Benicia Unified School District

Important Superintendent Update, July 20, 2021

Category(s): Latest News | nCoV

Posted On: July 20, 2021

Dear Families,

We are excited to welcome our students back to full-time, in-person instruction.  The first day of school is Tuesday, August 17.  As per the CDPH guidance to date, TK-12 students are required to wear masks indoors and adults are required to wear masks while sharing indoor spaces with students.  The CDPH will continue to assess ongoing health conditions to determine, no later than November 1, 2021, whether to update mask requirements or recommendations.  BUSD will continue to follow COVID-19 health and safety protocols as outlined by the CDPH.        

In addition to full-time, in-person instruction, new legislation, Assembly Bill 130, released Thursday of last week outlines requirements for an Independent Study option for students “whose health would be put at risk by in-person instruction, as determined by their parent/guardian.”  The District is finalizing the details of the plan as per the legislation and will reflect the following structure per grade level span:  

  • K-3: Daily synchronous instruction
  • 4-8: Independent work that includes daily check-ins and synchronous instruction once per week
  • 9-12: Independent work that includes synchronous instruction once per week

We will provide more specifics as they are made available to us, particularly as they relate to required, synchronous instructional minutes per grade span.  To help with our planning, we ask that you please complete this short information survey by Monday, July 26th, only if you plan on choosing the Independent Study option for your child.  If your child receives special academic instruction through an IEP, participation in Independent Study will be subject to the IEP team determination. This survey is non-binding. Thank you for taking the time to fill out this brief survey. 

New Student Enrollments:  To our new families joining BUSD, as stated on our website, all new student enrollments will be processed at the beginning of August when the school sites reopen.

Continuing Student Registration: To our continuing students, we are aiming to have online registration ready the week of August 9th. Please stay tuned for further communication on this.

Charles F. Young, Ed.D.
Superintendent