As is customary, I thought I would provide you with a mid-summer update on the happenings in our school district. This summer, I am going to take a different approach. Typically, I like to talk to the community about all the great things we accomplished over the prior year, and then share changes that may be on the horizon. This year, I will attempt to share with you questions you may have about what the upcoming school year may look like. I will do my best to answer them through this letter.
As you are all already aware, March 13, 2020 changed public education in ways that none of us could have imagined. As we embarked on the start of the 2019-2020 school year in late August, nobody had any idea that our school year would be changed to the level it was. In a matter of days, we transformed our learning environment, to the best of our ability, from a completely “in person instructional environment” to a “virtual learning” learning environment. Our entire educational community came together to provide the highest quality learning experiences for our students in this new “virtual world.” I am going to be very honest. We experienced many challenges in this process. We have families in our district who have little or no access to the internet. Some of our families may have had two to three siblings in their house, but only had one device making it challenging for all students to engage in online learning. Parents quickly had to become our partners in education in order for us to continue to engage our primary level students. Some of our high school learners had to adjust to a more independent way of learning. Our teaching staff had to learn how to create a “virtual classroom” to provide instructional opportunities for our students whether it was through our Google platform or our SeeSaw platform. Nonetheless, we all persevered through this time. We acknowledge that our system of education works best for our students when we can work with them live in the classroom, but I am proud of our administrative team, teachers, students, and families as they made the best of a very challenging situation.
• Our pandemic team drafted and received school board approval for our athletic and school health and safety reopening plans. These plans will continually be monitored and updated throughout the summer. The expectation will be to take a final form of the plan to our school board of directors at our August school board meeting.
• We have made (and will continue to make) numerous changes on our school property to prepare for new health and safety measures that will be in place for the start of the 2020-2021 school year.
• We have met with executives of Guthrie Medical Center and UPMC to seek further guidance throughout the summer to be better informed about the contents of our school health and safety reopening plan.
• We have met with the leaders of our teaching staff to explain to them expectations and strategies we will activate so we can safely reopen our school doors for our students and staff for the start of the new school year.
• We will be seeking school board approval in August for the use of Flexible Instruction Days (FID’s). A FID is a program available to public school entities to be used as an alternate approach to delivering instruction if a circumstance arises that prevents instruction in the customary manner. Our goal is to use these days should the district have to close down in case of an emergency. The intent is not to use these to replace a typical snow day. We will continue to build snow days into our school calendar.
• I am currently planning on providing the community with dates and times (in early August) to allow for an open forum where parents can come in and ask questions about what they can expect for the start of the school year. The focus of this forum will be on how the district will implement the Health and Safety Reopening Plan, and look at strategies we will use to meet social distancing guidelines, wearing masks, cleaning and sanitation practices, and any other questions the community may have. Check out our website for updates on when these events will be scheduled.
Another very real concern we have is parents who fear to send their children to school due to the fears and anxieties parents have about their child contracting the COVID-19. I am also aware that many parents in the community are concerned and considering not sending their children to school because they believe our “guidelines are too restrictive.” I acknowledge that these are real and legitimate concerns, and I can reassure you that we will do everything we can to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for all students while they attend our school district for in person instruction. Please make sure you are actively communicating with your building principals so you are aware and informed of what we are doing to ensure the health and safety of your child(ren).
In closing, I cannot stress enough how important it is that we come together as a community as we move forward with educating our students. I know there will be decisions made by the school district that may be unfavorable and unpopular in the eyes of our community. I continue to ask for your support and understanding during these times as we comply with state guidelines and recommendations as provided by such agencies as the Center for Disease Control and World Health Organization. Remember, the health and safety of our staff and students will be our top priority as we return to school in the fall. There will be aspects of our school that will look different; however, as I sit here on this first week in July, I am confident we can bring our entire student body back to our campus every day.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or anybody on our administrative team with questions and concerns you may have around any of the above issues. As always, it is truly my honor and privilege to lead such a great school district and wonderful community, a community that knows only one way……The Warrior Way!
Yours in Education,
Eric Briggs