SUPERINTENDENT’S MESSAGE
As you likely are aware, the Governor and Commissioner of Education are planning for a full, five-day-a-week, in-person opening of school in late August. School districts have been directed to develop a reopening plan that addresses key areas such as health and safety, staffing and scheduling, transportation, communication, nutrition, facilities/operations , and instructional practices to best educate our children in the classroom. As such, I have formed a school reopening committee comprised of representatives from administration, certified and non-certified staff, nursing, maintenance, technology, and parents. The committee is in the process of developing a reopening plan, due to the state on July 24, which addresses the areas listed above. The committee has been meeting twice per week to accomplish this important task. Once submitted to the state, we will share the reopening plan with all parents/guardians. We also intend to provide regular updates to staff, parents, and students via BlackBoard-Connect, e-mail, and the school website. We want to assure you that we will regularly keep you informed on all aspects of our school reopening.
Most important, we wish to assure you that we remain relentlessly committed to ensuring that your child is coming to school in a safe and healthy environment. This means that we will practice safe measures such as social distancing, mask wearing, limited interaction in corridors, outside instruction where feasible, safe transportation and nutritional practices, and regular sanitizing of both classrooms and common areas. Parents will need to provide masks so we encourage you to start the process of acquiring multiple masks that will be comfortable for your son/daughter. We will also have an ample supply of masks on hand at school.
Our students need to return to an environment that provides both safe in-person instruction and support structures that will provide for the social/emotional well-being of all students. Our school this August will look notably different from the school your child left in mid-March. However, we all hope that this will be a temporary departure from past protocols and practices and that we will return to “normal” in the relatively near future. Until then, we are relying on parents to regularly reinforce with their children healthy practices such as hand washing, mask wearing, and social distancing.
We eagerly look forward to welcoming our students back to school in late August.