New Reopening Developments

Dear Brightworks Community,

In the past weeks, so much of the re-opening question has been out of our hands.  However, new developments on the state and local levels have clarified our pathway to re-opening. Last night we discussed these new developments and the actions Brightworks is taking. You can find our slide show and recording attached, and we'd like to re-cap the most important parts here in this email!

Last Friday, Gavin Newsom unveiled a new tiered framework for re-opening that will be replacing the state monitoring list.  This new framework looks closely at two metrics: number of new cases and test positivity.  The purple "wide-spread" tier represents what used to be the state monitoring list.  In this tier, schools are not allowed to open without a waiver.  As of Monday, August 31st, San Francisco has been moved to the red "substantial" tier, effectively removing it from the monitoring list.  This means that, if cases do not increase over the next 14 days, the state will allow schools in San Francisco to open as early as September 14th.  

Though the state allows schools to reopen after they are out of the purple tier for 14 days, counties may impose stricter guidelines.  On Tuesday London Breed held a press conference in which she shared a more conservative timeline for school re-openings in San Francisco.  Elementary schools that submitted intent to apply for a waiver are allowed to re-open with an approved waiver in September.  Elementary schools that did not submit intent to apply will have to wait until mid-October to submit an application.  Middle schools will be considered for re-opening in mid-October and High Schools will wait until November.  

This brings us to Brightworks!  We submitted our intent to apply for a waiver in time to be included in the first pool of Elementary applicants.  We are currently filling out the application.  In choosing the date for our elementary's reopening we are deeply weighing the impact that this transition will have on families, bands, collaborators, and, depending on where it falls in the arc, the program.  We will be sharing our projected re-opening date along with our revised fall plan next Thursday.  

Feel free to send any questions you have our way!

Best wishes, 

Mackenzie and the Leadership Team