The Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) is closing all schools starting on Tuesday March 17.
The following message is from the MDUSD:
Dear Mt. Diablo Unified School District Students, Families, and Community Members,
This is an important update about the district’s response to coronavirus (COVID-19) in our community.
According to Contra Costa Health Services, as of last evening, there have been zero (0) confirmed cases of coronavirus to students or staff at any of our schools. We have been diligent to implement preventative measures and to follow the guidance of our county’s public health authorities.
However, in an abundance of caution, I have decided to formally close schools starting on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Please note that Monday is a scheduled Professional Development Day for teachers, with no students present.
More specifics will follow this afternoon regarding the parameters of the closure, and plans to maintain some services for students during the formal closure to schools.
We are working directly with any school sites where we have any new information that may prompt any immediate need to close school today, and will everyone with additional information as it is available.
We do not make this decision lightly, as we understand that school closures can be difficult on our families. We believe that this decision is in the best interest of our students and we will continue to monitor the situation and to communicate openly with our community.
Still, our district is committed to providing as many services as possible, including food services at select school sites. Principals will communicate with their respective communities with a comprehensive list of continuing services.
Thank you for your partnership in keeping our students as safe as possible,
Dr. Robert Martinez
Superintendent of Mount Diablo Unified School District
Nothing changed overnight. Thank you for wasting another day. Finding alternative arrangements for students will be complicated and more expensive due to this delay and every other district getting a head start.
A local leader would not have waited to follow in the footsteps of every other leader.
Although not part of the MDUSD, the LDS Church has suspended all services until further notice.
Did everyone at Clayton Valley CVCHS spread the info about 1 staff, 1 parent and a confirmed covid19 student at Clayton? Student last attended school Wednesday, March 11 and was forthcoming regarding confirmation of having covid19 to exposed friends.
The school staff and MDUSD has knowledge of this and allows student and staff to be at risk.
My other children are students of SFUSD which has less confirmed Covid19 carriers thought SF. And shut down all public schools for the next 3 weeks. Thankfully our p/t staff member was completely transparent in reporting to be a 3rd party contact to covid19.
Extremely disgusted w how MDUSD is sitting on their thumbs about this “pandemic”.
Why hasn’t the school closed?!
understand your thoughts, but….
CVCHS is not a MDUSD School
Money.
Money is WAY more important than the health and safety of the students and staff. Why be proactive when you can wait until there is already a problem?
I work for the district and they have been lying this whole time. Classes don’t have sanitizer, and half the bathrooms on our campus don’t have soap. Your kids are not being protected by MDUSD at all.
They are finally taking action because lots of staff has been telling their administrators that they will not be coming in Tuesday. Half the staff in my program told everyone last night that Friday would be their last day for the foreseeable future.
MDUSD has no say over Charter schools and how they do things. They are not a part of MDUSD even though the district still has to pay money to them.
Where are you seeing this info about CVCHS? I have a kid there and this is new info for me.
Where did you hear of these confirmed cases? If this information is available online why didn’t you link the post? Did CVCHS send out notification? Stop spreading hearsay. It doesn’t do anything but cause anxiety for folks who would be directly impacted by a discovery like this.
Students spreading rumors that people have COVID does not mean people have COVID. Any student or teacher who is out sick is rumored to have it. If a student did have a confirmed case – it would be more than just students spreading a rumor – there would have been notification (if not from the school, then from the test-site).
And as suspected there have been no confirmed cases at CVCHS. This has been confirmed and communicated out by the schools administration. People if you are really concerned about the seriousness of this pandemic please control your internet fingers.
This kind of garbage is exactly why this whole thing is being blown out of proportion. Remember H1N1? That was a pandemic too. We didn’t close down society. We didn’t have mass hysteria and a doomsday effect. The regular seasonal flu kills far more people than this virus and will affect far more! Yes, we need to take steps to prevent the spread. But what we don’t need are uninformed people spreading nonsensical rumors.
Also – MSUSD has no control over CVCHS! Wake up! Your rant only shows your disdain for the school district. If you don’t have solid facts, don’t post rumors!
There are no confirmed cases because nobody has been tested yet.
Read the posting above.
All surrounding school districts have announced closures except for CVCHS. Are there any updates on exposure at the school?
First time posting here.
