Important Update on CSArts-SGV Campus Reopening

Dear CSArts-SGV High School Families, Faculty, and Staff,

We hope this message finds you well and that your first two months of the spring semester have gone smoothly. Now that California’s regional stay-at-home order has been lifted, I would like to take this opportunity to update the CSArts-SGV school community on our progress toward reopening the campus for in-person instruction, which we are prepared to do as soon as permitted.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have taken a measured and thoughtful approach in our response, with student and staff safety and well-being remaining our priority. Please rest assured that school leadership will continue to apply the same principles as we update our reopening and safety plans in accordance with new guidance.

Stay tuned for regular weekly communications containing the details of our plans for health and safety procedures, as well as campus operations, as we continue to approach a return to in-person instruction.

CAMPUS REOPENING TIMELINE

As previously mentioned, California’s regional stay-at-home order covering Los Angeles County has been lifted. At this point in time, however, Los Angeles County still remains in the Purple Tier of California’s tiered reopening system based on the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, which means that CSArts-SGV is not permitted to open for in-person instruction.

There will be no in-person instruction offered until such time that the county officially moves into the Red Tier (Tier 2) and remains in the Red Tier for at least five (5) consecutive days. Current guidance indicates that a county must maintain Red Tier metrics for 14 consecutive days before the State officially designates the county in the less-restrictive tier. Once Los Angeles County is formally designated in the Red Tier, CSArts-SGV is permitted to resume in-person learning after five (5) days. The first day a county is designated in the Red Tier is the Wednesday after the weekly county tier assignments are announced and posted on the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) website. As such, our anticipated campus reopening will likely be on a Monday, sometime after we enter the Red Tier.

Below is a graph of new cases in Los Angeles County, as of Monday, February 22.

As you can see, case rates in Los Angeles County are dropping quickly and we are currently at 12.3 cases per 100,000. If this trend continues, it is reasonable to assume that we will move into the Red Tier at some point in the next few weeks. We will continue to keep you updated as data evolves.

SCHOOL SAFETY & REOPENING PLAN

We are in the process of conducting a comprehensive assessment and analysis of the guidance and data points specific to our school with our public health partners, our Board of Trustees, and our partners at Duarte Unified School District. We are also engaged in continued conversations with our labor partners regarding our School Reopening & Safety Plan, which has been submitted to the County and State for review and was previously shared with our school community in November.

As a reminder, over the summer, the Los Angeles County Department of Health (LACDH) required all school districts and charter schools to develop a reopening and safety plan for an anticipated return to in-person learning in the 2020-2021 school year. All schools were required to incorporate health and safety recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and California Department of Public Health (CDPH) into their individual plans. CSArts-SGV’s plan, approved by our Board of Trustees, will guide the school’s operations, cleaning protocols, and notification plans once it is safe to return to in-person learning.

To view CSArts-SGV’s School Reopening & Safety Plan, please click here.

INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL SELECTION

When we resume in-person instruction, students will be provided an opportunity to choose between continuing to attend classes in a virtual learning model or coming to the CSArts-SGV campus to attend classes in a hybrid/in-person learning model.

At the beginning of the school year, we reconfigured our academic and conservatory schedule in such a way that allows us to easily transition between virtual and in-person instruction without reconfiguring classes. Whether you choose the virtual or hybrid/in-person model, your student will continue to follow this same schedule, in the same classes with the same teachers, for the remainder of the semester.

Following is a description of the hybrid/in-person learning model and the virtual learning model to aid your family in making this determination.

Hybrid/In-Person Learning Model

Students who select the hybrid/in-person model will attend classes in person two days per week and attend classes virtually three days per week. Students are divided into two cohorts, by conservatory. The Purple Cohort will meet in person on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the Green Cohort will meet in person on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Below is a description of what each cohorts’ academic and conservatory experience will look like in the hybrid/in-person instructional model.

Please note that the academic in-person classroom experience will look much different for students than what they may have been familiar with previously. While students will be present in their academic classes with their teachers, they will be socially distanced and required to wear masks at all times. Teachers will strive to create educational experiences in the classroom to promote social and emotional connection between students. However, students will still use their computers to access much of the instructional content of their classes through Schoology and/or Google Classroom and Google Meet. Academic teachers will be offering instruction to both in-person students and virtual students simultaneously from their classrooms.

Virtual Learning Model

Students who select the virtual learning model will continue to attend academic classes five days a week through a distance learning format, as they have been doing throughout the 2020-2021 school year. Conservatory instruction will continue to be virtual and synchronous two days per week and asynchronous two days per week, according to the current schedule.

Learning Model Selection

In the coming weeks, families will receive more detailed updates and an FAQ sheet, which will communicate additional information about the instructional models and the health and safety procedures you can expect to see when our campus reopens for in-person instruction. We are aware that you will need to review all of this information prior to making a final decision regarding which learning model is best for your family.

To select your desired learning model once you are ready, please complete our In-Person/Virtual Learning Selection Survey (grades 9-12 only).

IMPORTANT NOTES:

The deadline for families to make a selection between models is Friday, March 19.

Please be aware that, with your selection, you are committing to complete the spring semester within your selected learning model. Students will not have the option to switch learning models for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year, unless there are special circumstances, which will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

This selection survey is for families of students in grades 9-12 only. If you have a student in grades 7-8 who is enrolled in the dual CSArts-SGV/DUSD program, we will be sending a separate communication to you in the near future. Please stay tuned.

TAKE SELECTION SURVEY

Should you have further questions, you can email us at student.services@sgv.csarts.net. Please make sure that you have all of your questions answered prior to filling out the above survey.

REMAINING QUESTIONS & RESOURCES

If you have any remaining questions about our approaching return to campus, please review the following documents for further clarification:

School Reopening & Safety Plan

Important School Updates

If you feel your question was not adequately addressed in the resources above, please contact student.services@sgv.csarts.net. If your question is specific to your student’s conservatory, please email your conservatory director for assistance.

In closing, please keep in mind that Los Angeles County must continue to see a downward trend in case rates in order to allow the safe return to in-person instruction for all of our students. To do so, we must continue to be vigilant and strictly adhere to all public health guidelines. Please support these efforts by avoiding gatherings, staying at home as much as possible, wearing your masks, and maintaining a distance of 6 feet from others when you need to leave home.

We will continue to provide you with necessary information as we work to prepare the campus and strengthen the instructional program to create an unparalleled experience for all CSArts-SGV students and staff this spring.

Thank you for your ongoing support. Be well and stay safe.

Warmly,

William Wallace, Ed.D.

Principal

California School of the Arts – San Gabriel Valley