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Dear Members of the AUSD Community,

Our annual Thanksgiving break begins the week of November 23. School will resume on Monday, November 30. Three weeks later, on Thursday, December 17, the first semester ends. The second semester begins on Monday, January 4, 2021. The second semester will begin remotely until at least Tuesday, January 19, at which time we expect to have an accurate assessment of the County's and our community's COVID-19 risk level after the holiday season, according to public health officials.

Regarding the second semester program surveys, this coming week, principals and counselors will confirm program decisions and contact families who have not responded. Please submit your survey if you haven't yet. The surveys are site-specific so please contact your school. Judging from the high number of families (2,445 students) who have chosen to switch from hybrid to virtual for the second semester, there remains significant fear among our families about returning to in-person instruction, even with strict safety guidelines firmly in place and only half of the students present at any given time.

Among the questions I've been asked about the second semester, the most frequently asked questions are related to program changes. I will have more information in the weeks to follow on the impact of the high number of program changes. Minimizing teacher changes is our priority. Stay tuned for more details.

Another question I've been asked about is why Alvord (and all school districts in Riverside County) are not opening for in-person instruction like school districts in Orange County. The answer is Orange County has been consistently in the Red Tier with a current positivity rate of 3.3% and an adjusted case rate of 5.6 compared to Riverside County, which is in the Purple Tier with a positivity rate of 6.7% and an adjusted case rate of 13.9. Only elementary schools in Purple Tier counties are eligible to open and only with a county-approved and state-approved waiver. Only Corona-Norco Unified School District in Riverside County sought a waiver, but they are also waiting until January, 2021 to reopen schools for in-person instruction.

As I reported in my message last week, I expect we will continue to ease students back onto campuses in small cohorts depending on how significant a risk COVID-19 poses to the health and safety of our students and their families, our employees, and our community at any given point in time. The next benchmark is January 19, 2021. I remain hopeful the conditions will be improved by then and we will be able to welcome our hybrid students and staff back to campus.

These are frustrating and difficult times for everyone. Students, parents, and staff are all anxious to return to some level of normal. The longer students remain learning at a distance, the greater influence distance learning will have on the most vulnerable of children's future, as measured by the impact of being undereducated. Not many people anticipated the overwhelming majority of students in California would not return to in-person instruction in 2020. But as the list of counties in the most restrictive tier grows (this week Sacramento, San Diego and Stanislaus counties moved into the most restrictive purple tier) it is becoming evident that the state's most vulnerable children are becoming more vulnerable with each passing day.

We will continue to strive to find new and improved ways to educate and serve our students and their families so that they can thrive despite the challenges that many of them face. If there were a time staying connected and working together was more necessary than ever, the time is now.

Stay healthy. Stay positive. Be well.

In partnership,

Allan Mucerino