Manhattan Beach Schools Superintendent Attacked As Classes Reopen

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA —

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a very nice weekend and a safe Super Bowl Sunday. The main theme of this Monday’s message is that we continue to ramp up the number of students who are in-person on our campuses, and we have taken every step as safely as possible, minimizing transmission to students and staff in spite of the 40 cases of COVID (20 students and 20 employees) that we have experienced so far among people attending/working in our schools.

Some of the highlights:

• Today our TK-2 students started the AM/PM schedule, which has students attending class in-person four days a week, either in the morning or the afternoon. I was at two of our schools and witnessed many smiles - behind-the-mask smiles - as our students and families arrived for either the morning or afternoon session. I am proud that, out of over 80 school districts in LA County, we are one of seven that have brought back TK-2 students.

• We continue our high need hybrid, and in the last two weeks we have brought in additional students with IEPs and the employees to support them.

• We have almost 1,300 student-athletes attending athletic conditioning sessions at Mira Costa.

• Our preschool through fifth grade child care program continues.

And coming soon . . .

• The cohort guidance from the County now allows us to have up to 14 students in a cohort. That will allow us to effectively bring back grades 3, 4, and 5. Here is what is happening:
• Principals will be making changes to schedules this week, and they will be reaching out to parents either late this week or the week after mid-winter break.
• Elementary principals are in agreement that the return to in-person learning date should be March 1, 2021. It provides students and families who have not yet committed to hybrid or distance learning to do so, and it provides teachers time to properly transition their current students onward and to welcome their incoming students.
• By March 1, we will have our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students in-person. If the County allows it, we will offer in-person school for grades 3, 4, and 5 in the same four-days-a-week AM/PM schedule that our TK-2 students started today, with slightly staggered start and end times.
• If the County does not allow that level of opening (because the case rate has not yet dropped below 25/100,000), then we will have each grade in school one day a week, so as not to exceed the 25% cap on daily student attendance.

• We learned last week that the County is now allowing five CIF sports - swimming, tennis, golf, track and field, and cross country - to begin competing in two-team meets/matches. Mira Costa leaders are already working with other schools in our league to schedule these events.

• We are working to bring back some of our secondary students who are not being successful in distance learning. We will be reaching out to 36 to 42 students in middle school, and 48 to 56 students in high school to participate in the first phase of this program, which will start during the week of February 22.

• Unfortunately, the amount of vaccine available to those in the highest tiers, including those who work in schools, is still insufficient. I remain hopeful, but to date, very few of our employees have been vaccinated. Board members and I continue to advocate for vaccines for school employees with our elected officials and DPH.

I will say, there is a lot of tension right now on the issue of the pace of our return of in-person students. There is tension in the virtual boardroom and tension in the parent community. In spite of MBUSD being among the leaders in our County in bringing students back to school (it is impossible to compare us to other counties or states, as L.A. County has far more cases and far more restrictions), I hear from many who want us to return faster. I believe we have taken gradual steps and have been well-prepared for each of those steps, and I am thankful that we have accomplished each of those steps safely. I am eager to continue doing just that - finding ways to use changing county guidelines to bring more of our students back as quickly and as safely as possible.

I urge us all not to go to extremes. Several parents and colleagues shared an unfortunate post that went too far. You can see part of the post here, though I have deleted the name of the parent:

I hope we can all continue to work together and find ways to overcome the threats posed by this pandemic. To answer a few of the questions asked by this person, my motivation is to educate and care for our students and to follow recommendations that will keep our students, our employees, and our community safe. I want it all. Nothing would make me happier than seeing all of our campuses return to normal. In terms of the other questions, I’m kind of an open book.

My superintendent’s page on the district website has a lot of information about me as well as links to my job history and even some of my personal blog posts.

I don’t mind being pushed. I have had hundreds of emails from parents and daily conversations with employees where we have differing views on issues. In each of these situations, we almost always address those differences respectfully, and often gain insight while learning in the process. I look forward to continuing those respectful interchanges, continuing to safely expand the number of students in our schools, and adjusting to whatever is coming next.

As we look at the 2021-22 school year, my prediction is that the vaccine is going to help tremendously, that the COVID numbers will continue to go down - though it will not be a steady decline - and that we will be in a much better place as we head into the spring and summer. I am extremely hopeful that when we open schools in 2021-22, every student who wishes to do so will be in-person, perhaps with a few safety restrictions, and that, more than ever, we will all appreciate the normalcy, security, support, and care that our schools bring to our students, our employees, and our community.

Next week is our mid-winter break. For those of you staying home or traveling within the state of California, I hope you have a great time and abide by all social distancing guidelines. For those of you traveling outside of the state, I hope you have a great time, and please abide by the mandatory 10-day quarantine upon your return to California.

Thanks and stay safe,

Mike Matthews
MBUSD Superintendent