Thank You and Thanksgiving

 

Image created by HCS World Language Teacher, Zalfa Kasti

Dear CVSD Friends and Families,

I extend my best wishes to you and your family as we head out for the Thanksgiving break. We know how important it is for our students to be in school. This has been our main goal throughout the fall. Today during the Governor’s press conference we heard the Governor, Dr. Levine, and Sabina Brochu, CVU student and member of the State Board of Education, pleaded with us to make the safe and healthy decisions that will keep our schools open. All of them underscored the need for particular vigilance right now when the Vermont numbers are surging. Specifically:

• We need to limit all non-essential travel and to quarantine if we travel ANYWHERE out of state
• We need to avoid social gatherings outside our immediate households
• We need to continue taking prevention steps such as mask-wearing and social distancing

If you do travel out of state or you host someone from out of state at your Thanksgiving gathering, your child will not be able to attend school. We will expect your student to quarantine for 14 days - or for 7 days and a negative test result. If your student is quarantining as a result of non-essential travel or as a result of having been in contact with someone from out of state, we will not be providing additional educational resources, separate from what is already available.

We know that the best way for us to ensure a safe return to school is to abide by these orders. The school data is reassuring. Schools are safe. Our mitigation strategies are working. In fact, we learned today during the Governor’s press conference that “schools may be the safest setting for students and staff.” This will only remain true if we continue to be vigilant. As Dr. Levine said, “With a little patience and a lot of compliance, we can turn this around. We did it in the spring; we can do it again.” He also offered some talking tips to help navigate difficult social situations - see the COVID Talk Conversation Tips found on the Department of Health website.

We can’t thank you enough for all you are doing to support your children in these efforts and they are doing a great job too! We truly appreciate our families, students, faculty, staff, and administrators for the extra effort everyone is making in this most unusual of school years. We wish you all the best for a safe, healthy, and happy break and holiday.

Elaine


Elaine Pinckney, Superintendent