Communication from GGUSD

Preparing for a Safe and Healthy School Year

Dear Families,

The first day of school is almost here and our staff is excited to welcome all students back for in-person instruction beginning on Monday, August 16. All GGUSD schools have a variety of health and safety protocols in place to provide a safe learning environment and to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Click here for our Health and Safety Overview for a quick reference of these protocols. 

It’s important that GGUSD families are familiar with the health and safety protocols so that we can all do our part to foster safe school communities. We ask for your cooperation and support with the following: 

 Masks: The California Department of Public Health mandates that all students and staff must wear masks indoors at school sites when school is in session. Masks are not required when outdoors for anyone regardless of vaccination status. This includes entering/exiting campus, recess, lunch, outdoor P.E. class, passing periods, before and after school programs and athletic events when outdoors.  Schools will have extra masks on hand for students who forget to bring a mask to school. Face masks that do not fully cover the nose and mouth are not permitted.

While we understand that all families may not agree with masks at school, we ask for your support and cooperation as all California school districts must follow the state’s mask mandate in order to offer in-person instruction. According to the state mandate, students who refuse to wear a mask are not permitted in the classroom and will be offered alternative educational opportunities.

Students with a medical or mental health condition or disability that prevents wearing a face covering, as well as those who are hearing impaired may be granted a medical exemption. Parents of students who need an exemption from a face mask in order to wear a shield with a drape should submit a written request for the exemption with a doctor’s note to the school office.

Visitors: GGUSD schools will continue to limit on-campus visitors to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Families should make every effort to conduct their business via phone except for essential business.  Any visitors to school offices must wear a mask.

Health Screenings: While the ParentSquare Health Screening online form is now optional, parents should continue to screen for symptoms each morning and should not send their child(ren) to school with COVID-19 symptoms including a fever of 100.4 or higher, chills, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, muscle or body aches, new loss of smell/taste, vomiting, nausea, or diarrhea.

Just as we did last year, we will continue to notify all families of a school community when there was a positive case of COVID-19 on campus during his/her infectious period.  Notifications will be sent via ParentSquare and positive cases are posted on our COVID-19 Dashboard for 14 days.

Thank you in advance for your support in promoting safe and healthy school communities.  If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to your school office.