February 19, 2021

San Bernardino County has met the State’s reopening criteria for elementary schools. Under the State’s new Consolidated Schools Guidance, additional elementary schools may reopen for in-person instruction after a county in Purple Tier status sustains an Adjusted Case Rate for COVID-19 that is below 25 cases per 100,000 for five consecutive days. As of Friday, February 19, San Bernardino County has recorded five days under 25 cases per 100,000. This means that more elementary schools could be set to reopen as soon as Monday, February 22.

In order for an elementary school to reopen for in-person instruction they must submit their COVID-19 Safety Plan (CSP) and School Guidance Checklist to the local and State Departments of Public Health for review and approval. COVID-19 Safety Plans require schools to follow State guidelines for several safety criteria including: stable groups, face coverings, physical distancing, ventilation, healthy hygiene, cleaning and disinfection, screening for signs and symptoms, exposure and contact tracing, and reporting cases to the Public Health Department to ensure a safe reopening. The required CSP documents may be found at https://schools.covid19.ca.gov and schools/districts may submit their finished CSP and School Guidance Checklists to Heather Cockerill (for San Bernardino County Department of Public Health) at hcockerill@dph.sbcounty.gov and to k12csp@cdph.ca.gov (for California Department of Public Health) for the review/approval process

Guidance and Resources

• CA Safe School for All Hub
• Reopening In-Person Instruction Framework & Public Health Guidance for K-12 Schools (1/14/21)
• Cal OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Plan (CPP) template
• COVID-19 Guidance Checklist (1/14/21)
• COVID-19 Quarantine Guidance (1/14/21)
• Case Reporting Directive (1/14/21) 
• Reopening Status Reporting Directive (1/14/21)