Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
The Santa Barbara County of Public Health Department (PHD) announced 14 local K-6 schools are allowed to reopen amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
PHD Director Van Do-Reynoso gave a presentation to the County Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning on the county’s progress in dealing with COVID-19.
School Reopenings
Based on the state’s approval, fourteen local elementary schools are allowed to reopen for in-person learning with restrictions, three more are being reviewed by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), five schools are working with PHD before sending to the state for approval, and two new submissions were just received. Below are the schools in these categories
Schools Allowed to Reopen
1. Howard School
2. Knox School
3. Laguna Blanca
4. Waldorf School
5. Coastline Christian Academy
6. SYV Family School
7. Santa Ynez Valley Christian Academy
8. Pacific Christian School
9. Montessori Center School
10. Valley Christian Academy
11. Crane School
12. St. Raphael School
13. St. Mary of the Assumption
14. Marymount
Schools Being Reviewed by CDPH
1. Cold Spring School District
2. Montecito Union School District
3. Providence.
Schools Working with PHD
1. Dunn School
2. Our Lady of Mount Carmel School
3. Blochman Union School District
4. Notre Dame School
5. St Louis de Montford
New Application Submissions Received by PHD
1. SYV Charter School
2. La Purisima Conception
Community Members Encouraged to Get Tested
Do-Reynoso also addressed a question from Supervisor Das Williams regarding COVID-19 testing availability in the county and the recent messaging urging community members to get tested.
She stated early on in the pandemic, there was a shortage of testing and processing supplies and their department followed guidelines set by CDPH and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). At that time testing was prioritized for “tier one” community members including those exhibiting symptoms, those hospitalized, and essential workers.
“I think that message has fluctuated because of again, the supply chain issues. Now that the state has increased their supply and our county has plenty of supply, and as well as the processing, the turnaround time has greatly improved,” said Do-Reynoso.
She went on to state that earlier in the summer the turnaround COVID-19 processing time anywhere from 7 to 10 days and for August, PHD was seeing turnaround times for 2 to 3 days and some within one day. Now they are encouraging anyone who is needing to get tested to seek testing at county-sponsored sites, personal physician, or state-sponsored locations.
“The other piece is that we are encouraging people to get tested primarily because one, the availability. Two because of the quick turnaround time and results, and three you may be asymptomatic and you may have been exposed but not be aware. And so now that the opportunity is available we are encouraging people to get tested,” said Do-Reynoso.
Tier Status
Santa Barbara County remains in the highest “widespread tier” that’s colored purple for failing to lower its case rate. The county will need to achieve 7 or less new COVID-19 cases per day during a seven-day average. The current number is 9.1. The county is already meeting the testing positivity rate at 4.8%
Moving down to the “substantial tier” that’s colored red would allow the county re-open indoor business operations at 10-25% capacity that are currently outdoor only. Santa Barbara County’s data will be reevaluated by the state next Monday.
In the past week, the majority of Santa Barbara county has seen a downward trend in new cases, except Isla Vista and Goleta. Over the past two weeks, total cases increased by 7%, hospitalizations decreased by 30%, and intensive care stays decreased by 56%.
Current Numbers
As of Monday, the total number of COVID-19 cases is 8,718 with 162 of those being active. PHD reported one death of an individual who tested positive for COVID-19. The Santa Barbara County resident was 50-69 years of age, resided in the City of Santa Maria, had underlying medical conditions and was not associated with a congregate living facility.
As of late Tuesday afternoon, PHD released the latest numbers including an additional death. The Santa Barbara County resident was 50-69 years of age, resided in the City of Santa Maria, had underlying medical conditions and was associated with an outbreak at a congregate living facility.
The death toll has now reached 107, a 1.2% death rate.
There were 26 new COVID-19 cases added on Tuesday bringing the total to 8,741 with 149 of those being active.
There are currently 32 people hospitalized including 8 in the ICU.
More data can be found at https://publichealthsbc.org
[Editor’s Note: This “Current Numbers” section has been updated with Tuesday’s COVID-19 data released by PHD.]
