PVUSD Superintendent Answers Storm Damage Questions

When is the after-school program?

The Expanded Learning After School Program runs directly after school dismissal, Monday through Friday, until 6 pm at all ASES & 21st Century Learning Center grant-funded sites every day of the school year.

A child may be released early from the after-school program prior to 6 pm based upon the PVUSD ASP Early Release Policy or school bus departure times. Our ELOPfunded After School Program at non-grant sites in the Aptos area schools run daily as staffing capacity allows, per site.

For specific dismissal times at school sites, email extended_learning@pvusd. net or check https://aseap-pajaro-ca. schoolloop.com/ pplying for FEMA assistance: Residents in Santa Cruz County who sustained losses during the series of storms that battered our region can begin to apply for federal assistance through FEMA.

Did PVUSD sustain a lot of major damage with the recent storms?

Through the hard work of Maintenance and Operations staff and 24/7 monitoring of facilities by M&O administration, the impact of the storms to PVUSD facilities was minimal.

The greatest impact was to the District Office’s parking lot, which was flooded three times due to the high levels of the creek.

Each time, the District Office was sandbagged to ensure that the water did not enter the buildings. However, each time teams of staff worked to remove the thick, residual mud and unclog drains.

The only other major damage was the landslide by Cesar Chavez Middle School’s track. All other damage was minimal, including some leaking roofs and downed trees.

When are all of the schools going to open back up?

As of Thursday, January 19, the remaining three closed schools in the Pajaro area are open.

All PVUSD schools are now open as the evacuation orders and evacuation warnings have been lifted and the roads to the school sites now have safe passage and schools are accessible.

My home was destroyed.

How do I apply to all of these monies I am hearing about? I need it.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Santa Cruz County residents and business owners who sustained losses can begin applying for assistance at www.DisasterAssistance. gov by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362), or by using the FEMA App.

On Jan. 21, FEMA’s Disaster Assistance Center in Watsonville opened at Ramsey Park. We will inform our community if other locations open in other parts of the County. They will be staffed for 30 days with potential extension, based on county request and approval, to support residents through this process.

Keep the following in mind when seeking assistance:

• All applications need to be submitted 60 days from the incident (FEMA official date is 12/27, due date Feb. 24, confirmed by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin)

• Renters can apply; they become coapplicants with the landlord. They can support residents if the landlord refuses or is uncooperative

• Mixed citizenship households are eligible

• Immigrants with legal right to work are eligible for disaster unemployment benefits. The Employment Development Department needs to apply on your behalf.

• FEMA requires applicants to apply for both loan and grant programs, both offered as benefits, but are not required to be used if they are not needed or wanted

• The City of Watsonville has a home repair loan at 0% interest to help families — applicants must live in the City of Watsonville.

• Financial assistance is now available for storm-impacted families. Priorities given to storm impacts and those losing employment. Call 211 or closest Family Resource Centers to apply. Catholic Charities will be involved to bundle support as needed.

Community Bridges hosted flood recovery information sessions via Zoom and in person on Jan. 12-13.

Experts on insurance information and flood claims answered questions, and attendees were connected with resources available through community partners. To hear recordings of those Zoom meetings in English, Spanish, Mixteco and Triqui, go to https://communitybridges.org/events/

The Parent Education Department has compiled a list of some meaningful resources available for impacted families. Visit the resources page to find links to resources and services, from access to food, to shelter locations, to housing support for displaced families, to help for flood cleanup. Additionally, PVUSD’s Wellness Center remains open during their regular hours to support you.

When you send out PVUSD Storm communications to the PVUSD community, can you also include a resource that provides information as to the location of known road closures during these storms? This information would help staff and families with transportation to and from school sites. Even the following link, which is for CHP and CalTrans incidents, would be helpful.

For future emergencies, we can provide road closure information as we have it.

You can follow the California Highway Patrol for current road conditions at https://cad.chp.ca.gov/traffic. aspx?__EVENTTARGET

Why was Adult Education’s Rodriguez Street (Institute of Language and Culture building) in Watsonville left off the various lists of school closures despite being closed all week?

Originally on Jan. 8, Rodriguez Street and the area surrounding the Adult Education Institute of Language and Culture and Radcliff Elementary were not in an evacuation warning zone.

By Wednesday, Jan. 11, that zone was included as an evacuation warning zone. Therefore, we noted the closure of Radcliff Elementary. We erroneously did not include the Adult Education Institute of Language and Culture location.

It was brought to our attention on Friday, Jan. 13, however, by Monday, the evacuation warning for that area was lifted so they were never included in any listing. Did staff still get paid if their school sites were closed?

All permanent certificated and classified staff and long-term substitutes received their normal pay for all days that the school sites were closed.

Food and Nutrition Services and Maintenance and Operations staff and site administrators remained on the closed campus unless the site was under evacuation order or had unsafe passage which limited access to the site, or they supported other sites to ensure we could continue to serve students at the remaining schools which were open.

You all stopped COVID testing at the District Office after the storms. When is it coming back?

Inspire Diagnostics resumed testing at the Pajaro Valley District Office (294 Green Valley Road, Watsonville) on Monday, Jan. 23. Hours will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday. Testing will be available on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

It is highly recommended that PVUSD staff test at their school site for surveillance or routine testing.

Symptomatic staff or students can utilize any of Inspire Diagnostics other testing locations in Santa Cruz County.

The testing location at the District Office will be subject to changes in availability based on the following scenarios:

• Inclement weather (rain and/or wind)

• Repairs to the District Office parking lot

• District meetings or events requiring additional staff parking

• For the most current testing days, hours and locations, visit: https:// covid19test.santacruzcoe.org/

Are more home COVID tests available?

We receive the at-home Covid tests from the State. After the Winter Break distribution, we do not have an additional supply of at-home Covid tests to provide to families.

We anticipate receiving more home tests from the State in March, which we will distribute before Spring Break.

“PVUSD Q&A” page 24