Supt. Hausmann's Parent Update for 10-21-20.
October 21, 2020
Dear Families,
Last Thursday, October 15, Cuyahoga County was placed on red alert mode in the state’s coronavirus advisory system. This is the first time the county has risen above the lower caution level of orange since August 20. It is also the first time the county has been in red alert since we started In-building back on September 14.
Bay Village Schools Finds Success In-building
We are brave and put our Safe Reopening Plan into place, and have been able to do what no other district in our area has -- be In-building for six straight weeks with no confirmed cases resulting from attending school!
Last Week’s Local and County Numbers
Although our school district’s numbers continue to be low -- with all confirmed cases and the majority of our quarantines from outside of school social activities -- the country, state, county and local numbers are increasing at concerning rates. The city’s new confirmed cases nearly tripled in the last two weeks -- with 11 new cases, (from 132 to 147) -- and the county’s numbers have more than doubled -- with 258 new confirmed cases, (from 187 to 445) -- during that same time period. The most concerning is the pediatric hospital rates are rising.
Being Proactive
Using data to guide our decisions about when to shift back to an eLearning mode is an important part of our COVID-19 safety plan. Just like weather forecasters who issue storm warnings to allow families time to safely prepare for a severe weather event, we must make decisions in advance to allow our staff, students and families time to transition to eLearning. The Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH) prepares a forecast model we reference. It looks a lot like a hurricane tracking model showing the possible paths based on analysis of all the current and past data. (Figure 2 - Courtesy of the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, Case Western Reserve University and the University of Akron)
We can see that this current model is forecasting a surge in COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks. This is something we all need to prepare for now, especially if numbers continue to rise. Though our goal is to make decisions two weeks ahead of schedule, the virus is causing us to be more nimble than usual. Therefore, grades 9-12 students will follow an instructional step-down model next week -- a blend of In-building and eLearning days. (Building principals will send detailed information tomorrow.) The week of November 2 is a high risk week due to Halloween on the Saturday before and Election Day on November 3.
(Glenview & SEED Families-- Please see Mrs. Davey’s letter for more information)
K-12 Learning Mode Schedule
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Dates
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Learning Model
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Week of Oct. 26
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Bay High Step-Down Model
PreK-8 In-building
*If state, county and local data significantly increase, we all must be prepared to shift.
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Week of Nov. 2
(Nov. 3 Election Day/parent conferences)
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K-12 All eLearning, except Nov. 3 is teacher assigned independent work day due to parent conferences.
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Nov. 5th
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Determination of learning mode decision for weeks of Nov. 9/16
Please plan for eLearning as a possibility.
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Planned Thanksgiving Break eLearning
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Week of Nov. 23-24
(Nov. 25-27 Thanksgiving Break)
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K-12 All eLearning
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Week of Nov. 30- Dec. 4
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K-12 All eLearning
Dec. 3 - learning mode decision for weeks of Dec. 7/14
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➡ ➡ If at any time the county moves to the Purple Advisory Level, we will automatically announce an All District Closure and PreK-12 eLearning.
‘Double Down’ on Prevention
While the district continues to closely monitor the data, we ask our families to review COVID-19 prevention strategies, including completing the student daily health check, masking, handwashing and maintaining small, social pods. The latter is so important since all known cases and quarantines have been traced to outside school events. We are all experiencing COVID fatigue, but now is the time to “double down” and stay the course of safety.
Information and Tips
At Thursday night’s virtual Town Hall: Responding to COVID-19, our county health department officials and regional mental health experts shared information and tips for our families and community members. If you were not able to attend, you can read a summary article here. One of the items mentioned at the virtual webinar is that testing for those ages two years and up is becoming much more available, even if the patient is symptom free.
Have a Family Plan; Be Flexible
As I have stated since July, have a plan in place for your family in case we need to pivot quickly to eLearning mode. Purple advisory level for the county is not out of the question per data that CCBH has shared. We need families -- especially high school parents -- to be as flexible as possible. We may not be able to provide two weeks advance notice for learning mode decisions.
In the meantime, continue to enjoy quiet family time by studying, reading, playing board games and watching movies together.
Sincerely,
Superintendent Jodie Hausmann