Dear Elementary K-5 Community,
 
As you know, we have been planning to return on October 12th in an AM/PM model for those students who want to come back in person and an extended distance learning option for those who choose it. Though we have been working diligently as a district and with our staff to work toward reopening, we realize that we need to gather more information from our stakeholders and will therefore delay our return to in-person learning and continue with Distance Learning through November 20, with a planned return following Thanksgiving break. 

After gathering data, we will engage in working groups with our teachers and staff to ensure that we are able to minimize the disruption of shifting schedules, teaching modalities, and changes in teachers for the largest number of students possible upon return to in-person instruction.  

We will send a detailed survey to families next week and will use that data to work closely with our staff to re-design a return to school approach, with the goal of increasing consistency and continuity for the largest number of students possible. We will also survey our community again in November. This second survey will ensure that we have real-time data from our stakeholders, while also taking into account the current status of COVID-19 in our county and more broadly.
 
Two main factors came into play in the last week that drove our decision making:
 
1. The number of students enrolling in extended distance learning is approximately twice what we anticipated, based on earlier survey data.
2. We have not been able to hire enough quality long-term substitutes to back-fill classrooms for teachers who will teach extended distance learning positions.
 
We could push forward with our October 12th date, but based on the factors above and the current high quality of distance learning, we have determined that returning to school sites will create too great of a disruption to our students and staff at this time. If we were to move forward with an October 12th return, it would mean that:
 
1. Grade levels with small class sizes at individual schools would be combined, with one teacher becoming an extended learning teacher from those grade levels.
2. In-person class sizes across the district would increase as a result of combining those classes.
3. Some students who indicated that they want to return to school in-person would then be placed in new classes with new teachers.
4. Students who requested extended distance learning would not be guaranteed a spot in their original class as we hoped, as some of those classes would have been eliminated and others would be at capacity.
 
We hope to minimize the factors above by gathering more detailed data from our families and engaging in working groups with our staff to find creative solutions that will minimize disruption for all of our stakeholders when we return in-person. 

We know that there is a wide variety of opinions among all of our stakeholders, and we acknowledge that this news is last-minute and is a major disruption for everyone involved. We understand many families have begun shifting plans in anticipation of our return, and we also know that we have some students who are struggling with distance learning.  We will continue to share information about our plans, and we will provide families with their AM/PM cohort assignment in the upcoming weeks so you may plan accordingly.

Teachers and administrators will work together to identify students for in-person services and/or supervised distance learning.  Principals and teachers will be reaching out to parents next week on a targeted basis to offer this opportunity. If you don’t receive a message from your principal or teacher, but have concerns about your child’s learning, please contact your child’s teacher.

Before we return to in-person instruction, we will ensure that all teachers, staff, children, and families are able to come to their school sites to see the newly designed classrooms, practice ingress and egress, and familiarize themselves with safety procedures and protocols. Our school staff and maintenance and custodial staff have been working hard to meet or exceed public health recommendations, and this will continue until re-opening.
 
This is not the announcement we wanted to make, and we are sorry. We ask for your understanding and grace as we continue to work with our teachers to design the best return to school possible during these uncertain and ever-evolving times. We are all devoted to doing what is best for your children, and we know that there is not a perfect solution. We thank you for giving us the time to gather more feedback and design the best possible educational plan we can.

Warmly,
Dr. Kimberly Berman