Yet SBUSD Superintendent Maldonado stated they have no interest in filing for a waiver. No explanation of what resources are needed and no information on what it would take for the district to file. It’s an embarrassment. The latest is about 380 kids have been pulled out of the public school system. The school board continues to throw fact based risk assessment out the window and fail our children and community. Quit pretending like virtual learning is in any way acceptable and do your jobs already. Many board members are up for reelection. If they can’t step up, they need to be out. I’m looking at you Laura Capps, Jacqueline Reid and Wendy Sims-Moten.
Private schools are opening in droves. Public schools still huddling in fear (or waiting for the election) forcing parents to effectively home school. What an embarrassment.
Private school teachers are not unionized. Basically if the private school teacher does not want to teach in person – the private school will find someone who will. Public schools are beholden to the union. The Superintendent will apply for a waiver once the teacher union says it is OK. Welcome to living in a Democrat run state. Funny thing is this is just widening the gap – which is actually what the Democrats want. More under educated people equals more people needing government hand outs which equals more votes.
These schools are canaries in the coal mine.
That analogy only works if the coal mine in this situation has 100k plus people living in it and mostly going about their normal lives (albeit with masks) and dropping their kids off at school wouldn’t really change much except make kids/parents lives better/more comfortable. Other than that though, spot on…let’s get those canaries back in school!
Teacher union members are needed out in the field harvesting votes and walking precincts; not spending their time in the classrooms. Plus their unions demanded and got full pay and full employment guarantee until June 2021 – thanks to our elected representatives Hannah Beth Jackson and Monique Limon. This is what “Sacramento” looks like today.
Distance learning is INSANE for a 5 year old 8:30-1:45. Looks like I’ll be pulling them out and putting them in private school.
Look at the SB County School Board on your ballot when looking for change. County Schools Board should have been on the front lines, bully pulpit if nothing else, getting our local public school students back into their classrooms. Public education gets the biggest slice of our tax dollars by far (50%); but private schools are now where you must go if you actually want your kids to get an education. This is wrong in so many ways. Teacher-union backed school board candidates have simply not earned re-election. If you see “incumbent”, toss them out.
The public school admins like moldonado and Lewis are coming up with every excuse in the book not to go back, for example at last meeting where they didn’t want to start in person and possibly have to go back online because that would be to disruptive to families and children to switch back. Hmm, really? They can’t, and won’t, in my opinion. Totally agree this is a referendum on and critical time for our school “leadership”. The current group and a number of the candidates vying for spots are so darn focused on dual language, iPads for everyone, internet access, and especially free meals – wow…
Yeah, not exactly. We already have preschools open, camps open, learning pods going on, private schools, etc. Children are (and have been) interacting indoors in groups since this whole thing started. People are mingling in restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, etc. There is nothing special or unique to a public school environment that is not already occurring in the community. Oh, except for the fact that it provides for the health and development of thousands of children.
Opening any school without stringent anti-infection protocols is insane. Let’s hope these schools are diligent, because otherwise the community case load is going to explode.
Are you leaving your home at all or are have you stayed in since March? Because if you haven’t left your house, I understand where your coming from…but if you’ve left your house, you’ve noticed that EVERYONE IS OUT AND ABOUT!! Restaurants, bars, everything is open! Kids are out planning in parks and at the beach. They are at swim practice and tennis practice and golf practice and gymnastic practice. Kids are surfing at the beach and playing at the parks and running around everywhere. Santa Barbara is open…this idea that everything should be open except schools is insane and just not indicative of reality.
It’s indicative of extreme stupidity. And if you think restaurants and bars are open for indoor use, as schools must be, then you aren’t paying attention. Unless, of course, you somehow think children (or anyone else) out and about in PM 2.5 levels over 150 is a nice healthy exercise.
Schools do not even get waivers UNLESS stringent protocols are in place. If you think that schooling with 7-10 of the same kids in a classroom every day – spread apart and wearing masks – is any more dangerous than going to bars/hanging out on State Street/eating out/shopping big box stores/etc. with large numbers of *absolute strangers*, you are seriously mistaken. Kids have suffered for 6+ months already of stunted growth. Getting them back into school should have been Priority #1. Instead, it was opening bars and restaurants…
Schools could easily go with an inside/outside model with 8 or so kids in a class/pod at least 2 days week quite easily… what’s happening now is school district admins/teachers Choosing what’s easiest and best for each of them. Do you prefer our kids being schooled In Churches and boys clubs with less oversight and worse facilities???? The path to reopening safely and cautiously is in place… the leadership and initiative is what is lacking.
