Alpine Union School District

Exciting news!! Starting Tuesday, September 8th we will be resuming the FREE Grab and Go Meals for all children 18 and under. This program has recently been reinstated by the state and we are jumping at the chance to help our community. On Tuesday (9/8), we will be handing out meal bags with 4 breakfasts and lunches @ JMMS from 11:00 - 12:00 pm. This program will remain active when we reopen to our hybrid schedule!!

The Red Cross has been dispatched to JMMS and will be on site shortly to provide basic services. We will continue to keep you updates. #AlpineStrong

AUSD staff are at JMMS to assist anyone who needs a safe space. The gym is available. District staff are in touch with the EOC at the county to coordinate efforts with the Red Cross and county services. We are here to help. #AlpineStrong

We are excited to once again welcome our youngest students back on campus. Today, our preschool students began face to face learning. We look forward to all students returning in the near future. #onwardandupward #learningtogether #Alpine

Just a reminder that we will be serving Breakfast and Lunch To Go Bags on Monday from 11 am to 12 pm at JMMS. No need to leave the car, just pull up and we will bring the food to you. Come by to grab some yummy food and help us start our week by waving and saying hello to our awesome students and families!! Please fill out a Free and Reduced Meal Waiver with the link below to see if you qualify for this amazing assistance program: https://www.alpineschools.net/o/ausd/page/free-and-reduced-meal-program--2 If you have any questions or need assistance, please call our Child Nutrition Services Director Kelly Massey at (619) 445-3639 or email at kmassey@alpineschools.net.

Dear AUSD Families, I am thrilled that the 2020-2021 school year is finally underway. Our goal of reopening our schools for face-to-face learning is now close to reality. For the last several months, we have been preparing for the return of our staff and students to campus. We have developed and updated our reopening schools plan with every new public health order. We have purchased pallets of hand sanitizer, face coverings, personal protective equipment, electrostatic cleaners, Chromebooks, new digital books and tools, and much more, all with the goal of reopening our schools with a sound plan in place. We are also finalizing an agreement with the San Diego County Office of Education to provide free hotspots to our families who do not have reliable internet access. To ensure that we had the option to open our schools, even if San Diego remained on the county watchlist, we submitted an Elementary School waiver. Yesterday, we were notified that the county and state approved our waiver. In fact, we were one of only four public school districts in San Diego county to receive a waiver approval. We have reassigned many of our staff, including bus drivers, instructional aides, and food and nutrition staff, to support our families in our Extended Student Services child care program. We were also the first school district in the state of CA to design and develop a Learning Pod option for our parents. In short, we have been focused on adapting our district to meet the challenges our families face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While our goal is to open our schools, we want to do it in a way that ensures the health and safety of our staff, students and families. We have designed a gradual re-entry plan that will allow us to begin to open our schools on September 2 with our Preschool Special Day Class being the first to return for face-to-face learning. Our goal is to ensure that all of our planning and procedures have a chance to be put into practice and tested before we bring all students back on campus. On September 21, we will begin our hybrid learning model with all students returning to campus in the A/B Day learning model. More information will be forthcoming regarding days in which students will be attending. Having our staff and teachers feel safe is critical to our goal of ensuring the opening of our schools is done with care for our entire community. When we return to campus, all students in grades TK-8 will be required to wear a face-covering unless they qualify for one of the exemptions specified in the CDPH face-covering guidelines. With a gradual re-entry plan, we feel confident that we can monitor the success of our social distancing and sanitation measures, make adjustments as needed and ensure that everyone is as safe as possible. While there is much work that has gone into our reopening plan, there is much work ahead. I have asked our staff to assume positive intentions in all our actions and to create a working and learning environment that supports everyone. Lastly, as we move forward and open our schools, I also ask that each of you join me in supporting our students and staff as we all work together to make our community proud of the way we respond in reopening our schools. With great respect and hope for the future, Dr. Rich Newman Proudest Superintendent on Earth

It has been wonderful to see so many of our Alpine Union School District families grabbing breakfast and lunch to go the past two weeks!! We will be serving Breakfast and Lunch To Go Bags every Monday (or the first school day of the week if there is a holiday) during Distant Learning from 11 am to 12 pm. All To Go Bags will have 5 breakfasts and 5 lunches, one bag per student. Your student has to be enrolled in one of our Alpine Union School District schools to participate in this program. Please fill out a Free and Reduced Meal Waiver with the link below to see if you qualify for this amazing assistance program: https://www.alpineschools.net/o/ausd/page/free-and-reduced-meal-program--2 Cost per student for 5 days: Free: $0 Reduced: $3.50 Full Pay: $26.35 If you have any questions or need assistance, please call our Child Nutrition Services Director Kelly Massey at (619) 445-3639 or email at kmassey@alpineschools.net.

