The latest news, events and updates from the San Marino USD
August 13, 2021
Welcome Back to the First Week of School
Dear SMUSD Families:

We are thrilled to welcome your children, our students, back to our outstanding schools.  I was at San Marino High School, Huntington Middle School, Valentine Elementary School, and Carver Elementary School this week and could not have been happier to see our principals greeting our wonderful students on campus.  There was so much energy and excitement!

Please know that the health and well-being of our students are of utmost concern.  All our schools have health and safety protocols in place to provide a safe learning environment.  I would like to provide you with some important highlights: 

  • MANDATORY MASKS INDOORS:  The School District is following Los Angeles County Department of Public Health guidelines with respect to the wearing of masks on all School District property, including our four school sites.  Everyone, adults, students, teachers, staff, visitors, regardless of vaccination status, must wear a mask indoors.  Outdoor masking is not required.  However, families who would like to have their children wear masks outside, please feel free to have them do so.

  • VOLUNTARY TESTING:  The School District is providing voluntary weekly COVID testing for teachers, staff and students who wish to be tested.  This is voluntary and provided by the School District as an optional safety measure.  If families would like to have their child tested, the parent/guardian must provide consent.   

  • OPTIONAL HEALTH SCREENING FORM:  As we did last year, the School District has an optional Health Screening Form available online for families.  While this form is voluntary, we encourage parents/guardians to check for symptoms each morning. Parents should not send their children to school with COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, muscle or body aches, new loss of smell/taste, vomiting, nausea or diarrhea.

  • VACCINATION OF SCHOOL STAFF:  On August 11, 2021, California became the first state in the nation to require all teachers and staff in K-12 public and private schools to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID testing.  Schools are required to be in full compliance with the new policy by October 15 to verify vaccination status and have in place weekly testing for unvaccinated staff.  Based on the survey we conducted last month, 96% of School District employees who responded were fully vaccinated.  Although the survey provided helpful information, we are in the process of verifying the vaccination status of all our employees.  We will have in place a process for testing any unvaccinated employees through our weekly COVID testing program.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to our COVID Compliance Officer, Dr. Stephen Choi at schoi@smusd.us.

We monitor the COVID situation as well as State and Los Angeles County Department of Health guidelines daily and will continue to communicate changes to COVID protocols as they develop.   

Thank you in advance for your support in promoting safe and healthy school communities.

We are looking forward to an amazing 2021-22 school year!

Sincerely,

Dr. Linda de la Torre
Acting Superintendent