Dear Superintendents and School Leaders,

I’m writing with updates on several COVID-19-related items that have come up since my last message.

The COVID-19 decision tree, a co-effort between the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) and San Diego County Public Health, is designed to assist school personnel in making decisions on how to handle students or staff members who become ill or present symptoms while at school. The decision tree will be updated based on the latest public health guidance.

We have added three new templates to our COVID-19 communications resources:

All three letters have been reviewed and approved by local public health. They are available in English and Spanish.

SDCOE’s general counsel has prepared guidance on Gov. Newsom’s executive orders intended to help Californians exercise their right to vote in a safe, secure, and accessible manner during the upcoming election. The governor has carved a path for the Registrar of Voters to use school sites/facilities to accommodate the need for polling places.

Our Legal, Expanded Learning, and Early Education teams have created this memo to describe the child-serving programs that are and are not allowable while schools are limited to providing instruction through distance learning. It covers licensed and license-exempt child care, pop up/emergency child care, day camps, fee-based services, school-based educational enrichment programs (including but not limited to After School Education Safety and 21st Century Community Learning Centers programs), and employer-provided child care.

The County of San Diego, SDCOE, and Rady Children’s Hospital formed a partnership to create videos to address employee and parent questions about COVID-19. These videos include presentations by Rady Children’s Hospital’s infectious disease physicians and other experts. Feel free to share links to these videos with your school community through newsletters, your website, social media, and virtual meetings.

Thank you for all you are doing during these unprecedented times. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if I can be of assistance.

email: paul.gothold@sdcoe.net