us to keep the school campus open and students learning in person. This is only possible by each of us monitoring our own family’s health and following covid safety precautions outside of school.

We also want to update you regarding the waiver to reopen in the elementary school. We have received confirmation that our application has been received and we continue to speak with the Health Department about this process. We were disappointed to see that only 4 waivers were granted last week, even though we were informed that 30 a week would be granted by the Health Department. We continue to be hopeful things will move forward.

We are also moving forward with our plan to bring back our first grade class beginning next Monday, November 2nd, as part of a specialized services program authorized by the Department of Health. Our first graders will be returning to in person learning 4 days a week; Monday through Thursday. This structure will allow us the opportunity to also provide in person opportunities to our other elementary school classes on select Fridays. We are finalizing a schedule for these visits and will share them very soon. As part of this process of bringing the students back, the LACDPH will be visiting campus next week. We thank you for your patience, vigilance and understanding and continue to wish everyone health and safety.

Best,

Yuri