Sacramento, CA – Sacramento City Unified School District received the California School Board Association’s (CSBA) Golden Bell Award at their annual conference in San Diego on Thursday, December 1. The Golden Bell Award for Innovation in the Time of Crisis recognizes SCUSD’s Return to Health plan.

The CSBA Golden Bell Awards promote excellence in education and school board governance by recognizing outstanding programs and governance practices of school boards in school districts and county offices of education throughout California. Golden Bell Awards reflect the depth and breadth of education programs and governance decisions supporting these programs that are necessary to address students’ changing needs.

Utilizing the principles of continuous improvement and equity consciousness, the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) successfully navigated its COVID-19 response to keep schools open throughout the 21-22 school year by implementing an aggressive and comprehensive COVID testing program and establishing a requirement that all students and staff get vaccinated or test routinely. SCUSD serves a highly diverse and high-poverty student population, and includes schools located in communities that had the highest COVID transmission rates in the county. SCUSD managed the Delta and both Omicron variant waves by rapidly adjusting layered health and safety mitigation measures as COVID conditions improved or worsened. SCUSD worked closely with the Sacramento County Office of Public Health during all phases of this ongoing pandemic, learning together along the way.

“This award is an incredible honor and acknowledgement for the hard work of the Sac City Unified team that led our Return to Health planning“ said Jorge A. Aguilar, Superintendent, Sacramento City Unified School District. “This award is shared with, and dedicated to, the principals, teachers, support staff, students, and families who supported all of the measures we undertook to navigate this pandemic.“

“The Board spent a considerable amount of time reviewing all the options presented before us, including numerous special meetings, so that we could confidently tell our families and community that returning to school in-person would be as safe as possible,“ said Christina Pritchett, Board of Education President, Sacramento City Unified School District. “It is comforting to know that in an uncertain and unprecedented time in our history, we can proudly look back and know that we did all that we could for our students and staff.“

Return to Health Video Example

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