Tomorrow is Presidents Day. Schools will be closed. We resume school on Tuesday, February 22. Thank you in advance for participating in our Slow the Spread home screening testing program by testing your student(s) before returning to school on Tuesday.

Prior to the February recess, a 2-pack of antigen home tests were distributed to all students. Please use the test Monday evening or Tuesday morning. Find a "how-to" video here. Home screening for COVID helps support the downward trend in transmission rates. Our positive cases have steadily declined from 927 cases shortly after we returned from Winter Recess, to 252, 142, and 77 during the last three weeks. Our trend mirrors the data in the region and in the state and has given rise to discussions at the state level about relaxing the CDPH masking requirement currently enforced at all schools in California. More details are expected on February 28 (see image below).

Please take a few minutes to let us know if you intend to return to Alvord Unified for the 2022/2023 school year. It will help us plan for staffing and course scheduling. To complete the form, you must be signed up for ParentSquare, our new communications platform. It takes less than 1 minute! Sign up here.

Below are the how-to-videos for confirming your Parent Square Account. Watch in English here

or in Spanish here or find them below.

Additional ParentSquare resources for parents and students can be found here.

Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson is inviting high school students to enter the Mayor’s Art Contest to create work that “will celebrate Riverside’s past, present and its future." Learn more about it here.

The deadline is April 1 and winners will be named April 21.

In 2021, four Alvord students, Shayda Abdurman from Hillcrest, Allison Fischang from La Sierra, Steve Deras from La Sierra, and Vivian Shepherd Mayen from Norte Vista, were among the remarkable teens selected in this annual event organized by the Riverside Youth Council. Awards are given by the Youth Council, Mayor, and City Council to celebrate Riverside students' various accomplishments.

To be nominated, the student should excel in one or a combination of these areas: academics, visual & performing arts, athletics, community involvement, leadership, courage to overcome, or any other remarkable trait(s) that deserve recognition.

Nominees must be in grades' 8 to 12 and live in the city of Riverside. You are welcome to nominate as many teens as you would like. Once you have completed the survey for a student, you can use the same link to start a new form for as many additional students as needed.

Nominations for the 2022 school year will be accepted until March 6, 2022. Any person can nominate a remarkable teen. Complete the nomination form here.

For more information about the program, please email Officer Scott Greenhalgh here.

Cases were down for the third consecutive week prior to the Presidents Week holiday.

Before the break:

• 77 students (down from 142 the previous week)
• 10 staff members (down from 17 the previous week)

Students Identified Through Contact Tracing:

• 52 cases required contact tracing
• 201 students were placed in quarantine (ranging from isolation to modified quarantine)

Overall, as of the Friday before the break, including the first semester, we have had 383 staff members and 3,127 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 960 new cases (0.2% increase), equating to 35.4 cases per 100K (7-day average), 23 new deaths (0.4% increase), and a 9.0% test positivity (7-day rate), a 4.0% decrease from the previous week. Since many people are now testing at home with antigen rapid tests, the positivity rate is estimated to be much higher since all cases are not reported. There are currently 351 COVID-19 hospitalized patients, 27 fewer patients hospitalized from the prior day total (7.1% decrease).

This data is as of February 20, 2022, as reported on the State's tracking web site.

On behalf of your Board of Education, thank you in advance for testing your children before returning to school this coming Tuesday, February 22.

Enjoy a safe and peaceful Presidents Day holiday tomorrow.

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.