Reminder - Grab and Go meals are being distributed today, August 20th at JMMS from 11am - 12pm. After today, meals will be handed out on non holiday Mondays at JMMS.

Alpine Union will begin operating our regular meal program this Thursday, August 20th. A previous communication inadvertently stated September 20th. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Welcome Back Alpine Families, The Seamless Summer Meal Program has ended, which provided meals to any school age child. Starting Thursday, September 20th the District will be operating our regular school meal program. It will be held at JMMS from 11:00 - 12:00. There is no cost for the regular school meal program for families who have completed the Free or Reduced Meal Application and qualify for a free meal. For those who qualify for a reduced-price meal, the cost for breakfast is 30 cents and lunch is 40 cents for a total cost of $3.50 for a five (5) day school week package. If you do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals, your child may purchase meals. The cost for breakfast is $2.00/day and lunch is $3.25/day for a daily cost of $5.25 and a total cost of $26.25 for a five (5) day school week package. Only weekly packages will be available each pickup day. The meal pickup will occur on the first school day of every week, which is usually a Monday except for holidays and this coming Thursday, September 20. . If you are paying with cash, you will need exact change only. There will be no change given so all amounts due back to the student will be credited to the student’s School Cafe Account and can be used the following week. You can also pay via our online system at: http://alpineunionsdca.apptegy.us/o/ausd/page/meal-payments--6. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please contact me at 619-445-3639 or cnsdirector@alpineschools.net. Thank you very much, Kelly Massey Child Nutrition Services Director

We are fortunate to have such a great community partner in the Viejas Tribal Council. Viejas has kindly donated 100,000 masks for our schools. A huge thanks to the Viejas Tribal Council for showing all of us the true spirit of community partnership.

REMINDER - School sites will be handing out Chromebooks today. Check your school's website for more information.

Reminder, Grab and Go meals are not being distributed today. It will resume this Thursday at JMMS 11 - 12.

Update on COVID-19 Watchlist Dear AUSD Families, You may have heard the news that the County of San Diego was removed from the state’s COVID-19 watchlist and wonder what it means for Alpine Union. This is encouraging news that could help pave the way for us to reopening schools this fall. However, there are some important things to keep in mind. First, these numbers will need to stay within the acceptable range for at least 14 days before schools in San Diego County will be allowed to reopen without a waiver. Second, when we are allowed to return to face-to-face instruction, we hope to make the transition as seamless as possible for our students, staff, and families by beginning with our hybrid model as outlined in our AUSD Reopening Schools Plan and the AUSD Safe Schools Parent and Student Reopening Guidebook. While we keep a close eye on the watchlist, we are also planning on submitting a County of San Diego Elementary School Waiver next week so that we may begin to reopen our campuses. The process for reopening our schools remains the same as our plans have outlined. For the last several months, we have been developing and updating our reopening plans to do everything possible to ensure healthy environments for our students and staff. As you can imagine, the process for reopening is very complex. District leadership has also been working with our employee associations to develop memorandums of understanding that address working conditions in our schools before employees return to school sites. As a reminder, we have created two options to support our parents as Distance Learning begins: Extended Student Services and Alpine COVID-19 Learning Pods. Information on both options are available on our website on our COVID-19 webpage. I appreciate your flexibility, support, and understanding as we adjust to these ever-changing conditions. I will continue to share updates as they become available. You can also find the most current information on our reopening plans on our COVID-19 webpage. I very much look forward to seeing our students back on campus in the very near future. Stay well and healthy! Sincerely, Dr. Rich Newman Proudest Superintendent on Earth

