In preparation for the school reopening for Vista Classic on October 20th, our principals and staff have been working diligently to ensure that all school environments include various enhancements to accommodate a greater level of health and safety measures. These enhancements include student entrance and exit procedures, lunch and hallway procedures, face-covering procedures, hand washing procedures, and social distancing procedures. The principal of each school has worked with staff to develop a comprehensive COVID-19 Prevention Plan. This plan serves as a primary source document that provides over 15 pages of detail about every aspect of health and safety for students and staff. Every school has posted their plan to their webpage. If you have questions about the health and safety procedure for your student’s schools, I would encourage you to go to this source to get accurate information about our commitment to keeping students safe.
One important fact about our Vista Classic learning model is that this model is five days a week, full-time learning, not a hybrid. This means that all Vista Classic classrooms will have the same number of students as a normal school year. As we have pointed out in previous communications, this does create a situation where social distancing in the classroom environment will not be six feet apart. We have rearranged the classroom environments and removed furniture to maximize space between student desks; however, even with this adjustment, students will be sitting closer together than six feet. Click HERE to view a picture of the classrooms (one elementary and one high school) to demonstrate the arrangement of student desks. It is also important to note that we are one of only a few school districts in the county to offer a full-day in-person learning option. Most school districts are only offering a virtual learning option for middle and high school students. Our decision to hold fast to our commitment does involve some challenges, like social distancing in the classroom; however, we believe that the opportunity to get students back on campus, while practicing a host of health and safety procedures, is essential for many of our students and families. We are counting on everyone to work together to make the Vista Classic option work for students and for staff.
A key commitment we made during the development process for our school reopening plan is to engage students and parents in providing periodic feedback about how our plans are working. Our team has worked hard to design and implement a Vista Virtual learning experience that is meaningful and high quality. With a complete month of Vista Virtual behind us, we are eager to gather your feedback. We want to continue to refine this new learning model.
Please click the survey link below to provide feedback by Monday, October 19th:
The rate of the COVID-19 disease continues to be closely monitored by the state in each of the 58 counties. Specifically, the state is measuring the number of new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents and the percentage of COVID-19 tests that show a positive result for the disease.
On Tuesday, October 6th, San Diego County’s adjusted rate of daily new cases increased slightly to 6.5 cases per 100,000 residents. The testing positivity rate remained steady at 3.5%. Based upon these numbers, the County will remain in Tier 2 (the Red Tier) of the State’s four-tier system for at least another two weeks. It also means that indoor operations at restaurants and other establishments may continue and most importantly, that schools may continue to reopen to in-person instruction at any time over the next two weeks as long as we follow guidelines established in the county’s current Health Order and the California Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 INDUSTRY GUIDANCE: Schools and School-Based Programs. Based upon our county’s current status with the State, we will be permitted to begin the Vista Classic in-person program on Tuesday, October 20th and schools will open to Vista Classic students on that day.
Our students, staff, and parents are doing a tremendous job adapting to our new Learning Management System, Canvas. As our staff continues to build capacity in Canvas, we can bring in features that increase communication and feedback between teachers, students, and parents. This week, a feature was activated for middle and high schools that allow teachers to sync grades between Canvas and Aeries (Parent Portal). Parents may monitor their student’s progress through Canvas and Parent Portal. For more information about specific grade information, please reach out to your student’s teacher. In addition, our VIP page has many resources and videos to guide parents through Canvas and Virtual School. Check out these two videos for support with accessing student grades for middle and high school:
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The district has worked proactively to upgrade our technology for both our students and staff. Through our Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan, we were able to set aside substantial funds to support teaching and learning with new devices. We are purchasing $5,000,000 of new devices for students, and principals were able to select which devices would best meet the needs of their sites. Most selected Chromebooks. However, some elementary schools added iPads to their inventories, and some secondary schools were able to order new laptops or MacBooks for their specialized programs. In addition, we are ordering $2,000,000 of new devices to provide updated laptops for classroom teachers, counselors, assistant principals, principals, and other staff who work directly with students. We know that these new devices are essential to support our students and staff as they navigate this new learning environment.
Vista Unified School District
