PVSD campuses on precipice of closure

Decision rests on COVID rates



After two weeks with all grade levels back on campus, Pleasant Valley School District leaders are preparing for the possibility of closing schools in the coming weeks.

Though the state’s latest stayhome order does not require schools that have already opened to close, the district is close to hitting its own metrics for closure, which rely on the county’s overall status as well as the infection counts in the two ZIP codes within the district’s boundaries.

“As seen in data, rates are increasing in Ventura County, including Camarillo,” Superintendent Angelica Ramsey said in a statement. “It is our collective responsibility to help keep our schools open by wearing face coverings, washing hands and maintaining our physical distance.”

District leaders said they are hopeful that the local data, which is typically reported by the Ventura County Public Health Department with a two-week delay, will mirror the trend the district has seen with the number of COVID-19 cases reported at its 11 campuses.

When students returned from Thanksgiving break Nov. 30, district leaders said, they saw a spike in reported cases, mostly among students, that lasted a couple of days before drastically dropping.

“There’s definitely some volatility in the numbers,” said Chris Johnston, assistant superintendent of business services.

District’s cases

Since returning from break Nov. 30, there have been 19 reported cases of COVID-19 among the 5,719 students, teachers and staff that have returned to campus for a modified version of traditional in-person classes.

While one of these cases was due to an exposure at school, the rest were a result of community spread off campus, district leaders said. They said several cases involved multiple members of the same families, and the cases have been spread out across the district’s schools.

Since June, the district had reported 25 total cases as of Tuesday, which put it well below the state’s 5% infection rate—equal to 286 PVSD students, teachers and staff—that would force school closures.

District leaders say the low number of exposures at school is a sign that health screening questions, masks, social distancing and other safety protocols are doing what they are meant to do.

“There’s cases where people are getting it in the community, coming to school, and protocols are working where people are quickly identified and sent home, or they’re self-identifying and not coming to school,” Johnston said. “Which means the system is working.”

Local cases rising

According to the latest county public health data, PVSD can remain open by state and local standards as well as the district’s own metrics for closure.

But rising cases could put the district at risk of reaching its standards for closing campuses as early as next week.

The district’s metrics were put in place last month to provide more warning ahead of possible campus closures and reopenings.

According to their protocol, Pleasant Valley leaders will make the decision to close campuses if two metrics are reached: the county is in the purple tier and the seven-day average case and positivity rates in at least one of the district’s ZIP codes remain in the purple tier for one week.

The county has been in the purple tier for nearly a month, checking the first box for the district’s closing metrics.

According to the county’s most recent data, which is for the week that ended Nov. 28, the seven-day average case rates for both the 93010 and 93012 ZIP codes remained in the purple.

The 93010 ZIP code encompasses the western part of Camarillo, while the 93012 ZIP code comprises the eastern portion, including the Santa Rosa Valley.

The seven-day average positivity rates for both portions of the city are in the red, the second highest risk tier.

Both ZIP codes are trending up in both case and positivity rates, according to November data.

While neither portion of the city has reached purple tier in both categories, they are headed that way.

As of data reported up to Nov. 28, the eastern portion of the city was 2.2 percentage points away from moving into the purple tier for its positivity rate, while the western portion of the city was 0.7 percentage point away.

If just one of the ZIP codes in question reaches the purple tier for both metrics and stays there for one week, it will trigger campus closures, according to the district’s policy.

While district leaders expect the data that includes Thanksgiving break, when many students and employees likely saw family or traveled, will show an increase in cases, they are hopeful it will stabilize before forcing campus closures.

“We are committed to remaining open for as long as it is safe,” Ramsey said. “I am in awe of our students, teachers, staff, families and leaders for their commitment to providing a high-quality education in a safe environment.”