School Superintendent Clarifies Yesterday's Message On 'Cohorts'

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA —

Good afternoon,

The good news is that many of you are reading my messages. The bad news is that when I’m not clear enough, my messages can cause unintended concern. So let me clarify what I wrote about high schools in the last paragraph of yesterday’s message.

When I wrote that cohorts don’t work in high schools, I should have clarified that this doesn’t preclude our ability to re-open MCHS and MBMS – but it is a roadblock stopping us from re-opening right now. Cohorts don’t work in large secondary schools like MCHS and MBMS, as long as re-opening guidelines require students to remain in self-contained cohorts of 12 or fewer. While we are in the Purple Tier (Tier 1), the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is only considering cohorts. So what I should have written was that as long as we remain in the Purple Tier, it will be difficult to re-open secondary schools. This may change as we move into the Red Tier and beyond. The counties in California where we see secondary schools opening are not in the Purple Tier - they are in the Red Tier or better.

Some of you who know me know that I have a son who is a senior in high school. Like many of you, I want my child back in school, and I have not at all given up on that happening. But I do believe that we need to move into the Red Tier for us to do that, at least under current guidelines.

So thank you for reading closely, and thanks to those of you who wrote and asked. I work hard to write clearly, and I missed the mark this time. Let me know if you have questions.

Mike Matthews
MBUSD Superintendent

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