District Updates and Communications

In our ongoing efforts to maintain safe and healthy campuses for all students and staff, Oak Park Unified School District will be instituting the following updates to our current safety protocols:

Posted 11/4/2021

COVID-19 VACCINE UPDATE

As you might have already heard on Friday, October 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 5-to 11-year-olds, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) affirmed that decision on Tuesday, November 2.

California has its own subsequent vetting process through the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup, which consists of public health experts from California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington who analyze federal findings for those states. The workgroup completed its review of the federal process and has unanimously concluded that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is safe and effective for youth 5 to 11 years of age.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We want to remind you that the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 through 15 is currently approved for emergency use as authorized by the FDA. The Governor's vaccine mandate is currently not in effect, and the vaccine is voluntary. And therefore, at this time, there are no exemptions applicable.

We encourage all those eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine to get vaccinated, and for children 5 through 11, we encourage families to please consult their child's pediatrician. Currently, Oak Park USD does not have any specific information regarding school-based clinics. Ventura County Public Health(VCPH) is operating vaccination clinics where families may obtain vaccines for the 5 through 11 age group, or families can contact local pharmacies directly.

Remember, your actions continue to save lives and control the spread. Wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance, and when eligible, get vaccinated. We thank you for your continued partnership! Read the full message here with more details regarding appointments etc. Here is an FAQ Document released by VCPH yesterday.

Posted 10/28/2021

Temperature Screening at Schools

After reviewing the results of the temperature screening at our secondary schools through the first quarter of the school year, there is little to no evidence of any symptomatic COVID students through the temperature screening process. The last day for temperature screening at the secondary schools will be tomorrow, Friday, October 29, 2021. We strongly encourage all families to please follow the home symptom screen using this checklist. The elementary temperature screening will continue until further notice.

COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) approved booster shots for all Moderna and Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. The CDC approved Pfizer boosters in September. The time frame for when people should get a booster depends on which vaccine you received. Over 200 sites in Ventura County offer COVID vaccines, including a network of medical offices, community clinics, pharmacies, Public Health clinics, and mobile clinics. Vaccine appointments can be scheduled on MyTurn.ca.gov. For more information on the COVID-19 Booster, click here...

Classroom and Campus Volunteers

We are pleased to share that we will be allowing "fully vaccinated" parent volunteers to work in our classrooms beginning Monday, November 1st. We will limit to not more than two volunteers at a time in each classroom. On August 11, 2021, the CDPH issued a Vaccine Verification for Workers in Schools order, which requires verification of COVID-19 vaccination status among eligible K-12 school workers, including adult volunteers on-site at a public school campus supporting school functions. This is a state requirement and went into effect on October 15, 2021. OPUSD is requiring proof of full vaccination for all adult volunteers at District school sites in order to follow the health order while also keeping the safety of our students and staff as a top priority. All people, including volunteers, must also wear a mask at all times while indoors at District sites.

All on-campus volunteers, independent contractors, including student teachers and unpaid interns, must complete the Self-Certification of Vaccination Form and be cleared by the site administrator before they can volunteer on campus. We know that this will make things much better for our teachers, especially in the elementary grades.

Posted 10/15/2021

• Update on Governor's Mandate

Posted 10/4/2021

• Governor Newsom's COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for K-12 School Staff and Students

Posted 9/15/2021

The OPUSD Covid Response Team has continued to work on protocols that can streamline the notification, contact tracing, and communications to parents in the event of a covid case or known Covid exposure.

We are implementing the following processes:

COVID Reporting Form: In an attempt to streamline and organize our Covid Response team, we need all known cases or known exposures to be entered through the same process. To this end, we have created a google form we would like you to use to report a student who is covid positive or has been exposed to a positive case outside of the school (you do not need to submit this form for an on-campus exposure). Once submitted, the person notifying us will receive a response on the protocols and further steps. Members of our COVID Response Team will contact you within 24 hours of the form being submitted.

We ask that you only submit this form for any known and personally verifiable Covid positive cases or known close contact exposures. We are unable to handle anonymous reporting. Please use the following link for reporting:

COVID REPORTING LINK - www.opusd.org/COVIDStudentForm

This form link is also posted on the home page of this website and school websites under shortcuts.

COVID Notification Email Address: Please be on the lookout for emails that come from our Covid@opusd.org email address. This email will be the main form of communication from our Covid Response Team. If your student has been identified as close contact or is known to be covid positive, then you will be in contact with a Covid Response Team member by phone to review details and discuss our protocols.

1. Modified Quarantine information:

• Elementary Schools will be notified of modified quarantine via Parent Square

• Secondary Schools- will be notified of modified quarantine via email from Covid@opusd.org

Please save the initial correspondence with testing dates and exclusion dates. Once the modified quarantine end day is complete, and your student has completed testing protocols and remains asymptomatic and COVID negative, they can resume all extracurricular activities on day 11, including Club Oak Park. We will not be sending individual reminders that your student is cleared from modified quarantine.