SO… The PRIVATE schools (read, parents with MONEY), get their schools opened
The PUBLIC schools stay closed… Education disparity…?
The idea that *anything* should be open without very stringent protocols is insane in a pandemic. But, you can never underestimate the intelligence of the American public.
That is just not true! Our private school enrolls a majority of students on scholarship. Our families have selected a private education for other reasons — personal values and beliefs. A desire for different educational standards. They are not necessarily wealthy. They have given up other things for their children’s education. Please be careful when you talk about private school in Santa Barbara.
What you may notice, if you look at the list of schools, is that they are all either private schools (with more money), or public schools (that are more generously funded than SBUnified). They also have far fewer students.
What Ms. Maldonaldo has said is that while they are not interested in getting a waiver, they are, in fact, making plans to bring smaller cohorts back to campus (the neediest students), within the next few weeks. (This action does not actually require a waiver.)
Private schools have more money, duh.
Huh? Both my children are still attending school. Virtual school, but it’s still school. My kids are still learning.
To the people here defending the rich/poor argument of private schools. Certainly there are plenty of lower on middle income families in private schools for many reasons. However, it is fair to say that the majority of well off families will (and have) put their kids in Private schools. All the wealthy families in my social circle have their kids in private schools. The idea that some kids get scholarships does not change the fact that families with money are going to fair substantially better when only private schools are open.
Bosco – They won’t fare better healthwise.
Let the wealthy have their kids be the guinea pigs – if families start croaking we know opening public schools won’t be a good idea.
If funds were pulled the public schools would physically re-open tomorrow.
Well, the teachers union is using this as an opportunity to extract more for their teachers that is completely outside of anything and everything Covid. The school board is abdicating their duty as it’s the easier way to go. The superintendent is also not doing anything. So I am with you… I Hope reason prevails and they open up!
And one more “rant” if you will on unions… they were necessary 60-70 years ago… now, not so much. In fact, the two most powerful unions (teachers and police officers) are a massive problem in this country that are actively working against the people by making it nearly impossible to fire a bad teacher or cop. The unions job is to do anything and everything to advance their members cause irrespective of whether its in the public they serves best interest… in fact it’s often to the contrary. If those two unions were abolished we’d all be better off (other than the bad cops and teachers of course).
Now we know why the teachers unions demanded all charter school be eliminated before they would re-open their regular classrooms. The private schools are making public schools look bad; just like the charter schools have bee showing up the teacher union dominated classrooms as well. This is a very interesting education re-set time. Are public schools where we still want to be spending so much of our our education tax dollar? Doesn’t look like it. Private schools got creative fast; public schools just dug in and said no.
FERNALD – you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.
SACJON I do know what I am talking about. Schools being closed is causing tremendous hardship on families, even though teachers are working hard to make Zoom school work. Zoom school is NOT working. I’m a parent with multiple kids in the school system and remote school is chaotic and ineffective. The government should force the schools to reopen before all our children fall behind. They should not have a choice. Fortunately the pressure on public schools from parents will explode when the reopened schools show that it is safe.
But Fernald, if kids spread the virus throughout the community we will all be messed up for much longer. As long as we don’t all follow good health guidelines (masks!, distance) the virus will circulate, and the whole economy will remain in crisis. Two months of everyone doing everything right would stop the dang virus in its tracks, and THEN schools could reopen.
Smaller numbers, more resources, easier to socially distance and follow protocols. Maybe it will work for them?
Rants here include anti-teacher union, anti-school board, anti-superintendent. Pretty standard fare these days. I hope reason is able to prevail in the face of this.
It is not rich vs. poor. My husband and I both work multiple jobs to send our children to a private school which has a more rigorous curriculum and a smaller, close knit community. We feel it’s worth it!
Wait till the dust settles on this mess, hope we can get more private schools opening up.
Maybe I see the day when the districts are forced to rent school sites out to private, similar to Montessori at Fairview and the one near Brandon!
At the end of the day school districts are merely property owners!!
