Boulder Leader

Boulder Valley School District issued the following announcement on Aug. 4.

Dear Boulder Valley Families and Staff,

I want to begin by first thanking everyone for their extraordinary patience and support over the past few weeks.

With a little less than a month before school begins, I know that everyone is yearning for stability. What I’m about to share, depending on your perspective, may or may not be the news you were hoping to hear.

After reviewing the data we have collected over the past couple weeks, we have decided to start the school year on Wednesday, August 26 in Phase 1 – Home Learning.

How did we come to this decision?

Over the past few weeks we have been diligently working to gather the data needed to inform our next steps. We have been monitoring three key data sources.

boulder county public health dataCOVID-19 Health Data

Until now, our decisions (including our initial plan to start in Phase 3) were based primarily on the COVID-19 Health Data and the expert advice of our partners in public health. While they have been very supportive of our plan and the health-precautions within it, the situation is changing.

We are witnessing a sustained upward trend in cases in our area that has given us reason to pause.

Additionally, last Thursday, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued new guidelines that would prompt the closure of cohorts (groups of students) and schools for up to 14 days to quarantine, for probable COVID-19 symptoms, which are also widely seen during cold and flu season, as well as confirmed COVID-19 cases. 

Finally, recent studies are raising concerns that some of our earlier thoughts on the impact of COVID-19 on children, including transmission and illness may need more time to understand.  As more children begin to participate in activities outside their homes, we are learning more about these topics.

Student Opt-Out Data

Based on the latest data we have, only about a quarter of our students have opted out of in-person learning. That, on face value, would mean that the majority of our families have been planning on sending their kids to school. The communication from our families, however, tells a different story. Many parents are indicating that they want ultimate flexibility, because while they want their students to attend in-person, they hope to switch back-and-forth day-to-day based on the latest news in the community or situation at their school. Some are also indicating that they’d like to see how the first weeks of school go. Then, if it is safe, they would send their students to in-person learning.

Teacher Exemptions

We also now know that nearly 300 teachers have received exemptions from on-site work because they or their family members are at risk of severe illness from COVID-19 as specifically addressed in the Governor’s Order.  With this number of exemptions, we are unable to fully staff in-person learning in our current Phase 3 model.

Original source can be found here.