Old Adobe Educator Weekly Round-Up
September 13 - September 17, 2021
MESSAGE FROM SUPERINTENDENT LOWERY
Greetings OAUSD Educators,
The classroom visitation schedule is listed below. Thank you and I am looking forward to many more opportunities to connect.
Week 9/13 - 9/17 Class Visits
Monday 9/13
MIWOK 8:30am - 10:30am
Tuesday 9/14
SONOMA MOUNTAIN 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Wednesday 9/15
LA TERCERA 11:00am - 1:00pm
Thursday 9/16
OLD ADOBE 11:00am - 1:00pm
LOMA VISTA 1:00 - 3:00
Have a great week!
Stronger Together, Better Together.
#OldAdobeStrong
COVID-19 Update
September 10th COVID-19 Community Update
Sent to to the community on 9/10/21:
As we seek to maintain a safe environment for employees, students, families, and the community. Please look for these regular updates and visit the COVID-19 Community Update page to review the latest information and guidance for public schools from the State of California and Sonoma County health officials.
Thanks to entire community for sharing important feedback and input. We can get through this together by offering solutions and looking for opportunities to collaborate.
NEW OAUSD COVID-19 DASHBOARD!!!!!
A dashboard has been created on our website to share information about the positive COVID-19 cases in our schools. The positive cases reported are those where the positive case may or may not have been physically on campus during the infectious period. This does NOT necessarily indicate in-school transmission. The dashboard will be updated each Friday.
MASKING
Face coverings are required to be worn by all staff and students in all settings (both indoors and outdoors) regardless of vaccination status unless exempt for medical reasons, in which case a medical exemption form must be signed by your child’s physician.
QUARANTINE
Full Quarantine would require unvaccinated close contacts of a confirmed positive COVID student to stay home for 10 days. Modified Quarantine as described in the Student Quarantine Flowchart (English / Spanish), should be implemented to keep students in class and allow the unvaccinated close contacts of a confirmed positive COVID student to continue to come to school as long as:
- Both students were wearing a mask;
- The exposed student remains asymptomatic;
- The exposed student undergoes twice weekly testing; and
- The exposed student refrains from extracurricular activities.
TESTING
OVERVIEW
- Testing for students will occur once a week at each school site. All students for whom we have parent permission will participate in a weekly antigen "pooled test" for COVID-19 in their classroom. This is a screening test that will let us know if anyone in the class has COVID-19. It does not give individual test results. In the event that we get a positive result with the pooled test, we will follow up with a 15- min rapid-antigen test that will immediately identify who is sick.
- The entire school community will receive a communication when a student or staff member has been identified as having COVID-19 and we are following public health guidelines to implement isolation and quarantine protocols. You can read more here.
- When a student or staff member is exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 and is sent home to quarantine the only test that can clear them to return to school is a negative PCR test.
WHAT
Asymptomatic pool testing or pooled testing—means testing an entire classroom to detect the virus that causes COVID-19. Students in a class swab their own noses with a short swab and the sample is placed in a single tube (that’s the pooling step). If there is a positive pooled test, two days later, a scheduled rapid antigen test will be administered to individually test each student within that classroom with immediate results.
Tests will be self-administered by the students under the supervision of a nurse who is employed by Concentric, the testing company the district has contracted with to conduct testing. Results are provided directly to schools through a secure website and will then be communicated directly to families.
Please watch this video to learn more information about the asymptomatic testing conducted at our schools.
WHY
To identify symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID cases early as a means of reducing spread, keeping the community safe and keeping students in school. Pooling covers many people with just one test; this dramatically reduces the cost of testing without sacrificing accuracy.
For students who do not test positive, the antigen pooled test will count towards the two tests needed for modified quarantine, which will allow students to stay in school.
The antigen pooled test will not count to clear a student who is Covid-19 positive. A negative PCR test is needed for a student to be cleared to return to school, and the antigen pooled test is not a PCR test.
HOW
Step 1: Parent Permission. Schools will not test students without parent permission.
Step 2: One day per week, every classroom at each site will be tested. Your school will send out the testing schedule. All students in a class swab their own noses with a short swab that goes only half an inch into the nostril and place their samples in a single tube (that’s the pooling step). The samples in that tube are then run as a single sample, using one test.
Step 3: 48 hours later, a scheduled rapid antigen test will take place to individually test each student within a classroom in which there were one or more positive results.
If the pooled test is negative, no additional tests will be conducted that week.
