Checking-In/Updates

Greetings NEA-Jurupa Family,

 

TGIF!!!! I hope that you’ve had a good week. I can’t begin to say how amazing you all are, especially given the challenges we’re facing this year. We know that the beginning of each school year has its bumps, but this is way different. THANK YOU for your compassion, empathy, grace, patience, kindness, and understanding as we continue to navigate through uncharted waters.

 

 

 

My apologies in advance for the loooonnnngggg email on a Friday afternoon, but I wanted to share updates from recent conversations with the District. The majority of the concerns/questions brought to my attention over the last month were directly related to COVID Protocols, the Governor’s Order, Independent Study, PowerSchool Learning, and Staffing Issues. Below of is summary of what was discussed with the district in our Contract Management meeting on August 26th. Additional questions and concerns that are/were brought forth will continue to be discussed at our next Contract Management meeting on September 8th (and most days in between).

 

COVID PROTOCOLS/COVID RELATED QUESTIONS:

  • The District has and will continue to follow all relevant guidance and mandates from the CDC, CDPH, CAL/OSHA, and RUHS. They are prepared to “pivot” if the mandates change.
  • Before the contact tracing process can begin, the site/district needs to be notified of a positive case. Depending on the circumstances of the affected individual, it could take up to a few days.
  • Contact Tracing: The district has hired professional contact tracers. Each contact tracer is assigned to a group of sites. Their responsibilities include the following:
      • take emails/calls from staff, administrators, and parents
      • collect appropriate screening information
      • advise staff/parents of next steps including quarantine, modified quarantine, or isolation, testing, vaccine information, identifying close contacts, clearance for return
      • call close contacts
      • prepare documentation
      • send employee and parent notification emails and letters
      • follow up and clear individuals for return to work/school
  • The COVID Dashboard is being updated daily (on a 14-day rotating basis), so you will see a fluctuation from day-to-day. If there is a COVID positive case at your worksite, an email with a notification letter will be sent. Unless you are determined to be a close contact, you will not be personally notified. If you feel that you may have been in close contact, please reach out to your site admin.

 

STATE PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIAL’S ORDER

• The State Public Health Official’s Order issued on August 11, 2021 requires verification of vaccine status of all workers. Proof of vaccination should be provided to the District by Friday, October 1st and can be sent to jusdvaccineverification@jusd.k12.ca.us. (Please see email from Daniel Brooks on August 24th for more details).

• Workers who are not fully vaccinated, or for whom vaccine status is unknown or documentation is not provided, must be considered unvaccinated and must provide weekly negative test results beginning on Friday, October 8th. (Again, please refer to Daniel Brooks’ email).

• The District is preparing to provide in-house testing, however, you may choose to do your testing somewhere else. The requirement is that the test be either an antigen or molecular test. Some people may want to test elsewhere if they do NOT want to do the nasal swab test.

• All records of testing or vaccination status will be kept confidential in the Human Resources department.

 

INDEPENDENT STUDY

• You should have received communications from your site administrators about the status of Independent Study requests.

 

POWERSCHOOL LEARNING

• Teachers are required to have a PSL page setup. Please see the email from Dave Doubravsky sent earlier today.

• If your site admin has not afforded you time (on a Wednesday or Thursday), please let me know. Additionally, if you need more time please reach out to your site admin.

 

STAFFING ISSUES

• The District does have a full substitute pool, however, because all of the surrounding districts are competing for the same group of people. The District is actively recruiting subs (if you know anyone, please refer them to HR).

• If you are doing class or period coverage please make sure to get a blue time card.

 

OTHER COVID RELATED PROTOCOL QUESTIONS

• Air Conditioning: All A/C’s have been outfitted with MERV-13 Filters. Classroom thermostats are currently being adjusted to 72. Many of the sites require manual adjustments, but the district is getting to them as quickly as possible.

• Daily Self-Screening/Temperature Checks: Staff should conduct daily self-screening for common symptoms of COVID. Please refer to Daniel Brooks’ email from August 2nd for details. Here is the CDPH K-12 Guidance for reference.

• Staff Meetings: For the time being, staff meetings will continue to be in-person. The district has reached out to site admin and asked them to provide larger spaces to allow for distancing.

 

A dear friend of mine shared that she’s literally taking it two hours at a time, so as to not be overwhelmed. That’s one of her ways to practice self-care… Please remember to take care of yourselves and take time to relax and rejuvenate, to unplug and unwind, and to do things that bring you joy and peace.

 

 

 

 

Best to you and your loved ones. Please continue to stay safe and well…

 

 

In Unity-

 

Wendy Eccles 🙂

NEA-Jurupa President

Office Phone: 951-681-7997, Google Voice: 951-643-4076

Non-district email: president@neaj.org 

Website: www.neaj.org 

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