Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff and Students,
We look forward to our return to school on Monday, April 18, 2022 following our two-week spring break. I hope you and your family took some time to relax and rejuvenate in preparation for our final eight weeks of this school year.
Antigen test to return to school
To enter school on our first day back, please administer the antigen test you were provided prior to break and show the negative test stick as you enter school. If you have a positive result, or any illness, stay home, isolate and report your positive result to your school nurse. Here is the letter with instructions on showing the negative test upon arrival to our campuses / offices. Your Principal may have provided you with specific instructions for your site.
Mask request for next two weeks
Consistent with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the District strongly recommends that students and staff wear masks for two weeks or longer after spring break. Similarly, we strongly recommend that parents who are on-site do the same. Even if staff or your student voluntarily stopped wearing a mask before break, we recommend they wear masks for two weeks after break. We know that students and families were traveling or gathering over break and returning to mask-wearing upon return is one way for us to reduce the risk of transmission.
Here are additional guidelines for students and staff:
- Stay home with any sign of illness, even if mild, and test to rule out COVID-19.
- Please get vaccinated / boosted, if you have not yet done so. Find locations on https://myturn.ca.gov/.
- Provide your school / office with proof of vaccination for our records, if you have not yet done so.
- Continue to participate in our weekly testing or bring in your proof of outside negative PCR test results.
Our regimen of weekly testing, isolation protocols, plus our available response testing hubs, have helped ensure the continuity of school this year by minimizing spread of COVID-19 on our campuses and broader community. We plan to continue these protocols as the transmissible omicron subvariant BA.2 is in our communities and caused a slight increase in cases on our campuses prior to break. We continue to post weekly COVID case results on our dashboard. We will have data from our first week back posted on Sunday evening April 24: www.smmusd.org/Dashboard.
Response Testing on Saturday, April 16
Spring break hubs will be held on Saturday, April 16 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at John Adams Middle School (2425 16th street in Santa Monica) and Malibu High School (30215 Morning View Drive in Malibu). All district staff and students are eligible to use the spring break hubs for response testing. Antigen tests (for individuals who have tested positive over break and need to clear before returning on Monday, or prior positives who are symptomatic) and PCR tests for those without a history of positive result within 90 days who have symptoms or anyone would like added peace of mind after travel / gathering will be available at the hubs.
Insurance billing
We have heard from a few parents and staff members that they are concerned about potential insurance billing for our weekly testing. Please be assured that you will not be responsible for any charges relating to our COVID testing, based on our agreements with our testing partners, DoctorNow and Malibu Medical Group. My letter from October 2021 addressed the insurance process and this continues through our testing providers. This letter included contact information should you receive an actual bill to pay for any aspect of our testing program.
Thank you for your ongoing support of our protocols so that our students may continue to learn and grow with in-person instruction on our campuses.
I look forward to seeing happy and engaged students and staff back on our campuses on Monday, April 18.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ben Drati, Superintendent
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