Someone can die because of the decision CVCHS is not making, which is suspending the school.
MDUSD is still open today – as is CV. CV is waiting until the end of the school day to make an announcement so the students can finish their work with “less” distraction. My guess is that CV will also announce a closure – but they will announce it after school is out today.
So urgent…………that they’ve decided to wait until Tuesday.
Monday is a teacher in-service day – so Tuesday makes sense.
Friday the 6th, one week ago, There were 10 confirmed cases in Contra Costa County, with 6 known causes and 4 unknown.
Today, the 13th the count is up to 25 as of 9am. In the last 24 hours there have been an additional 9 confirmed cases. All but 6 are unknown causes.
https://www.coronavirus.cchealth.org/
I have been bothered with this particular issue for a week now. It does not pertain to school closures, but rather to what the CDC is telling us. Last week we were told not to by the N95 mask because it wouldn’t protect us. They then told us we shouldn’t buy the masks so that they would be available for healthcare workers. Seems to me that the masks do offer protection, but because of their limited availability we should leave them for healthcare workers. Can anybody in government tell the truth?
Yes! No! Yes! Wait, What?
You’re conflating advice on two different types of masks.
Surgical masks (the thin, paperlike masks that do not seal around the face) are somewhat effective at preventing a person who is shedding a virus from infecting others, but is not especially helpful in preventing a well person from being exposed to virus particles. These should be reserved for people who are ill and for healthcare workers who need some kind of barrier to prevent them from spreading a virus if their infection status is unknown.
N95 masks and respirators are more effective at preventing a well person from becoming infected with a virus. They seal around the face and filter smaller particles than surgical masks. These should be reserved for healthcare workers who are in contact with infected patients because preventing them from becoming ill helps guard against an even more severe breakdown of the healthcare system during case surges.
The best way to protect yourself is to keep as much space between you and other people as possible. This limits the most likely route of transmission to you and frees essential medical supplies for those who cannot keep a distance from others, i.e. frontline medical personnel.
And because you have zero cases you are suspending school
Not cautionary just panicking like so many others
Even though the regular flu killed 10000 last year & you did not panic
Putting people out of work for nothing do you really think that this will go away in 3 weeks??
It’s true that the flu has killed more currently, but COVID 19 has at least more than 10 times the mortality rate compared to the flu, and there is no vaccine. Going by Italy’s current stat, it’s about 70 time more deadly, and this is with all of the preventive measures. Leaving it unchecked would be disastrous.
Can’t wait to see the credit on my property taxes for the time that schools are closed. Since the common flu kills 16,000 people a year why not close all of public schools during the flu season? That would be a nice credit no?
Bottom line. If you are older and have a compromised immune system protect your self and limit your risk of exposure until this thing fizzles out.
Our feckless leaders are playing follow the leader and adding to the hysteria surrounding this bug. Last I checked around 50 people have died from the virus. How much disruption of our daily lives do we have to endure? How much liberty are you people willing to give up for a sense of security?
Just because a school is open you are not compelled to send your children there. If you don’t feel comfortable sending your kids to school don’t wait for some bureaucrat to make a decision, be a parent and act.
The doctor in charge says that the PERCENTAGE of deaths is higher with this strain than with the common flu.
One heck of a thing to put on working parents. Let’s hope these kids are not babysitted by their grandparents who they should not be in contact with. Kids survive this virus just like the flu. Tough decision.
The district didn’t close soon enough, they’re panicking and closing… You people just cannot be pleased, can you?
If CVCHS was aware of persons being infected or had knowledge of exposed persons but didn’t inform parents, teachers and the entire student body that’s just wrong. But instead of waiting around for them to act, and whining about the situation just keep your kids home from school!
5000 people have died this week in the USA from the regular flu that’s arpound all the time.Better wear a mask for the rest of your life if this was a threat,then the regular flu must be?Baa baa
Dear CVCHS Families,
This important message provides all members of our school community with an update on CVCHS’ response and actions to address
COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Based upon the most current and reliable information from the County and State, the CVCHS Governing
Board, together with our administration, has determined the best way for our school to move forward. Please note that this is a detailed
message. Please take the time to read this full announcement. It contains important facts and details regarding the present situation
and CVCHS’ next steps.
