Superintendent's Message July 15, 2020

Dear Friends and Families,

It has been a hectic past few months. We’ve had so much to learn as we navigated remote learning, internalized and responded to social injustice, and stayed focused on the health and safety issues related to the COVID19 virus. Please know that we are in full-bore planning mode as we anticipate school reopening in the fall.

Here’s what we can tell you now, based on CDC, Vermont Department of Health, and Agency of Education guidelines as well as what we continue to learn about the virus transmission.

• Our primary goal is to get as many students as possible participating in in-person instruction.
• In order to comply with social distancing guidelines and ensure the safety of all our students, it may be necessary to provide a hybrid learning experience for our students- one in which students are participating in in-school learning some days each week and remote learning on other days each week.
• Another important goal is to offer both in-person and remote learning opportunities. Teachers and administrators are currently working to develop rigorous, engaging, relevant curricula for either in-person, hybrid, or remote learning.
• Our ability to provide a remote learning option is contingent upon the Agency of Education or the State Board of Education giving us permission for this to happen. We are strongly advocating to have this option available for our families.
• The Chittenden County Superintendents are working collaboratively to ensure that our plans are aligned and that there is a coherent, cohesive plan for all the families in our larger community.

I know that you would like to know now exactly what school will look like in the fall. So would we, but we’re not at a point yet to make conclusive decisions. To that point, we are interested in your thinking and today are launching a survey to better understand your hopes, as well as your concerns, around reopening school in the fall. Meanwhile, we are working on multiple plans so that once we know the context under which we will open, we will be able to quickly move forward. You can expect to get updates from me as we get more guidance from the Agency of Education and the Department of Health.

I hope you are all having a relaxing and enjoyable summer with your loved ones.

Most sincerely,

Elaine