As anticipated, this past week, the Centers for Disease Control gave preliminary approval for children ages 5 to 11 to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Riverside County health officials moved forward with a rollout plan to begin administering the vaccines to children at county-operated clinics starting Saturday, November 6. The county operates four clinic locations throughout the county, along with several additional mobile vaccine teams that provide services to hard-to-reach communities and neighborhoods. For more information about the clinics, or to make an appointment, visit http://myturn.ca.gov or www.rivcoph.org/covid-19-vaccine or call 951- 358-5000.

The preliminary approval has not changed the vaccination mandate plan for public and private schools proposed by the state. As the governor announced last month, the state's proposal to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for children requires full approval of the vaccines, not preliminary approval. The mandate is expected is to go into effect in January, 2022. When it does, California's currently proposed vaccination plan for school-age children allows exemptions for both personal beliefs and medical reasons.

We intend to honor all permissible exemptions.

Positive Cases this past week:

• 19 students (Up from 18 last week and 17 the prior week)
• 3 staff members (down from 17 last week and 13 the prior week)

Students Identified Through Contact Tracing:

• 141 students assigned modified quarantine (which means they can continue to attend school in-person as long as they don't develop symptoms and test twice weekly for two weeks)
• 27 students assigned full quarantine (home for at least 10 days)

Overall, we have been serving students in-person for 65 school days. As of Friday, November 5, we have had 103 staff members and 369 students report a positive test for COVID-19. Stay current with our case rate by regularly tracking our COVID-19 Data Dashboard and FAQ here. Cases recorded on the Dashboard are confirmed by Riverside County Public Health officials and remain on the Dashboard for 14 days.

This past week in Riverside County, there were 524 new cases (0.1% increase) equating to 15.4 cases per 100K (7-day average), 7 new deaths (0.1% increase), and a 5.5% positivity 7-day rate (0.4% increase from 7-days prior). There are currently 296 COVID-19 hospitalized patients, 8 more patients hospitalized from the prior day total (2.8% increase). This data is as November, 6 2021 as reported on the State's tracking web site.

Congratulations to the Hillcrest Girls Volleyball Team for a great CIFSS championship run. While they fell in the semifinals to Capo Valley Christian last Monday in a competitive 5-game match, they earned a berth in the CIF State Championship Tournament.

Norte Vista High School's River Valley League champion Girls and Boys Cross County teams will compete in the CIF Southern Section Cross County Championship meet this coming Friday at Mt. San Antonio College. The CIF State Championship will be held at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday, Saturday, November 27.

The Norte Vista High School football team won a hard-fought first-round game against Monrovia High School this past Friday in Monrovia. This coming Friday, the Braves host Temecula Valley High School at Zack Earp Stadium in the quarterfinal round of the CIFSS Football Championship.

Good luck to all of our student-athletes still competing and congratulations to all of our student-athletes who represented their schools during the Fall sports season.

Family Engagement Week is declared every November to bring attention to the importance of parent involvement and parent education. Our Coordinator of Family Engagement, Dr. Alejandro Cisñeros, is an expert in the field of family engagement. Our program is designed to build strong relationships with families while building community and a peer-to-peer network. To recognize this important week, schools will be holding events to celebrate and recognize the importance of parental involvement during the week starting November 15.

To provide feedback on our Family Engagement program, please take our parent survey here.

On behalf of your Board of Education, thank you to all of the students, staff, and parents who attended this past Thursday's Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. Many were present to protest California's proposed vaccination mandate and respectfully express their sentiments during public comments. We appreciate our partnership with our families and we thank you for your trust in us as we work diligently to strike a balance between our responsibility to protect the health of our students, teachers and staffs with the rights of everyone to make such deeply personal decisions.

As the questions revolving around COVID-19 mandates continue to divide our student, staff, and parent communities, as it divides our entire society, we will continue to follow a course of action that bridges these divisions by listening with sincere and intense conviction to our students, staff, and families.

Stay positive. Test weekly. Be well.

Sincerely,

Allan Mucerino

When we return for the 2021-22 school year on August 6, 2021, our two after-school programs, HALF-Time (K-5) and PRIME-Time (6-8), will be available M-F from school dismissal until 6:00 PM. The program provide FREE academic support, homework assistance and enrichment activities like art, crafts, music, sports and STEM (Science Technology, Engineering, and Math) along with a nutritious meal. Please register your Kindergarten through 8th grade students soon as space is limited. Sign up here in English and here in Spanish.