By Vicky Rinek
Tuesday, January 12: Dr. Ryan Holman, Superintendent of SJUSC, presented the highlights of the District’s data on what they have accomplished and what is in the future for the schools’ staff and their students, as well as the community at large.
All the Snowline Schools’ boundaries remain in the purple tier, the highest level of concern and the most restricted as pertaining to the returning of in-person learning at the schools.
Dr. Holman indicated no available ICU beds in the High Desert and health officials proving services for patients are under extreme challenges. He continued to mention that the public needs to do their civic duty to bring down the positive testing numbers and prevent the rise in outbreak numbers and increase the demand for our hospitals. Holman stressed that the education community needs to work together to bring us down to a tier that would allow students and educators to return to the classroom. His presentation included important information on the current status, incentive Grants, testing at the schools, and the COVID-19 vaccine distribution operation.
Within the Snowline School District covering an area population of 43,987, report a total number of cases of 3,016 and youth cases of (age 5-9) 336
Phelan 14,747 reports 1,245 cases and six deaths.
Piñon Hills 8,042 reports 305 cases and two deaths.
Wrightwood’s population of 5,177 reports 270 cases and one death.
Snowline border goes into other communities:
Victorville, with a population of 43,987, reports a total number of 3,016 cases, of which 336 represent youth ages 5 to 19 and deaths of 96
Oak Hills 9,488 report 1,137 cases and one death
Within the Snowline boundaries, Snowline School goals for In-person cohorts and ES waivers will be determined on February 16.
Based on the overall community numbers and whether the school sports department will start up again, it will be determined with the February 16 numbers.
Dr. Holman, “First of all, I want to attract attention to In-person cohorts in elementary schools’ waivers and give you an update on that information. We certainly want to consider getting ourselves back, but safety is always the primary concern, and that is why we are where we are until February 16.”
The elementary school waivers include Piñon Hills Elementary, which was previously approved as a long-term school waiver; however, this area returned to the purple tier because of the community condition of COVID-91.
Hopefully, plans for the middle school opening and outdoor sports programs won’t be available until February 16, after monitoring conditions and there is a significant drop in cases. “We will continue to monitor ourselves, but safety is always our primary concern.
A State budget has not been finalized and plans for a $2 billion grant has been put on the table for all schools. This Grant represents an incentive payment of $450 per student to get them back into the classroom and In-person learning. The Grant’s deadline is February 1, and the administration team is working on completing the Grant application. However, the complete guidelines have not been forwarded to Snowline, and without them, the Grant committee is unable to complete the process. Also, Snowline has to get out of the purple tier to qualify for the Grant. The Grant committee will go ahead and prepare the Grant application, under the assumption that Snowline will be out of the purple tier and have all safety protocols in place. In the event Snowline fails to meet the State requirements, there is another Grant opportunity in March.
Part of the requirements for the Grant is to have students and teachers tested for COVID-19. Snowline is preparing for testing that would cover grade K through High School in the middle of February or until there is a significant drop in numbers of COVID-19 cases. “We will take measures that are in place and should be in place to ensure the safety of all the kids.” Said Dr. Holman.
Vaccination procedures are being finalized
The three phases outlined by San Bernardino are Phase 1A vaccines currently being vaccinated, Phase 1B (February ?); all educators, students, and essential workers (dentist, pharmacy, laboratory, and medical support), 75+ and 65+ years old, and congregate settings. In Phase 1C – (April ?); 50-64 years old, 16-49 years old with underlying conditions, and essential workers with high exposure. Dr. Holman got the word that large facilities, i.e., Disneyland, San Bernardino Fairgrounds, sports stadiums, will be target locations. Additional locations are possible, including CVS and Walgreen pharmacy. Victor Valley College has indicated that they have three extreme-low temperature freezers available that could house the vaccines.
Brian Holman is working with other superintendents and linking their arms together to help bring the resources up here and accelerate the vaccination process in any way possible, so they have identified points of distribution (POD). Locally, one POD identified is in Wrightwood. San Bernardino has targeted Wrightwood as a POD because in past trials, they had successfully distributed the flu vaccines. Dr. Holman and his team are working on expanding the POD locations to cover Piñon Hills Middle School, Quail Valley Middle School, or Baldy Mesa Elementary School, where the eastern end of the community will be covered. These sites have not received confirmation as of this date yet.
Dr. Holman will continue to update the Board at the January 26 meeting with more clarification on what’s safe for our schools. Robert Holman said, “so, we appreciate your support in the notion of us making the decision that is necessary to ensure safety across our entire Snowline learning community and will always continue to do that and keep you abreast of all the necessary changes.”
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