News from TTUSD

Dear Parents and Community Members,

Thank you for continuing to do your part to keep our community safe. We are hoping that the number of active cases of COVID-19 will lower within our community, and we can reopen our schools in mid-January. We miss seeing our students!

Right now the numbers remain high. On December 4, Placer County reported 126 new positive COVID cases. Then on December 7, Placer County reported a startling 1,069 new positive COVID cases. For the same day, Nevada County reported 582 positive cases and El Dorado County reported 60 positive cases (28 of these cases were in the Lake Tahoe area.)

Our plan is to remain in distance learning until January 15. We will continue to closely monitor the number of active cases in our area, and as a team, we will evaluate whether we can safely reopen our schools later in January.

Here are the important factors that contribute to TTUSD being able to reopen.

Non-Negotiables for reopening our schools (and staying open):

• Sustainable staff support with enough substitute staff to provide a high-quality education for our students on campus.

• Per our MOU with CSEA and TTEA, we must be able to provide childcare for the students of our staff who are in grades TK-5. If Boys & Girls Club NLT closes temporarily, this has a significant impact.

• The capacity of our school nurses to conduct thorough contract tracing for all positive TTUSD COVID cases.

• There must be testing availability for symptomatic TTUSD staff and students.

• There must be timely testing results for symptomatic TTUSD staff and students.

Other important considerations:

• A reduction of the number of active cases within the TTUSD community (staff and students) along with numbers of individuals and classes that are in quarantine. Right now we don’t know if our TTUSD COVID-19 Dashboard truly reflects the number of students and staff with COVID. It is essential that parents and staff continue to notify their principal or department supervisor of any positive COVID cases for contact tracing and tracking.

Also, Rideout Testing Center is ONLY for symptomatic students and staff of TTUSD. While Rideout’s hours will be reduced over winter break, the testing center will be open and available for testing appointments Monday through Wednesday, December 21-23.

Please join our upcoming board meetings (via live streaming) on December 16 and January 6 at 5:30 p.m. where we’ll be discussing the timelines and conditions for safety reopening our schools.

Take care and stay well,

Carmen Ghysels

Superintendent Chief Learning Officer