Dear GMS Community,
Looking ahead to the new year, I am struck by the dichotomies of our daily lives. On the same day that we reached new milestones with regards to daily COVID-19 related deaths, the first shipments of the Pfizer vaccine arrived at hospitals around the country. As our region’s ICU capacity drops precipitously low and we are under new regional stay at home orders, schools are being encouraged to reopen. And when you reach out to share your feedback, I hear that GMS families are comforted by our cautious approach to reopening and yearn for their children to be back at GMS
Scientific projections and public health experts warn that we are at the precipice of a “surge upon a surge” and anticipate that all metrics associated with the pandemic will continue to move in the wrong direction. And it could be many weeks before Santa Clara County is out of the state’s “purple” tier. There is growing evidence that schools, when taking recommended precautions, are not a major vector of coronavirus spread.
This fall we set a criteria requiring that Santa Clara County be in the state’s Red Tier for two weeks before reopening. We are now wrestling with the reality of how long that may take, and whether we should re-evaluate our criteria for re-opening.
GMS’s COVID Decisions team and I are taking this broad range of perspectives and information into account as we make decisions about the later half of January and February. . Right now that means, revisiting our safety protocols, consulting with physicians, learning as much as we can about the ever-changing landscape of COVID-19 testing, gathering feedback from our faculty, and talking to other school leaders.
At this point in the year, we wanted to have an answer for you about what school would look like in mid-January and beyond. Unfortunately, we don’t have an answer right now. What we do know is that we will be in fully remote learning through January 14, 2021. And we will continue the Facilitated Remote Learning program to support our students exhibiting the greatest need. Please refer to tomorrow’s Scoop for some slight calendar and schedule changes for the new year.
As always we appreciate your feedback through this optional survey or feel free to reach out to me directly.
Warmly,
Jennifer