Dear AUSD Families, I hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy. With the start of school on the horizon, I wanted to share some important updates regarding support for our families during Distance Learning. On March 13, the day in which we closed schools, we responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing all of our efforts on being as responsive as possible to the needs of our students, families, staff, and the Alpine community. From providing wifi access at each of our school sites for anyone in the community, to providing 1000s of Grab and Go meals to any school-aged child, and providing social and emotional support to families and students, we have been relentless in our pursuit of trying to meet the needs of our community. As we launch the school year with Distance Learning we have created several programs to support our families. First, we realize that Distance Learning is not the optimal way for all students to learn. Second, we recognize that most parents’ work schedules are not compatible with providing full-time childcare, and many parents desire to have their child have some socialization with other children while managing health risks. Third, we also realize that parents want to have a safe place for their children to be if they can’t physically be in school learning face-to-face with a teacher. To support the needs of our families, we have been working to expand our Extended Student Service (ESS) child care program to accommodate students while following the required health guidelines and protocols. We have changed our ESS program to accommodate students from 7:30 a.m.- 6:00 p.m. to support our working families. Students in ESS will be able to participate in Distance Learning while being in a stable cohort of students following all required health guidelines. To ensure stable cohorts, children will need to enroll for the full week. We have made our ESS program one of the most affordable in the county. The cost will be $100 a week, which is $1.90 an hour. Due to the health guidelines, which limit the number of students in a cohort, spaces will be limited. However, we are working to hire more ESS staff to expand our program. More information can be found on our website or by contacting Lindsay Walker, ESS Coordinator, at lwalker@alpineschools.net. While we work to expand our ESS program as fast as possible, we have also designed the Alpine COVID-19 Learning Pod so parents can meet the childcare and learning needs of their children. An Alpine COVID-19 Learning Pod is a unique learning structure designed to offer a place on an AUSD campus for a stable pod or cohort of students to meet during the day with a parent supervising the students and an AUSD staff member supporting the learning of the children in the pod. All public health guidelines and protocols will be followed. In short, the focus is on creating a safe setting to complement distance learning instruction from schools, with supervision responsibility provided by a network of parents, and technical and instructional support provided by our District. As with our ESS program, a pod will consist of no more than 12 students. As a District, we feel it is important that there is equity and equal access to all educational opportunities. In order to support that effort, the District will allow families to apply to use District facilities at no cost as an Alpine COVID-19 Learning Pod. To do so, parents may submit a Facility Use application to utilize designated spaces on campus. Applications will be considered on a first-come, first-serve basis. The organization of the Learning Pods is strictly voluntary and parent-directed. If you have questions or are interested, please email Mrs. Ripke, principal of CELC, at tripke@alpineschools.net. We hope these options provide opportunities for our parents to return to work and for our students to excel with their Distance Learning. We remain committed to having our students return to campus for face-to-face learning when safe and possible. In the meantime, we are also pursuing the waiver process to allow us to begin to bring students back to campus for learning. Lastly, I want to thank our Board of Trustees for their devotion to our community and their constant focus on finding innovative and creative ways to support our students and the community of Alpine. Alpine truly is a special place, and our schools will remain focused on providing a world-class education with a hometown feel. Sincerely, Dr. Rich Newman Proudest Superintendent on Earth

Grab and Go Meals - Parents are now required to show their child's student ID number. For help please reach out to your school office.

Grab and Go Meal Distribution: Please note we have some changes to our Grab and Go food distribution. All distributions will be moved from Boulder Oaks Elementary to Joan MacQueen Middle School and will remain at 11:00 to 12:00pm. Please see the schedule below: Monday, August 17th - No Food Distribution Thursday, August 20th - Distributed at JMMS Every Monday after August 20th - Distributed at JMMS

AUSD is looking to hire friendly, enthusiastic, and passionate individuals to join our team. We are hiring custodians, child care workers and other positions. These and other positions can be found at Edjoin.org, search Alpine Union.

Shadow Hills Families - Please use this ZOOM link for tonight's Webinar outlining the upcoming 20-21 school year. The presentation will begin at 5:30 pm. If you are unable to attend, it will be recorded. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82642283644

Creekside families, please join us for a school reopening webinar for CELC tonight, August 6th at 6:30 pm. Here is the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89034748336