If you choose not to have your child attend school during "modified quarantine" and decide to keep them in an at-home quarantine, please let your school office and the Covid Response Team know right away. The school office will send you an independent study contract and you will be notified when your student is cleared to return to school.

Reporting Outside Test Results: We are requesting that if you are testing outside for modified quarantine that you send the results to Covid@opusd.org

In this email, please specify:

1. School site

2. Student's name

3. Teachers' name for an elementary level or date of exposure from MCMS + OPHS.

4. Any additional information as to why your student was tested will be helpful as well.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at Covid@opusd.org

Posted 8/16/2021

Good Evening,

I’m Jeff Davis, your Oak Park USD Superintendent.

I want to thank everyone for their support as we work together to provide safe learning environments at our school sites, and as we continue to be flexible around the moving target that is the Delta variant.

Also, I want to personally wish a speedy recovery to those students and staff that are currently out via our COVID protocols. I care deeply about all of our students, staff, and parents. I know that our parents have many concerns regarding safety at our schools right now. I want you to know that my team, our Principals, and I have been working to alleviate those concerns, such as:

1. Implementing daily temperature checks at all schools last Friday;

2. Mandatory indoor masking and strongly recommended outdoor masking when possible;

3. High-grade ventilation systems which do not require our doors and windows to be open;

4. Working with our facilities department and custodians to ensure that we are fully stocked with soap, towels, and hand sanitizer at all sites;

5. Providing better spacing at lunch time and on the playground at our schools, and

6. Partnering with the state COVID testing program to implement weekly student COVID testing at all sites and for our student-athletes which we are working hard to implement in the next few weeks.

Please refer to the Student Health Decision Tree that is in my message below and be sure to visit our website for all of the important COVID safety-related information at www.opusd.org/COVIDSafety

Today we COVID tested 11 classrooms of students at Brookside out of an abundance of caution due to 6 confirmed positive student cases. We will complete this balance and cadence testing tomorrow for the remainder of the students. We are working hard to implement this weekly testing at all our school sites.

Last year, we did not have to contend with a large number of positive COVID cases because we were not dealing with the Delta variant, which is impacting young students as well now.

I am humbly requesting all parents to help us keep our students safe and our schools open. Please do not send your children to school if they are unwell or have any COVID-related symptoms. Please inform your school if your child is symptomatic or COVID positive.

I want to thank you for your time and please know that we’re working hard to provide a safe, world-class education to your children.

Posted: 8/12/2021

DAILY TEMPERATURE CHECKS - Starting tomorrow, Friday, August 13, 2021

Effective immediately, each student will undergo a temperature screening each morning at all schools. This will be conducted by school staff at the campus entrances. Public Health guidelines require a temperature of 99.5 or below.

Students attending Club Oak Park after school will be checked again at the time of dismissal.

Reminder: students and staff will still be required to perform daily health and screening checks at home before arriving on campus, including ensuring a temperature below 99.5 and no cold, cough, or flu-like symptoms.

OUTDOOR MASKING

Effective immediately, we will strongly recommend the use of a face mask outdoors. This is a change from the “optional” mask use language we have used thus far. Students wearing masks outdoors will also be guided and encouraged to safely take “mask breaks,” which are feasible while maintaining a safe distance from others.

There will be no change to the already established indoor mask requirement.

CHANGE TO DROP OFF AND PICK UP PROCEDURES AT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Effective Immediately (starting Friday morning), to increase student and staff safety, parents are asked not to enter the school gates when dropping off students. This protocol is being implemented one day earlier than previously planned.

SOCIAL DISTANCING

We will strongly encourage students to distance themselves outdoors whenever possible socially.

HAND SANITIZATION

Hand sanitizer stations and hand-washing stations are in place around the campuses. Please encourage your children to use hand sanitizer upon entering and exiting the classrooms and before and after eating.

COVID-19 TESTING

We are currently working with the State of California and Ventura County Office of Education (VCOE) to implement weekly COVID testing for unvaccinated students. In speaking with the State, we have been informed that this process may take up to three or four weeks to be implemented. More information will be forthcoming as plans are put into place.

Though this additional testing will not be implemented immediately, we do have our free COVID testing available daily, as we have communicated previously. In addition, multiple testing locations are available throughout our county, as detailed on the Ventura County Recovers website. We encourage parents of all unvaccinated students to get their children tested weekly. Per CDPH K-12 Guidance Q & A updated August 2, 2021 fully vaccinated students are not recommended to participate in routine testing at school.

VIRTUAL LEARNING

We want to remind families that the state legislature did not renew SB 98, which allowed districts to provide virtual learning (Distance or Hybrid) last year. Instead, they passed AB 130, which requires districts to offer independent study for students who select to remain virtual due to COVID-related health concerns. At OPUSD we are offering this through our Oak Park Independent School (OPIS Virtual.)

These additional safety measures align with our goal to keep our community safe and maximize student learning. More information is available on the OPUSD COVID-19 Resources website, which includes our Back to School Resource Guide, FAQs, and COVID-19 Dashboard.