Dear All Lammersville Unified Staff and Families,
Earlier this week, San Joaquin County public health officials announced a change in San Joaquin County’s status based on the Health Equity Metric. The county moved to the purple tier from the red tier under California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy due to a COVID-19 case rate increase throughout the county. While this new designation directly impacts many local businesses and commercial operations, all schools follow the K-12 reopening school sector framework from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). Direction from public health to school districts in the process of reopening is as follows:
San Joaquin County Press Release Regarding the California Department of Public Health Announcement on November 16, 2020 states (attached):
“Schools that were open prior to today for in person learning, will remain open following State Guidance… Any schools that have reopened for in-person learning while San Joaquin County was in the Red Tier, or with an approved waiver, are not required to close and can remain open.”
Regarding in person learning tied to the hybrid model, LUSD has been implementing a phased rollout plan which includes Special Education (start date 10/19/2020), Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten (start date 11/3/2020), and first and second grade (start date 11/9/2020). The phased rollout will continue with third through fifth grade starting on 11/30/2020 and sixth through eighth grade starting on 1/4/2021. The change to the Health Equity Metric does not impact the LVLA program.
The change to purple status does impact plans for the hybrid model at Mountain House High School. Based on the CDPH guidelines, any individual school that has not begun the process of reopening at the time of a Metric change in status to purple cannot begin reopening until the status changes back to the red tier. As a result of this week’s change, the start date for reopening the high school to hybrid model students is in a state of flux. In order to move to the red tier, San Joaquin County case rate and case rate per 100,000 individuals needs to be in the red tier. This process, based on the shortest period of time, would take 21 days. Because LUSD has no way of knowing when the County will be placed back into the red tier, the start date for hybrid students at Mountain House High School has been moved back tentatively to January 25 from January 4. Plans for reopening MHHS will be announced as soon as red tier status is confirmed by CDPH. The change to the Health Equity Metric does not impact the MHHS Online Pathway program.
Although San Joaquin County has returned to the purple tier, LUSD is prepared to continue to have students on campus in a safe and controlled environment. Additionally, CDPH guidance includes smaller class sizes, students and staff wearing face coverings, appropriate social distancing, and hand sanitization as mitigation measures. Additionally, once schools have resumed in-person instruction, the framework outlines criteria to address school and class incidences of COVID-19 cases. LUSD has six nurses to assist our schools in this effort.
Part of our mitigation plan is preparedness to quarantine individual students/staff, small groups, and classrooms if necessary. Close contacts will be quickly identified and notified with further health and possible quarantine instructions from an LUSD school nurse or administrator. If a student presents symptoms while on campus, each school has a protocol in place and a dedicated health/isolation room for student/staff assessment. We ask that any individual, student or staff, who does not feel well or exhibits symptoms of COVID-19, to please stay home.
Members of the public can view a weekly updated, 14-day dashboard consisting of current and confirmed LUSD COVID-19 cases organized by location. See this public notification dashboard anytime at: https://www.
We understand that each family faces unique challenges and that this tier movement can be difficult for many. We want to stress that each school site, as well as the LUSD Student Services Department, is prepared to assist students in overcoming mental health-related barriers to learning. We are here to help. Counselors and psychologists are accessible to students. Visit: https://www.
The San Joaquin County’s Public Health Officer encourages everyone to continue doing their part— now more than ever— including getting tested for COVID-19. Click this link for free testing locations throughout the county.
We want to thank each member of our staff and faculty for their continued mitigation efforts for the virus. As well, thank you to our families for continuing to stay home if they or someone they know is ill. We are all doing our best to navigate these times in the best interest of students and our educational community.
Dr. Kirk Nicholas, Superintendent
