The La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District (LHPUSD) is the smallest unified school district in San Mateo County and covers the largest geographical range, serving approximately 300 students across 175 square miles. Many of its families include essential farmworkers and live in shared housing where they have faced a higher risk of spreading COVID-19. During this difficult year that included a pandemic and wildfires, LHPUSD has worked with its partners on many efforts to support students and families.
San Mateo County’s transition to distance learning in March 2020 posed a problem for the district, as many families lacked devices or reliable access to the internet. Following its vision to inspire, respond, and engage, LHPUSD reached out to all families to provide them with the resources and tools their students needed to finish out the school year. Over the summer, the district worked with the county and local partners to distribute hotspots, expand county public Wi-Fi, and set up remote learning centers with desks, shade, water, and internet access.
Three days into the 2020-2021 school year, fires started by the CZU August Lightning Complex burned through several of the remote learning centers and caused families to evacuate the area. LHPUSD again stepped up to connect families to resources such as temporary housing. Even when a spike in COVID-19 cases and uneven Wi-Fi access in the aftermath of the fires forced a return to full remote learning, the district remained resilient.
Bringing back students into the classroom for in-person learning had been a top priority for LHPUSD since schools first transitioned to distance learning. After the San Mateo County Office of Education released the Pandemic Recovery Framework for Schools, the district began planning how to modify its class structure, bell schedule, and operations so that students could return to in-person learning safely. After collaborating with community members and undergoing an extensive review process, LHPUSD reopened its elementary schools for in-person instruction in November 2020. School staff, students, and parents alike were overjoyed to experience some semblance of normalcy after months of challenges.
As COVID-19 case rates continued to be a concern, LHPUSD entered an eight-week pilot program, launched by the nonprofit The California Endowment, to test all teachers, staff, and students twice a week using a rapid antigen test. The pilot program allowed the district to provide regular, effective, and affordable testing to quickly identify cases and add an extra layer of safety for those participating in in-person learning and instruction.
“If we're bringing students to campus, we have to be able to ensure that we can keep them safe before they go back out into the community,” Superintendent Amy Wooliever said in an interview with KQED. “This regular testing of our children that are under the age of about 11 will give us a lot of surveillance testing on what is happening in our homes, our farms, and ranches.”
To address learning loss, LHPUSD moved away from a “one size fits all” strategy to personalized instruction that is project-based and focused on developing skills such as self-advocacy, critical thinking, and perseverance. Families were encouraged to work alongside staff in developing the plans, which would measure student progress based on their individual growth. This open communication and flexibility with families have contributed to high levels of student engagement throughout the school year.
“It really is different than at a large school because we are solving problems one student at a time,” Superintendent Wooliever said in a Half Moon Bay Review article.
Most of these accomplishments could not have been possible without LHPUSD’s strong community partnerships with the county, farmworkers, local businesses, and organizations like Puente de la Costa Sur, a community resource center serving communities along the South Coast of San Mateo County. The center has been a pillar in the community alongside the district, providing meals, housing, technology, mental health services, and other critical resources to families in need.
“Since our schools are a reflection of our community, I knew we needed to get a handle on the spread in the community if we had a hope of addressing the spread in the school system,” said Superintendent Wooliever.
With support from Puente and the county, LHPUSD has offered community COVID-19 testing as well as vaccination appointments to hundreds of South Coast residents. As of mid-June, 100 percent of eligible Pescadero residents received their first dose, while 78.6 percent of La Honda and 65.1 percent of Loma Mar residents received their first dose. These longstanding partnerships made it possible to respond quickly to community needs during the crisis.
“It’s been super successful,” continued Superintendent Wooliever. “It’s an expansion of partnership with Puente. And we so appreciated the county’s willingness to partner with the school district.”