Date set for elementary schools to return
San Lorenzo Valley Unified has set a date for elementary students to begin the return to campus.
BEN LOMOND >> San Lorenzo Valley Unified has set a date for elementary students to begin the return to campus.
Superintendent Laurie Bruton announced the plan on Saturday to SLVUSD students, family and staff. The return will be on a rolling basis and will start with the youngest and highest needs students.
The school district has only announced dates for Boulder Creek Elementary, San Lorenzo Valley Elementary and San Lorenzo Valley Charter School. The return to schools comes almost exactly one year after schools shut down to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
The rolling return to campus will begin on March 16 for prekindergarten, kindergarten and elementary special needs students. First and second graders will return to campus on March 30. Third, fourth and fifth graders will round out the first phase of the return plan on April 13.
Parents of students at these schools will be given the option of remaining online through the SLV Online program or attending hybrid in-person classes through the SLV Live Hybrid program. However, students may end up with a different teacher depending on which program they choose, according to Bruton.
Online learning will continue as it has over the last year. Students that elect to go down the hybrid learning route will see a schedule change.
The hybrid schedule will be on an a.m.-p.m. rotation Tuesday through Friday. Half of the students will be on campus for class in the morning, while the other half will be on campus for the afternoon. Monday will remain on the distance learning model.
Food and transportation services will be available to students, as well. Students will receive either breakfast or lunch, depending on what session they are a part of. Buses will also run, but parents are encouraged to drive their children to school if possible, in order to limit the number of people on buses.
Parents are urged by the district to complete return to school enrollment forms by Friday. Links to the form are attached in the letter but could not be found on the school district’s website. Parents can contact their school’s registrar for further enrollment questions.
Parents of Boulder Creek Elementary students can contact Alma Steinberg via email at asteinberg@slvusd.org or over the phone at (831) 338-6413. San Lo
renzo Valley Elementary parents can contact Sue Barnes at sbarnes@slvusd. org or via phone at (831) 335-4475. San Lorenzo Charter School families can reach their registrar, Janet Hendricks, at jhendricks@ slvusd.org or by phone at (831) 336-5167.
Bruton will also host an online question and answer session for Boulder Creek and San Lorenzo Valley Elementary parents via Zoom. The meeting will be at 4 p.m. on March 4.
Elementary schools within Santa Cruz County recently became eligible to reopen once the county’s adjusted case rate for tier assignment fell below 25 cases per 100,000 residents, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Safe Schools for All plan.
Santa Cruz County is currently in the Purple-Widespread tier and has been since it exited the regional stay-at-home order on Jan. 25. The current adjusted case rate for the tier system in the county is 12.2 for every 100,000 residents, according the California Blueprint for a Safer Economy dashboard.
The county’s adjusted case rate is still too low to allow for middle and high school students to return to campus. In order for secondary education to transition to a hybrid learning model, the county must have an adjusted case rate of 7 per 100,000 resident or lower, according to the Safe Schools for All plan.
Middle and high school students will likely return to campus in April, Bruton stated in the letter. The county will need to enter and remain in the Red-Substantial tier in order to allow the plan to move forward.