09.18.2020 Facebook Live Briefing Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
September 18, 2020
Live Stream - Briefing Live stream
10:00 am PT

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Larry Little: Hi everybody. thank you for joining us. I'm Larry Little. We begin this morning with a focus on schools reopening here
in Santa Clara county. This morning David Putney from the Santa Clara County Office of Education joins us, and in just a few moments, we, few moments, we will be discussing reopening plans of schools here in the county. But first want to let you know that, prior to this segment, we have removed our face coverings so everyone including our American Sign Language interpreters can clearly understand the information that we will be sharing this morning. David, thanks for being here. So we are getting a lot of questions ... we've been getting questions, for months, even before, you know, school went to start again. Because people are very interested uh in in in kids getting back to school, which is very important. So first, uh uh can you explain the eligibility process? and uh purpose of school waivers?

David Putney: Absolutely. well thank you very much for having me here today. it's wonderful to be working in collaboration with the Santa Clara County and the County Office of Education together to support schools, here in the county. The waiver process was established to help support schools address a high need student population, students with disabilities, English language learners, foster youth, McKinney Vento students, and and other learners that need additional support. The waiver processes were stu, where schools could apply for the process. They would adhere to the reopening plan that has specifics on how to prepare and respond to COVID-19. they would then be assigned a liaison that would help them go through their plan to ensure that they had met all those key criteria, and then it would be reviewed by public health, and then it is referred to the State of California for additional review. and then when it's approved, it comes back, and the school is then informed, and the waivers posted on ... the approval as a posted on the Santa Clara County COVID-19 school's web page, so so the community can see which school has been approved for the waiver. At that point then the schools will be able to provide tk through sixth grade, as they have specified within their specific waiver. So the criteria is addressing the key parts of the reopening plan, in coordination with public health.

LL: all right so now that the county is in the red tier from purple, tier two, how will this impact schools? and when will schools reopen?

DP: Great question. The tier system has allowed us to be more clear on when schools are able to reopen. We transition from the watch list to the tier system. So now that we're on the tier system, if we maintain 14 days on tier 2 status, or better, tier 3 or tier 3 and tier 4, then we'd be eligible to reopen schools the first day would be the 23rd this next week, so if we maintain this current status then schools k-12, tk-12 would be eligible to reopen uh in the county. now reopening would be that they'd still have to adhere to the reopening plan, which is the same reopening plan that the waiver schools, the waiver process had to address, as well. so it's the same criteria, the difference is is that the county is is in a better um response to COVID-19 transmission, which allows the confidence to open up more schools. But schools would be expected to maintain the same criteria on the reopening plan.

LL: But it will be left up to the schools. They can continue to do distance learning?

DP: absolutely! that's a vital nuance, particular, is that it's all local control. local education agencies here, in the county will be making the decisions based on their own school community, uh in the public school environment, in the private, and also in the charter school environment.

LL: all right now i understand that within the schools school's reopening plan, schools are working to ensure stable cohorts for students, of students, and can you explain what this means? and how does it impact before and after school planning?

DP: that's great. the the cohort is similar to you you might hear a lot of people talk about, their social bubble. if you will the cohort is establishing that social bubble in the school environment, so schools through the reopening plan, in the elementary, middle and high school are encouraged to establish a small cohort, where that group of students would stay together in a social distant environment to do their in-person instruction. It would allow the school to support instruction while maintaining social distancing from larger groups of students. so the students could be in a school setting, they could then engage with learning with social distancing, and be much more prepared, and prevent the transmission of COVID-19. So the cohorting is essential. in the middle and in the high school, it is going to be a little bit more challenging, because students tend to move more classes and do other activities. so in that environment, we're working with schools to to really look at how they can minimize uh exposure and support that social distancing. For parents, I think it's important to understand that the expectation is that they would only have one additional cohort outside their school day. for example, their cohort during the school and then one after school program. so students would have maybe only two cohorts. historically, some students have a lot of activity after school, and we understand the importance of that. but right now the social distancing and the cohorting is essential to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

LL: yeah i've seen the articles of the at the universities where people are testing positive for COVID. also some of the schools that started back in other parts of the country, where students are testing positive and even even the teachers in some cases. so what happens if someone does test positive?

DP: well we are prepared to support schools in that, if a student does a test positive, and the school would be informed immediately. hopefully by the parent and or public health department. there would be communication with public health department and working under their guidance to ensure that their protocols are followed. the the student or and or staff member would be informed to quarantine, and follow the directive of isolation. students that would be identified in close contact within that environment would be informed, and they'd be expected to quarantine and follow public health. public health would really guide the work with that level of exposure. after that period of time, then students would be allowed to come back, when it was clear by public health of, students to come back. so that's that's where the cohorting becomes really important, because then you can maintain who has been in proximity to a student or staff member that has active COVID-19.

LL: so I know that people are going to have a lot of questions. you know today, tomorrow, and going forward. how can people best get their questions answered?

DP: i think it's uh very important to ask your questions and express yourself to ensure that you understand how we're working together. i think it's wonderful for students and families and community members to work directly with their schools, their local education agency. because you know your school's best, your schools know your children best, and you want to work together to resolve your questions and concerns. the schools are having a lot of support by the eoc here. we have a whole school's liaison team helping them navigate the changes. so parents and family members and community, if you have questions and concerns, always work directly with your school. if you're feeling that you're not getting the support of the answers and there's still some questions, because this is changing, feel free to reach out to the schools liaison team here at the county, it's on our website and there's a portal where you can link your question and concern. we'll be working directly with the school to resolve the issue. because really, most times, it's a it's a  misinformation, and we want to make sure the right information gets out. we want to support students and families in the community to be safe, and we want to support schools to inform them as the information changes, because this is very complex.

LL: yeah. so talk about that just a little bit before we go. is uh you know, information is constantly changing. people have probably become very familiar with what's on the site right now, but it can change at any moment, in a minute

DP: great. great. segue uh it is a very iterative process meaning, it's changing, as the science continues to evolve based on COVID-19. and with that, we're looking at enhancing our reopening plan. right now, public health is working specifically on the guidelines for reopening schools, because we're right on that next level. and so that information will be being updated very soon. the information is updated on our website in real-time, as quickly as we can get that updated, once it's been approved and reviewed by public health. so again, you just want to keep checking back. if you feel that your question has not been answered, reach back out because sometimes the question drives that we need to consider additional topics, and so it's very helpful. we're working together to really improve this this practice.

LL: thank you so much. i know the uh schools had never been faced with these types of challenges before, so a lot of things we're actually trying to plan for and uh figuring out as we actually go. so thank you for being here today. of course, we will have you back, because i know things will change.

DP: my pleasure. thank you for having me.

LL: yes. uh Facebook live in Spanish comes up at 11 o'clock today. uh we also have Facebook live in Vietnamese on Thursdays at 10 a.m. Don't forget you can get a flu shot this weekend at the fairgrounds, and that starts at 9 00 a.m until 4 p.m. again flu shots this weekend at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds from nine to four pm. we want to do our best to eliminate we're dealing with COVID. we don't want people having the flu, because you know that affects the schools with something else to deal with. all right, thanks for watching, everybody. we have hope you have a very safe weekend. and we will see you back here on Monday at 10 a.m. have a good day!

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