The 2022 Science Fair Awards Ceremony event is tomorrow evening, at 6:30 pm on Zoom. We had 99 entries in the competition. See them all in the images below. That's up ten projects from last year! We have students competing in all three divisions: elementary, junior, and senior. Congratulations to all of our students for entering the competition. Thank you to our teachers, staff, and parents for supporting our young scientists. And thanks to the Alvord Education Foundation and Mr. Getty George for sponsoring the event and providing financial awards to the students moving forward so that they may prepare their projects for the next round of the competition at the county-level.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Our Slow the Spread testing program over the 3-day holiday weekend helped identify almost a thousand students, and perhaps many hundreds more who stayed home but didn't report a positive case, knowing that cases are generally underreported. Overall, 3,454 students were absent, for one reason or another, when we returned on Tuesday, January 18. However, by the end of the week attendance improved as previously quarantined students returned to school. We understand it's a hardship on families when students have to stay home. But during the surge it's important to be overly cautious, particularly when students have symptoms. We are preparing to do another Slow the Spread testing program prior to returning to school after the President's Week break from February 14 to February 21.

The disruption caused by a revolving door of student, teacher, and support staff quarantines is significant. In addition to disrupting student learning, the impact of staff covering a variety of assignments due to staffing shortages, in and out of the classroom, is a cause of great concern as the surge continues to push school systems and its employees (and the health system and other industries too) to the limit.

Yet, despite these challenges, our team continues to keep our focus on closing learning gaps, meeting the academic and social-emotional needs of our students, and managing the pandemic to keep everyone safe and our schools open and operating as smoothly as possible.

On behalf of our entire organization, I am so appreciative of the support we have received from our parents. Thank you for giving us grace if something has not gone perfectly well or as planned. Know that we will not make excuses. We will not blame anything or anyone. We will simply acknowledge the situation and learn from it.

Total Positive Cases this week:

• 927 students (up from 546 last week)
• 84 staff members (up from 36 last week)

Students Identified Through Contact Tracing:

• 53 of the 927 cases required contact tracing.
• 1,274 students were placed in quarantine (ranging from isolation to modified quarantine)

Overall, as of Friday, January 21, including the first semester, we have had 304 staff members and 2,656 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 9,992 new cases (2.0% increase), equating to 257.6 cases per 100K (7-day average), 19 new deaths (0.3% increase), and a 32.1% test positivity (7-day rate), a 1.7% decrease from the previous week. Since many people are now testing with antigen rapid tests, the positivity rate is estimated to be much higher since all cases are not recorded.

There are currently 1,055 COVID-19 hospitalized patients, 21 fewer patients hospitalized from prior day total (2.0% decrease). This data is as of January 22, 2022, as reported on the State's tracking web site.

Free at-home COVID-19 rapid tests are available for order and shipment through the United States Postal Service. Each order will contain 4 tests. There is a limit of 1 order per residential address. Additional tests cannot be ordered regardless of the size of the household. Orders will ship free starting in late January. Tests will usually ship within 7-12 days. Complete the order online here or order by phone here: 1-800-232-0233 from 8 am - Midnight Eastern, 7 days per week.

According to public health officials, the current surge is leveling off. I am optimistic that brighter days lie just around the bend. Thank you for continuing to do your part. We will continue to do ours. Together we can slow the spread in our schools.

On behalf of your Board of Education, thank you for partnering with us to educate your children. We will make it through this latest challenge as we have the last few challenges.

Be well. Test weekly. Stay healthy.

Sincerely,

Allan Mucerino

Our two after-school programs are HALF-Time (K-5) and PRIME-Time (6-8). They are available M-F from school dismissal until 6:00 PM. The programs 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.