At last night's Mt. Diablo Unified School District board meeting, we voted to set the target date of March 22nd for PreK, K, 1, 2, SDC, Bridge students to return to campus.
Understanding that we need safety and logistics for this agreed upon with employees, negotiation dates were added for March 11,12,13,14,15 to complete the hybrid MOU.
I called for a special Board meeting for Tuesday March 16th, where we plan to approve the MOU or take any necessary steps to move forward to ensure our students begin to be allowed on campus for the in person relationship building that they have been asking for and desperately needing.
We have 13,000 students who requested in person hybrid this spring from throughout the district.
That is why we advocated so strongly for education staff to get priority vaccinations, and we must now follow through.
While I understand the call from some to delay any students entry to campus until all staff are fully vaccinated, I'm also aware of how fast vaccine efficacy grows. See this chart: 7 days after dose 1 you are 68.5% covered. 14 days after dose 1, that is 92.6%. Waiting til 2 more weeks after dose 2 only moves that from 92.6% to 94.8%.
Vaccines opened to education staff in our county on Feb 18th, then Dr Clark received and sent out individual priority codes to front line staff as they came in over the last few weeks, and Kaiser opened to education staff. Yesterday MDUSD held a J&J one shot vaccine clinic at Concord High with 350 doses, and only 300 people came (it was filled in by employees from PUSD since so many of our district staff already had their first shot). If you find anyone in MDUSD who still need a vaccine, we have individual priority codes to give them - email [email protected]
We are already successfully and safely providing in person testing and sports with safety protocols in place including masks, PPE, and spacing. (see photo of this week's ELPAC testing at Oak Grove Middle School)
Plus, let's all remember that our current plan to bring students onto campus is for only a few hours, and gradually starting with PreK-2. It is not a full hybrid, nor crowded hallways of kids passing from class to class. Many principals, teachers and parents are creatively tapping into the free resources and ideas for learning outdoors at https://www.greenschoolyards.org/covid-learn-outside.
Let's be safe while also attending to the needs of our students, the biggest need of which right now is a chance for time off-screen with a real person who cares about them.
I truly believe we can and must, together & safely, take this gradual next step of providing a few hours a day for students in person as soon as possible.
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