Good afternoon PRUSD Families,
I want to thank the parents that came in to speak with me about the continued masking mandate. The district hears you and unfortunately, we are not able to independently go against the state’s masking guidance. You may be asking why not; as a government agency we are bound by what the governor, California Department of Public Health, and CAL/OSHA developed during this pandemic. This has been a very difficult time as we want to have everyone remain safe and we would like to see things return to pre-pandemic times.
The reasons listed below are the reasons why the school district cannot choose to disregard the masking guidance. California Department of Safety and Health could impose fines on a school district that does not follow CDPH’s guidance. We have received reports that some school districts that did not follow the guidance were fined $10,000-$15,000. Another reason is our liability insurer has informed us that we are not covered and can lose our liability coverage if we were to go against the masking guidance. This could be seen as negligence on part of the school district and result in us being uninsurable.
As this is not a decision that the community or the schools made, we still must abide the state’s guidance in order to protect all during these times. February 28th will be the next time CDPH and the governor’s office will reassess masking for schools. As we continue to manage through these frustrating times, I would ask all those that want to be heard to continually contact their state representatives. As a school district, we will do the same for choice. Below is the contact information for our state Assemblymember Dahle and Senator Dahle.
Assemblymember Megan Dahle
District Office - 356 Providence Mine Road, Office 6, Nevada City, CA 95959 530-265-0601
District Office - 280 Hemsted Drive, Suite 110, Redding, CA 96002 530-223-6300
Capitol Office - P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0001 916-319-2001
Senator Brian Dahle
Capitol Office - 1021 O Street, Room 7230 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4001
Redding Office - 1320 Yuba St #102 Redding, CA 96001 (530) 224-7001
Gold River Office - 11230 Gold Express Drive, #304 Gold River, CA 95670 (916) 464-4201
Grass Valley Office - 11310 McCourtney Road, Unit E2/E3 Grass Valley, CA 95949 (530) 271-1022
Gavin Newsom, California Governor
c/o Ben Chida, Chief Deputy Cabinet Secretary, Office of the Governor
Dr. Tomas Aragon, State Public Health Officer
Dr. Sohil Sud, California Department of Public Health