July 30, 2021 - SACRAMENTO – On Thursday, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced a series of community meetings to share information about COVID-19 as parents and students prepare for full-time, in-person school this fall.

The campaign launched with a Spanish-language virtual school health panel in Los Angeles and an English-language panel targeting multicultural parents for Sacramento and the Central Valley. Additional meetings are scheduled this week and next. The program reaches out to parents in areas hardest hit by the pandemic – especially Latinx, African American, Asian American and Pacific Islander parents of school-aged children.

The school health panels are a series of 90-minute, Zoom meetings featuring local education representatives, medical experts, school mental health experts, community advocates and others. Nine panels are taking place from July 28 – August 5, including four in Spanish in targeted school districts based on a combination of health and school-related factors including vaccination rates, COVID-19 data, and last school year's primary instruction method. Geographically, the targeted school districts include Alameda, Los Angeles, the Central Valley, Sacramento, and the Inland Empire.

Masks are required for all K-12 students this school year as part of California's Safe Schools for All Plan. The panels will provide an additional layer of transparency and aim to continually engage, educate and maintain open communications with parents and community stakeholders regarding the safe and successful reopening of schools for the 2021-22 school year.

The panels are sponsored by Safe Schools for All, the $25 million parent engagement campaign that supports the safe opening of schools during the next fiscal year. In addition to $1 million for this current outreach campaign, the campaign will include on-the-ground local collaborations between local public health departments ($10 million) and county offices of education ($10 million) while providing ongoing statewide technical assistance and encouraging two-way communication through enhanced technology ($4 million).

Scheduled Zoom meetings include:

• July 28: Los Angeles (Spanish language) and Central Valley (English)
• July 29: Los Angeles (English) and Central Valley (Spanish language)
• August 3: Inland Empire (English), Alameda and Sacramento counties (Spanish language)
• August 4: Alameda County (English)
• August 5: Los Angeles (English) and Inland Empire (Spanish language)
  Source: CDPH