Superintendent: TK-2 Students Will Have 2 Days On Campus In Jan.

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA —

Hello everyone,

This is my final Monday Morning Message of 2020. I would like to wish each of you a happy and healthy holiday season. I’m guessing that most of you are doing just what I’m doing during the holidays - staying home. It was about this time last year that my family and I were leaving for what would turn out to be the only travel we took in 2020. It was a wonderful trip - we went to Switzerland to visit my wife’s sister’s family - and I’m grateful for that experience.

My wife and younger son love being at home. As for me, I look forward to adventures that are a dramatic change of pace, including bike trips, camping, or just seeing some new and exciting place. If you had told me I would get none of those experiences for a year, I would have predicted a very frustrated Mike Matthews. But unexpectedly, I’m OK with being home. I don’t know why. I think I’ve just accepted that there are larger forces at work here, and I should live out the advice that Sheryl Crow gives: “It’s not getting what you want. It’s wanting what you got.” Mick Jagger had a similar thought about what we might find in times like these. With a roof over our heads, food on our table, and a lot of love in our home, I am grateful for what I’ve got. But like all of you, I can’t wait until our lives become more normal again.

A key to getting back to normal will be the successful distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines that are now out there. I was happy this morning to learn about a health care professional in our community who received the vaccine on Saturday. From what I am hearing, there’s reason to be optimistic that our health care professionals and first responders can receive both doses of the vaccine in January. I have also continued to advocate for school employees to be in the next tier of essential workers to receive the vaccine. While that decision is not yet final, it looks like that will be the case. So help is on the way.

But it’s not here yet, folks. That means we have to stick with all of the behaviors we’ve been living with since March 13, 2020. You all know that the numbers are up. Dramatically. They are up nationally, in LA County, right here in Manhattan Beach, and in the MBUSD community. So please, please, please, as Board Trustee Sally Peel says in every board meeting, “Wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance.” For many of us, avoiding travel and social gatherings means upending long traditions and cherished moments in our lives, but it is a sacrifice that we are being asked to make for our collective good. In order to save lives and hopefully shift our trajectory towards the lower numbers that would allow for a wider re-opening, I hope that we can avoid travel and social gatherings for a little while longer.

When we return from winter break on January 5, 2021, we will have one more week of one-day-a-week for students/two-days-a-week for teachers in the TK-2 hybrid. Beginning on January 11, we plan to move to two-days-a-week for students/four-days-a-week for teachers. I am hopeful that we can soon add grades three through five, but the County will not authorize that until the COVID-19 case numbers go down dramatically. As for our secondary students, I will present alternate plans to bring more of our middle school and high school students back to campus at our next board meeting on January 20, 2021. This is not the plan for bringing all students back, since we have no idea when the County might allow that. Rather, this proposal will examine how we can utilize the flexibility offered by the County to bring back 25% of our secondary students back to campus using the high need hybrid. I will keep you posted.

So until 2021, I thank you for all you are doing to keep yourselves and our community safe. I want to thank each of our employees for their work in an unprecedented year. I also want to thank those who are continuing to dedicate themselves to providing effective and personalized distance learning for the students whom we are not yet able to bring back on campus. I particularly want to express my gratitude for our employees who are working on site and with our students, including our preschool and EDP employees, our M&O employees, our food services employees, our Special Education teachers and staff, our TK-2 teachers and staff, and our administrators and office staff, all of whom are making a giant difference with our students. Finally, thank you to our parents and our community for all of your patience and support. I know we all look forward to 2021.

Wishing you all a peaceful, restful, and healthy winter break.

Mike Matthews
MBUSD Superintendent