As you may have heard, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a new order on Friday about reopening and closing schools. In the order, he is requiring all districts that are located in counties on the state’s public watch list to start the school year with distance learning until certain conditions are met. This includes San Diego County. The new order also clarifies the state-level expectations around face coverings, physical distancing, regular testing, and when to reopen and close schools.
We are carefully reviewing the new orders to determine what the guidance means for our schools. We continue to work diligently to develop plans to address the five key areas of our instructional program: Health and Safety, Instructional, Social/Emotional, Nutrition, and Technology. As I have indicated in previous updates, we are committed to fulfilling our dual obligation to protect the health and safety of all students and staff and to provide a high quality, rigorous learning environment for all students.
We will hold another School Board meeting on July 23, 2020. During this meeting, we will be discussing the Governor’s new orders and how they will influence our planning for the start of the school year. We will send a Community Update early next week with more details about our school reopening plan. In the meantime, please visit our website to view details about our plan development so far: www.vistausd.org/schoolreopening.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work together to respond to continuously changing orders from the state and local health authorities. While the ongoing changes can be frustrating, it is essential that we lead our work with careful, deliberate, and flexible health and safety planning.
