GGUSD Board of Education Approves School Reopening Plan

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Board-Approved Reopening Plan Aligns to State’s New Safe Schools for All Guidance

At its meeting on January 19, the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education unanimously approved implementation of the state’s Safe Schools for All in-person instruction plan, including the state-developed COVID-19 case rate reopening metrics.

Under the Governor’s plan, GGUSD elementary schools where the average 7-day COVID-19 case rate is 25 per 100,000 or lower in the area they serve, will resume in-person instruction on February 16 for TK-2^nd grade students with grades 3-6 following on or before March 15. Elementary schools with COVID-19 rates higher than 25 per 100,000 will reopen no later than the month following the case rate level dropping below 25 per 100,000.

Because these reopening dates are contingent on COVID‑19 local rates that are announced by the Orange County Health Care Agency every Tuesday, schools and staff will be notified of their ability to reopen on February 16 on or by February 9, 2021.

Students in grades 7-12 will resume in-person instruction following the County of Orange returning to the red tier or other approval by the state or county. At this time, a date cannot be set, as it is dependent on changes in local COVID-19 rates.

“While we are eager to bring students back on campus and believe that the best place for learning to occur is in the classroom, we must rely on the scientifically-backed metrics in the state’s plan to help us determine when it is safe to reopen schools,” said Board of Education President Lan Nguyen.

All required elements of the Safe Schools for All plan, including testing and other health and safety measures, must be implemented in order to reopen. Once schools are reopened for in-person instruction, schools will subsequently close only if mandated to do so by the county or state.

“GGUSD remains extremely grateful for the resiliency and flexibility of our students, families, and staff during this unprecedented time in education,” said Board of Education Vice President Walter Muneton. “While our current COVID-19 case counts are much higher than this new metric, district leaders have been hard at work preparing for safe reopening aligned to county and state protocols.”