Burbank’s School Board will hold a special meeting this Saturday morning at 9 am at the District Office, Third Floor Boardroom, 1900 W. Olive Avenue to discuss different options arising from the pandemic.
Board Study Session on District Operations to include:
- Exploring mandatory testing for students and staff
- Enforcement of the COVID vaccine booster for all employees by April 1, 2022
- Providing an update on school site COVID testing results as of Friday, January 7, 2022
- Providing District stakeholders with contact information for site and District Office personnel to ask questions and express concerns
- Developing a schedule for meeting with labor partners to discuss pathways forward
- Creating a plan to review the District’s Social Media Policy
- Reviewing and updating policies surrounding support for mask requirements on campus
This meeting comes after an emergency meeting was called this past Sunday, just one day before schools were to reopen, to discuss whether or not to open schools for the Spring semester or to hold off at least a week. No decisions were made at the meeting at that time except to study the situation further.
The L.A. School District met a week before the scheduled school opening on January 10 and put mandatory testing in place before students were allowed to return to the classroom.
At the meeting held in Burbank this past Sunday, many parents and students spoke and said they needed to return to classroom learning. The teachers union was opposed to the return.
It was also brought up that many teachers were having a hard time enforcing mask rules and the Board sounded surprised and will address the concerns at the meeting Saturday. B.U.S.D Superintendent Matt Hill addressed many of the teacher’s concerns with a “Health and Safety FAQs for Staff” sent out on January 5 that addressed mask concerns and quarantining.
Unlike City Council meetings the School Board meets at the group and the public will be welcome to address the meeting at the beginning as long as all Health Orders from the County are met. Unlike the Special Meeting, this time virtual public comment will also be accepted.
According to the District, to “participate in Virtual Public Comments you must email Kimberley Clark prior to 3:00 p.m. the day before the meeting to request a Zoom webinar link at kimberleyclark@burbankusd.org stating your name and the topic on which you wish to speak. Please indicate whether your comment pertains to (1) an item on the agenda or (2) a general topic pertaining to an issue under the jurisdiction of the members of the Board of Education. On Friday afternoon you will receive an email from matthill@burbankusd.org followed by a reminder one hour prior to the start of the meeting.”
Public comment can be cut off at any time by the Board so it is advised that if you want to participate you should get there early.