Your Democrat conspiracy theories are totally asinine. You are really reaching with this ridiculous assertion that Democrats want to “widen the gap” to give more handouts. I mean, do you even believe your own BS? I think it’s fair to say that it’s the Republican policies coming from our moron President and his boot lickers that have caused us to be in this horrific situation. Have you stopped to think perhaps this list of waivers may actually represent a group of schools with much smaller student populations who are more able to adhere to social distancing? They are more nimble than huge public schools and most have probably been planning for in-person learning for months with student and teacher safety protocols being well defined. No, you just want to lay false blame on Democrats and teachers unions…SMH.
Let’s start with the comment,” The Superintendent will apply for a waiver once the teacher union says it is OK“
That has nothing to do with “rich vs poor”
So stop playing that card.
Also, it’s up to the teachers union, not the children who are suffering emotional & social issues, not up to the kids who’s education is placed on hold since March.
So much for “preparing the kids for the future”. If it’s a future with a zombie apocalypse or nuclear war where we need to live isolated.
How about the fact that “people” give a family a hard time for private schooling & pods while the district allows lower socioeconomic kids and District employees kids to go back to school because they are “essential” workers.
Anyone working, providing food & shelter for a family is essential.
The district is discriminating against the hard working middle class that is suffering.
The district is providing an unequal education, yet again.
Name a decision by the district that was not wallet or union based, because they are not listening to the families & students, the people they serve
Make sure you vote!
The administratorclaimed throughout May, June and July they had spent countless hours creating a safe plan to open. It would look different and be shortened, but they were confident and happy with it. I don’t think it’s a Democrat issue, but it is a teachers union issue as they have flat out said they don’t want to resume. This makes sense, they are getting paid no matter what…so the only thing that changed was they no longer “have to open”. The waiver is seemingly almost designed for Santa Barbara and Goleta as it lets the school district take into account that the only reason we are still in purple is because of 2 cities (and a prison) that we are geographically isolated from and are 50+ miles away (Lompoc and Santa Maria)!!! That is the point of the waiver…to take into account circumstances that are different county to county…but our school districts are punting! Again, they said it best at the last Goleta School District meeting when they said they could open, but “it would be too disruptive to the teachers and the administrators”. These are the same teachers and administrators who’s own kids currently are in school, because…you know…they have to “work” and they need their kids in school. So no, it’s not about funding or planning, it’s about motivation and initiative…the school district needs to be told to open…short of that, it would be…yep…TOO DISRUPTIVE TO THE TEACHERS and ADMINISTRATORS!!
So true. The young ones look at the screen all day with the teacher showing them what to do. Then the parent has to spend the rest of the day TEACHING them how to do the lesson. Youngsters learn best hands on.
A lot of money went under the table on this deal…
Your assumptions are public education’s primary focus and priority is education. Unfortunately their primary focus are teacher’s unions and pushing political agendas. This pandemic couldn’t have made this more clear. It’s the reason we homeschooled and our first two kids graduated SBCC at 18 w/ their AAs and their first 2 years of college debt free. The farce of $50-70k education has also been laid bare.
LCP – My younger son (5th Grade) is getting about 3 hours total screen time with his teacher and small groups. He has an additional hour of “Specialist” learning (PE, STEAM, Art, or Music) but there is no required work in those, so I think many kids are doing the bare minimum and really suffering from this. On the other hand, my son has surprised me. I was so concerned he’d be struggling more without in person teaching, but he is now thriving and taking on extra work as sense of pride. I was pretty reactionary at the beginning a few weeks ago, but once again, my boy has impressed me! Nevertheless, we need these kids back as soon as possible in school. I worry a lot for his friends that aren’t as motivated.
It’s time to ban taxpayer funds for all schools that haven’t reopened. No open, no pay.
FERNALD – that is asinine. Teachers are working and teaching. Staff are working. School sites are being maintained. Lunch is being provided for those on free meal programs. How do you expect them to provide whatever learning opportunities they are providing? No, remote learning is not ideal and not sustainable, but the kids need something now and are getting it. Many are actually doing a lot better than we originally thought. You would take that all away from them just because you’re mad the school’s haven’t physically re-opened? Think about it.