Santa Barbara School District Touts Readiness to Re-Open, but Not All Components Are in Place
The county s COVID-19 case rate must fall below 25 per 100,000 residents before schools can get the go-ahead for students to return to campus
Karen McBride, president of the Santa Barbara Teachers Association, says many questions remain about a return to schools from the COVID-19 shutdown. Teachers want to be back in the classroom, she said, as long as conditions are safe. (Joshua Molina / Noozhawk photo) By Joshua Molina, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @JECMolina
February 8, 2021
The race is on.
The Santa Barbara Unified School District is trumpeting its readiness to re-open schools, touting its preparedness in a recent op-ed piece, and issuing press releases about the approval of its health-and-safety plan to prevent COVID-19 infections.
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Separately, Marian Regional Medical Center receives doses as part of the Dignity Health system, and the CVS and Walgreens pharmacies receive doses directly from manufacturers to help vaccinate people who live in skilled-nursing and assisted-living communities.
In mid-February, the state will start using Blue Shield of California to oversee statewide vaccine distribution, rather than having each county manage its own process, Do-Reynoso said.
COVID-19-Related Deaths Pass 300 in Santa Barbara County
Do-Reynoso said that 67 deaths have been reported in the past two weeks, and another five deaths were reported later on Tuesday.
The five residents were all older than age 70. Two of them lived in Lompoc, two lived in Santa Maria and one lived in the unincorporated North County, according to Public Health.
Hilda Maldonado (Santa Barbara Unified School District photo)
Kate Ford (Santa Barbara Unified School District photo)
The COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened the disparity between the haves and have nots, and this has been painfully evident in the schools that are open in Santa Barbara County.
Our district has followed every mandate and shifting rules, and we have been ready to open for weeks. Then came Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order in early December, and we were not allowed to reopen.
In December, we wrote a letter to Gov. Newsom demanding an explanation for the disparate treatment of school districts that were ready to reopen. We received a response from Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health & Human Services Agency, that they would look into our request, but have not received a further response. Now, it has been almost two months.