We remain concerned about the health and safety of our students, families, and staff during this uncertain time. Developments are
occurring rapidly and new information is shared multiple times a day. This includes closure announcements by West Contra Costa
County and Antioch school districts for multiple weeks and this morning’s announcement that MDUSD will be closed for students next
week beginning Tuesday, following Monday’s staff only day. Several other Contra Costa County school districts have board meetings
today regarding school closures and a national state of emergency was just announced by the President.
Despite this, it is important to remember that, to date, no CVCHS student or staff member has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Additionally, there are no students or school staff in all of Contra Costa County who have had a positive diagnosis of COVID-19. Given
these facts, CVCHS’ approach is to stay calm but be overly cautious. We are encouraging all members of our school community to do
the same. Please note, Contra Costa Health Services (“the County”) will contact CVCHS should a student, staff member, or close
relative of either be diagnosed with COVID-19. This is the only method by which CVCHS will have confirmation of this fact.
Out of an abundance of caution, CVCHS has made the decision to close our campus beginning Monday, March 16th. During
our closure, all precautionary measures will continue to be fully implemented and we will determine the best course of action
going forward. Also starting on Monday, March 16th, all extracurricular activities, including sports, will be postponed or
canceled until further notice. For events that can be moved to a later date, we will work with all parties to make such
accommodations.
We felt it was important to communicate this information and these immediate next steps now to provide families as much
advanced notice as possible. It is expected that more guidance from the County and State will be sent out to all California
schools before Monday. This updated information will inform our decisions going forward.
Please expect frequent updates from CVCHS via email and posted to our website. Our goal, initially at least, is to provide daily
updates. Our updates will focus on: how we are ensuring a safe campus for students to return to; accessibility of food services
(breakfast and lunch); ongoing learning options; and the status of extracurricular events.
Many have inquired about school being open (or re-opened in our case) versus the recent restrictions that have been placed on large
public gatherings. We wanted to provide some context. The County and State have designated functions in two categories: essential
and non-essential. The regular school day is considered an essential function. Non-essential events include all extracurricular
activities and anything that occurs outside of the school day, including those that are off-campus.
As an essential function, we recognize the importance of restarting school operations as soon as it is safe. However, the guidance from
the County and State will influence our next steps. We are hopeful that additional guidance will be released shortly.
Regarding non-essential functions, public health has transitioned from a strategy of containment to a strategy of mitigation. To mitigate
the spread of this virus, a variety of directives have been provided and these vary based on geographic location. The County has
specifically directed that non-essential events of more than 50 people be postponed or canceled. CVCHS will be using this guidance
from the County to determine next steps with non-essential events once school re-opens. As this guidance changes, we will be
adjusting our response and keeping everyone informed accordingly.
I bet we see a jump in juvenile crime rates.
We are nowhere near pandemics of the past, yet we are all panicking! Stay calm and wah your hands!
Per ABC News Reports:
Influenza is another contagious respiratory illness with symptoms that are similar to SARS, MERS and COVID-19. It is caused by the influenza A and influenza B viruses. Different strains of influenza are responsible for the flu season that occurs every year. The CDC estimates that there have been 18,000-46,000 flu deaths so far this season.
The swine flu, or influenza A (H1N1) virus caused the 2009 global pandemic. An estimated 151,000-575,000 people worldwide died from the H1N1 virus in 2009. Of those, there were an estimated 12,400 deaths in the U.S. The estimated global death rate was very low at 0.02%. This strain continues to circulate as a seasonal flu virus each year, but can be prevented with a flu vaccine.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/coronavirus-compares-sars-mers-recent-viral-outbreaks/story?id=69329364
You do not know any teachers or how much they work.
Schools are closed for this time period, but the teachers will not be off. We are going to be expected to figure out ways the students can have materials and curriculum available to them. Just because we won’t be in the classroom (which some of us actually will be) doesn’t mean we won’t be working. Thank you for your kind thoughts though.
Teachers aren’t making the decision to close the schools, but you want them to bear the cost? Nonsense. Take your beef to the Board of Education and the Superintendent.
Hey Just Saying, most of us out here really appreciate how hard you teachers work. Thanks for staying on top of things and making sure our kids get a good education even in trying times. You deserve every penny you earn and more. Don’t let the internet mouth-breathers get to you–they’re loud but few.