Dear PAUSD Community
On February 28th, District officials received a report that a parent of two PAUSD students may have been in proximity to an individual with COVID-19. At the time, we had limited information and immediately removed the students from classrooms at Palo Alto (Paly) High School and JLS Middle School. We reached out to experts in the field and the appropriate agencies to receive guidance.
At this time, the situation regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to evolve around the world. In the last few days, we have heard from families and staff who are seeking guidance on precautions and we have heard from those who are expressing concerns.
According to the Center for Disease Control and the California Department of Public Health, there is no elevated risk to our students and staff. They have asked us to provide links to their pages for people desiring additional information and guidance. You can go directly to their page here.
Additionally, PAUSD has created our own Frequently Asked Question page for parents. The page is evolving as new questions arise. We are making every effort to maintain a proactive, sensitive, and responsive relationship with our students, staff, and parents. You can access the PAUSD FAQ page here.
As a Palo Alto resident, I see large crowds in supermarkets, parks, theaters, airports, restaurants, and public places. They are operating as usual with no call for closures. Closing schools at this point would not eliminate the infinite interactions our students would have beyond PAUSD. We understand the responsibility afforded to PAUSD while caring for your students and treat the work seriously. We cannot control every aspect of student or community life, which is the only way a quarantine works.
The national picture will continue to evolve and I would ask our community to limit speculation and overreactions. The guidelines and direction from the California Department of Public Health is clear. We are taking steps over the weekend and beyond to sanitize our sites to the best of our ability.
In closing, I want to assure you that we weighed information and recommendations from a variety of public officials, and health professionals, and we believe we are making the best possible decisions for our students, staff and families.
If you have any questions, please email yconaway@pausd.org and we will try to answer them as quickly as possible.
Sincerely,
Don Austin, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