Parent Consent
We are asking families to give consent for students to be tested during the 2021-2022 school year by clicking below (you will need to use your school's personalized access code listed below to complete the consent form for each individual child):
Consent Link for all OAUSD students
- La Tercera OADOBE-LATER
- Loma Vista OADOBE-LOMAV
- Old Adobe OADOBE-OLDA
- Miwok Valley OADOBE-MIWOK
- Sonoma Mountain OADOBE-SONOM
If parents wish to remove consent (after initially giving consent) they must inform the school in writing using a withdrawal form. Parents DO NOT need to to fill out a withdrawal form if they have not given prior consent.
If you have any questions, please contact your school office or the Covid-19 Safety Technician, Michael Jones, mjones@oldadobe.org.
Latest vaccine clinic information: scoe.org/vaccines
CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
Upcoming EdCamps!
We are so excited that we are bringing back our EdCamps! Compensation for attending the EdCamps will be $40 hourly pay. Our first offering will be facilitated by Sloan Van Dam.
When: Tuesday, September 21, 3:30-4:30
Topic: Technology - Illuminate Gradebook, Clever, Parent Square, and Online Platforms. This
will be a repeat of what he offered on the August PD days, and he will go a bit deeper in some areas.
Where: Miwok Room 1A
When: Tuesday, October 19, 3:30-4:30
Topic: Using Renaissance Assessments - Use STAR (Reading, Math, Early Literacy) data to group students for instruction and intervention. Review screening data and its implications for intervention and core instruction. Learn how to read and interpret STAR scores.
Where: via ZOOM; Miwok 1A will have the Zoom on the TV should you want to watch from
there.
PD Reminder: Write Tools training begins next week for new teachers and teachers who have never had the training. Here is a revised PD flyer. **Please note the change of location for the VTS training and the Orton-Gillingham Morphology training has been canceled:
EQUITY CORNER
Equity Coalition
Please check out the Sonoma County 2021 Spotlight which is an annual document form SCOE containing county wide data on the persistent inequities that plague our school communities.
The Equity Coalition Meetings will be held on the 4th Wednesday of the month. Come join us! Here is the Zoom link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88233270203We want to encourage all to participate and join us. This is a shared leadership opportunity and YOU are vital to this work.
FOOD PANTRY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Sign Up Today:-)
We can always use more volunteers to ensure that we can continue this service and provide this much needed resource.
Please sign up by clicking the button below.
HUMAN RESOURCES
STUDENT SERVICES
CAC
The CAC's ultimate goal is to ensure that students succeed in maximizing their potential, receive the best possible education, and have equal access to all services. The CAC collaborates with the local SELPA to ensure that the educational requirements of special education students are met and they serve as a liaison between SELPA, the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE), local districts, families, community members, students, and teachers. The Sonoma County Community Advisory Committee (CAC) advises the local Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA).
All CAC meetings are open to the public. Due to COVID-19, the meetings are currently held via Zoom from 6:00-7:30. Each meeting has a topic and guest speaker. Be sure to get on the email list to receive an agenda prior to the meeting.
Please contact the SELPA office at (707) 524-2750 with inquiries.
The next CAC meeting will be held on September 21 at 6:00 via Zoom. Find the link here: CAC ZOOM LINK
TEACHERS'S CORNER
Children’s Books by Bill Thomson [Shared by Lynda Higson, SLPA]
Our new SLP, Vivienne Rus, introduced me to Bill Thomson’s wordless picture books last week. These have beautiful illustrations and encourage language in so many ways. Take a look with this link! Children's Books
Handle With Care [Shared by Chelsea Crawford]
Teachers have been spreading this idea around online. Send a version of this note home to set up a simple system that helps families, students, and you. It offers families a fast way to give you a heads up that their student might be “off” so you can administer extra TLC that day.
https://www.smartschoolhouse.com/lifestyle/handle-with-care-note
Band-aid activity Follow Up [Shared by Kelly Musca, Counselor]
I brought Chelsea Crawford’s band-aid activity (shared in a previous weekly round up) into different class circles. It worked well at all grade levels. I highly recommend adding 1-2 minutes of turn-and-talk where students share “a time when they needed a band-aid” with a classmate. That way when you ask for only three volunteers, there are no hurt feelings about not everyone getting to share their story.
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Book Recommendations, Sharing Materials, Resources and Strategies, etc
This section of the Round Up is a focus on teacher voice, input and sharing. If you have something to contribute please submit items HERE by Thursday at 9:00am.
TECHONOLOGY SERVICES
OAUSD Acceptable Use Policy here.
If you have any tech needs please reach out to itsupport@oldadobe.org
Old Adobe Union School District
Website: https://www.oldadobe.org/
Location: 845 Crinella Dr, Petaluma, CA 94954, USA
Phone: 707-765-4321
Twitter: @OAUSD_Super