Updated guidance requires safety plan
Schools with in-person instruction must post notice by Feb. 1
January 25, 2021
The California Department of Public Health released its new guidance for schools planning to reopen for in-person instruction, as well as a COVID-19 School Guidance Checklist. This guidance affects all schools, which are required to post a compliant COVID-19 Safety Plan prior to reopening. Schools that are already open must post their COVID-19 Safety Plan by Feb. 1.
This document is intended to provide an update to the COVID-19 and Reopening In-Person Learning Framework for K-12 Schools in California, which was released July 17.
The new guidance includes:
- Criteria for reopening under the framework of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy;
- Considerations for school leaders to plan for and prepare to resume in-person instruction, such as steps to take when a student or staff member experiences symptoms of COVID-19 during the school day;
- Response to confirmed COVID-19 infections;
- Physical distancing in classrooms; and,
- Implementation of stable groups of students and staff.
This guidance supersedes previous guidance, with the exception of the Guidance Related to Cohorts for Children and Youth, and is rooted in the latest scientific evidence available to support “twin goals” of safe and successful in-person instruction.
“Understanding and evidence about the transmission and epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has evolved significantly over the course of the pandemic,” according to an overview to the guidance. “Schools throughout the state are now in various stages of instruction including fully distance learning, fully in-person learning, and hybrid instruction based on local conditions.”
Beginning Jan. 25, every Local Education Agency and private school in California must notify the Department of Public Health whether it is instructing students in person. The school must provide the following information via a web form that will be made available by the Department of Public Health:
- Is in-person instruction provided full time? Include whether it is provided for all grades or for certain grade spans.
- Is in-person instruction provided part-time (hybrid model)? Include whether it is provided for all grades or for certain grade spans.
- Is in-person instruction provided only pursuant to the Guidance Related to Cohorts?
- Is the site distance learning only (no in-person instruction or services provided)?
This reporting will continue every other Monday (or the Tuesday after if the Monday is a state holiday) until the directive is modified or rescinded.
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