The omicron surge that began the first week of January is slowing at Menlo Park, Woodside and Atherton schools, but is not over yet.

Cases haven't yet fallen off in the about 2,700-student Menlo Park City School District, which reported 88 cases last week, the same number as it did the week before. As of Wednesday morning, it had reported 37 cases this week.

"It's still too early to tell as this week has not yet finished; however, we have far fewer cases being reported after the weekend and fewer positive pools returned from our weekly testing," said Superintendent Erik Burmeister in a statement. "We are hopeful we are seeing the start of the downturn."

At one district elementary school, attendance over the past five days has been averaging 94.14%, after it had been in the mid-to-high 80s the first couple weeks back, said the district's Public Information Officer Parke Treadway in an email on Tuesday.

The roughly 10,200-student Sequoia Union High School District reported a similar number of cases last week, as it did the week prior. The week of Jan. 17, there were 384 cases; 344 among students and 40 among staff. The previous week there were 409 cases reported to the district. Its first week back from winter break, it reported a staggering 710 cases.

So far this week, as of Tuesday, there have been 122 cases reported in the district.

"Although it appears that we are headed towards a peak, the district continues to closely monitor the situation, as we continue navigating through the current worldwide pandemic," said Superintendent Darnise Williams in a statement. "I would like to thank our community for truly being our partners and stepping up to support our schools, as school districts throughout California continue being spread thin." There are 13 parents substitute teaching in the district after a call for subs amid a staffing shortage during the surge.

Attendance is improving slightly, but not by much, she noted.

Sequoia District Teachers Association President Edith Salvatore, who teaches Spanish at Sequoia High School in Redwood City, said the situation is "getting better."

"A lot of students are coming back now and it's just the process of catching them up and getting back into the swing of things," she said in an email. She's also grateful for the announcement on Tuesday that the state will provide two weeks of COVID-19 paid sick leave through Sept. 30, retroactive to Jan. 1. It means that much of that burden is off of the district to ensure that nobody is losing accrued leave pay because they had to quarantine to keep students and the community safe, she said.

The roughly 1,100-student Las Lomitas Elementary School District saw 37 cases from Jan. 17 to 21. There were 24 cases between Jan. 10 and 15. As of Tuesday, it reported 12.

"I am cautiously optimistic that we peaked," said Superintendent Beth Polito in an email. "The daily numbers seem to be coming down a bit. Staff absences are coming down as well."

The Ravenswood City School District, which has schools in East Palo Alto And Menlo Park, also saw a drop in cases last week. It was down to 65 after hitting 120 cases the week before. There were 87 in the first week back from winter break.

Based on last week's COVID data, it appears that the number of cases have peaked, said Superintendent Gina Sudaria in an email. "I will be more convinced after we review this week's numbers."

The Woodside Elementary School District, which has roughly 360 students, reported 15 cases last week, compared to 19 the week before. There were just six the first week of January, which Superintendent Steve Frank credited to at-home rapid COVID-19 tests the district distributed to families before students returned from winter break.

There were 14 cases last week in the Portola Valley School District, which has about 470 students. The week prior there were 12. There were 26 the first week back from winter break.

Private school data

At Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton, which has 1,195 students in preschool through 12th grade, there were 30 cases reported last week, down from 67 the week before.

The school went to remote learning for its first two days back from winter break to give students time to test. It reported 166 cases that week.

Woodside Priory, a Catholic Benedictine day and boarding school that serves about 400 students in grades 6-12 in Portola Valley, went remote its first week back from the holiday break as well. There were 23 cases reported to the school that week and 15 the following.

On Jan. 24 there were six cases.

"We continue to be impressed with the response from our students and the support from you as we work through this variant," said Head of School Patrick Ruff in a Wednesday message to families. "This week, 462 people were tested, and there were six new positive cases; again, over 98% of our community tested negative."

Students who test positive at the school can Zoom into their classes, according to the school's website.

Menlo School, a private grades 6-12 school in Atherton that has about 800 students, is also seeing a downward trend in cases in the last week, according to Alex Perez, the school's director of communications.

"We're cautiously optimistic that the trend will continue," he said. He declined to disclose the case counts since students returned from winter break. Classes were conducted remotely for the first week back from winter break, when officials heard that many students were testing positive in the week leading up to the planned return to campus.

County response

San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools Nancy Magee acknowledged in a newsletter this week that the omicron surge has caused a real strain on local schools.

"School leaders, teachers, staff, students, and families have all demonstrated incredible resilience and strength," she said. "With renewed vigilance around safety protocols, I am confident conditions in our schools will lessen as we get further into the year."

The newsletter also noted that, in the county, more than 82% of students ages 12-15 were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 51.9% of students ages 5-11 received at least their first dose by the end of 2021.