Welcome Back! We Missed You!

Dear Parents/Guardians:

I am so excited to welcome a majority of our students back to school for in-person instruction! All of us in the Chula Vista Elementary School District have missed seeing their smiling faces, and the energy and joy they bring each day.

When we begin our hybrid instructional model on Monday, April 12, it promises to be an emotional reunion of students and staff. This will be the first school experience for many of our transitional kindergarten and kindergarten students. For Grade 6 students, they will have a final opportunity to interact with classmates, many of whom they have grown up with, prior to their promotion to middle school. It is never too late to start something great.

Reopening schools is an important step in rebuilding our community after a long and challenging year. We have each suffered during the pandemic, and from the prolonged school closures. With this in mind, we are increasing the number of counselors at every school to address social-emotional needs. We also intend to minimize screen time while students are on campus, and increase opportunities for outdoor teaching, learning, and interacting.

The District is going above and beyond when it comes to safety protocols and requirements—ensuring each school is ready for students’ safe return. Every classroom has a HEPA air filter, and vents have been opened for maximum outside air to enter. Personal protective and safety equipment is present in abundance. Items on hand and ready to go include face shields; gloves; hand sanitizer; disposable and cloth masks for children and adults; thermometers; and more! We will also offer testing throughout the District on a daily basis, for those who would like to monitor their child(ren) for COVID-19. We will send more information on how you can make appointments to get your child(ren) tested regularly (the recommendation is to test every two weeks).

Health trends are pointing in the right direction, with more and more individuals achieving full vaccination status each week while COVID-19 rates continue falling dramatically. San Diego County is now in the Orange Tier, as defined by the state, which is an even safer tier, safer level, than envisioned in our agreement with teachers for reopening schools. The Orange Tier signifies a broader reopening of many facets of community life. And, because of such positive trend data, the state could terminate the tier system altogether by June 15.

Thank you for your patience, resiliency, and grit in these extraordinary 13 months since we closed our schools. I will see you and your children soon!

Francisco Escobedo, Ed.D.
Superintendent

Federal and State Leaders Say Mitigation Measures are Key to Safe Reopening

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation’s top public health agency, made clear that in-person schooling can resume safely with masks, social distancing and other strategies, especially at elementary grade levels. This has been echoed by California’s Governor Gavin Newsom and state public health officials. Vaccination of teachers, which our District strongly endorsed and facilitated for all staff members, has added another protective layer in mitigating COVID-19.

Multiple layers of prevention improve success—and that is what CVESD has put into place. As we reopen schools, keep in mind the following from the California Department of Public Health:

• Research across the globe shows that children get COVID-19 less often than adults, and when they do get sick, they get less sick than adults.
• In studies of open schools in America and around the world, children do not seem to be major sources of transmission — either to each other or to adults.
• The growing body of evidence is particularly strong regarding lower risks in elementary schools.
• Even in communities with many COVID-19 cases, we do not see many outbreaks in schools. That’s because the right precautions can stop outbreaks before they start.