District News

Changes to public health restrictions will allow our schools to increase in-person instructional time starting Monday, May 3rd, according to an update from Superintendent Viramontez at the April 1 Governing Board meeting. Please see the attached slides from the Board presentation for details.

For more information:

Watch the Superintendent's Backyard Briefing.

See the slides from the Board presentation.

Visit our COVID-19 Resources Web page.

NOTE: There will be a meeting on April 14th for the "not ready" families who indicated that their students may be ready to return to campus after Spring Break. The district will email a link to that virtual meeting on April 12th.

With most of our students back on campus for in-person hybrid instruction, we are seeing the return of some familiar and enjoyable school happenings. Mask-wearing students and teachers line up, greet each other happily, chat as they walk to class. They may be socially distanced, but the learning, idea sharing, and playing during recess and physical education classes bring a welcome feeling of normalcy back to school. 

Now that our schools will increase in-person instructional time on Monday, May 3, families may be wondering what other school-related opportunities will be available. Here’s a quick run-down.

Beyond the School Day

• After school programs: The district’s Expanded Learning Dept. will be changing its after school program hours at elementary sites to accommodate the schedule changes happening on May 3rd. For details about registration, go to cusdextensions.asapconnected.com.
• Sports: Our Athletic League has determined that it will not have competitions this year.
• Summer programs:
  Expanded Learning will offer summer recreation/enrichment camps starting June 21. Registration opens in May. Details at cusdextensions.asapconnected.com. 
  The district’s Academic Summer School will be by invitation only, and dependent on how many summer teaching positions we can fill.

Next School Year

• We are planning for a traditional school schedule for the 2021-22 school year.
• There may be a small middle school pilot program for distance learning, but there are no plans currently for continuing large-scale distance learning. The June 2020 SB98 legislation, a bill that provided essential flexibility for distance learning, expires on June 30, 2021. And the March 2021 AB86 legislation, which focused on providing in-person learning, remains in effect.

This was an exciting week for several reasons, not least of which was beginning to bring students back to campus for some in-person instruction. 

It was such a delight to see the joy from the students and staff at finally seeing each other in 3D. One parent shared with her son’s kindergarten teacher that she was like a Disney princess; the students had only seen her on screen and were so excited to finally meet her in person.  

Our middle school sixth graders also came to campus for in-person instruction and the chance to see friends in real life. We look forward to next week as we bring more  grade levels back to campus.  

More welcome news arrived this past weekend when it was announced that distancing between students in the classroom can be reduced from 6 feet to 3 feet. The updated California Department of Public Health (CDPH) guidance says: “maintaining a minimum of 3 feet between student chairs is strongly recommended.”  There is still a requirement to maintain 6 feet of distance between students when they are eating, and staff still need to have their desks 6 feet from students’ desks. This change means we can begin planning for how we can have more on-campus instruction for our students. All CDPH health and safety precautions, such as wearing face coverings, social distancing and hand washing, will remain.

On March 24, our county moved into the Orange Tier, providing more evidence that our positive COVID-19 cases are trending positively. In a meeting with Santa Clara County Public Health officials on Tuesday, I learned that our current adjusted case count is 2.8 per 100,000. 

Vaccinations are increasing and, I am pleased to announce that, by the end of next week, all of our staff will have had the opportunity to have both doses of the vaccine.  

The natural question now: what’s next?

We said that we would wait until we had fully implemented Phase 2 of our reopening plan before moving to a new phase. We will have completed that gradual phase-in on April 16.  

We have heard from many in our community that the hybrid schedule is challenging to families and staff. Over these next couple of weeks, we will be working with our school leaders and our reopening committee to determine a timeline to transition to the next phase. We will ensure that we have all of the logistics to support increased instructional time on campus for our students and, as promised, we will provide at least 14 days’ notice before transitioning to a new phase.  

Campbell Union School District is providing a new wireless network through a first-in-the-State pilot project that uses the recently licensed Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum. The project provides a model for the future, as solutions for connectivity extends beyond remote learning.

“This project will help us overcome the lack of connectivity in our area, an existing gap that suddenly became a huge issue for many of our students when we moved to distance learning last spring,” said Dr. Shelly Viramontez, Superintendent of CUSD.

Remote learning during the pandemic highlighted the inequity of internet access in the community and prompted District staff to seek solutions. The release of the CBRS spectrum provided the right opportunity.

CUSD Technology staff install wiring
to Rosemary School building.

The District partnered with Joint Venture Silicon Valley and the Santa Clara County Office of Education to build a fixed wireless system, using CBRS to create a private and secure network to connect students at home. Some funding for equipment and support with negotiating prices were provided jointly by the County of Santa Clara, Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, the Santa Clara County Office of Education, and a donation from Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital. 

“Remote learning during the pandemic put a spotlight on the stark inequity of internet access. It became clear early on that we needed to provide support to all of these students who were suddenly learning from home and yet did not have adequate tools,” said County Supervisor Ellenberg. “I worked with various partners, including Joint Venture and the Santa Clara County Office of Education to find the gaps and begin the process of building the necessary infrastructure to address the digital divide during the pandemic.”

“We’re excited to see this project come to fruition,” said Trevor Walker, CUSD Director of Technology. “We were willing to be the first to install and implement because it provides a long-term, cost-effective solution that helps us close the digital divide in a historically under-connected neighborhood. We appreciate the additional support that our partners are providing to make it happen.