Community Re-Opening Update, August 4, 2020

Dear Manzanita Community,

We learned this afternoon, that Los Angeles County Department of Public Health will not currently consider waivers for schools within the county to open for in-person instruction at this time. You can read their press release here. This means that Manzanita School will very likely launch our school year virtually, for all grades. We appreciate that this is frustrating and difficult news.

Last night (Monday, 8/3), the California State Department of Public Health issued their ‘Guidance’ on the issuance of waivers by local county jurisdictions. These waivers would give permission to K-6 elementary programs to offer in-person instruction, even if the county is on the ‘watch list’ for elevated COVID numbers. Given the high rate of daily COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County (currently being reported in the press release as 355 daily cases per 100,000), the county made the decision today, to not accept any waiver applications until this number comes down to below 200/100,000.

There remains some lack of clarity about these numbers. For example, in their other daily press release from this afternoon, which reports new COVID-19 cases, the county noted 1,901 new cases, which amounts to less than 200 cases per 100,000. (Furthermore, the county press release from the day before reported even lower daily numbers; 1,476 cases). Also, today’s press release offers a description of reporting discrepancies from testing labs that could drive the actual case numbers up. I share this more detailed information to point to both the complexity of interpreting this data, and to indicate that more clarity and information will likely be available in the coming days. We appreciate everyone’s patience.

I would like to add that Manzanita School’s very capable land-use attorney, who is closely connected to the office of County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, contacted me today with additional information; According to his high-ranking source in the supervisor’s office, “there’s a good chance the county will ultimately allow waivers once the numbers fall, and that could happen in the relatively near term.” We appreciate this positive perspective. Until that time however, we will be required to offer our instruction via Manzanita Bridge Virtual School.

We recognize that there is considerable uncertainty about the future. We at Manzanita remain genuinely optimistic and hopeful there will be a safe and reasonable solution to this present impasse, allowing us to offer in-person instruction to our community. As you all know, the landscape is constantly changing, but we believe that such safe and comprehensive re-opening plans as MNZ’s will continue to compel creativity and reconsideration by our health officials and local leaders.

Please know that we will continue to provide updates regularly to you all.

In Gratitude,

~Dr. Paul and the MNZ Team