Coronavirus (COVID-19)
OMSD Extends Shutdown
19 March 2020
Dear OMSD students, families, staff, and community:
The Ontario-Montclair School District continues to work closely with the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health (DPH), the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, the California Department of Education (CDE) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to monitor the impact that COVID-19, known as the Coronavirus, is having within our community.
The wellness and health of our students, families, staff and local community continues to be our highest priority during these unprecedented times.
As recent as March 17, 2020 the Acting Health Officer for San Bernardino County ordered the cancellation “of gatherings of any number of people within San Bernardino County through at least April, 6, 2020”.
After much thought and consideration of Governor Newsom’s Executive Order on March 12, 2020 to cancel large gatherings and promote social distancing, guidance from officials at the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health and
support from the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, I have made the decision to extend the temporary shutdown of all in-class instruction and all extra-curricular activities within the Ontario-Montclair School District from April 3, 2020 to May 1, 2020. To repeat, our current temporary shutdown is being extended for all OMSD schools.
OMSD will resume our regularly scheduled instruction at all schools beginning
Monday, May 4, 2020.
Again, this return date may change as I evaluate any new information related to COVID-19.
I want to thank our teachers and site/district administrators for doing an outstanding job preparing distance learning opportunities for our students. The responsibility and expectation of creating high-quality distance learning opportunities for our students does not change during this shutdown extension. This is still a time of learning for all of our students.
To assist the learning opportunities we are seeking, site and district office administrators are working on a laptop disbursement plan for the week of March 30
th for families that do not have adequate technology in their homes. Access to WiFi is now being provided by most cable TV/Internet carriers such as Spectrum, Comcast and Frontier. More information on the OMSD laptop disbursement plan and how to access WiFi will be forthcoming from Tammy Lipschultz, Assistant Superintendent of Learning & Teaching, in the days ahead.
Additionally, the Learning & Teaching Division of OMSD has done outstanding work creating a
website with distance learning resources
for teachers and students to provide meaningful learning opportunities. This website can be found on
omsd.symbaloo.com
for our teachers and
additional resources
are also available at
omsdparent.symbaloo.com
for students and families.
Our Learning & Teaching Division is also working with officials from CDE, partners in education, and our families who have students with exceptional needs to ensure we make every effort to support some of our most vulnerable children during this temporary shutdown. The District will provide special education services consistent with each student’s IEP, to the greatest extent possible. The OMSD Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) has been working in tandem with non-public schools and agencies who service our students to ensure consistency across learning environments and to avoid an interruption in services. Dr. Alana Hughes-Hunter, Executive Director of the OMSD SELPA will be sharing more communication and detailed guidelines to OMSD staff and families as additional information is provided from CDE over the next 2 weeks.
What is clear from Governor Newsom and State Superintendent Thurmond is that the state of California is committed to suspending state testing for the 2019-2020 school year. As the state embarks on the process to waive this requirement, I encourage teachers, administrators and families to focus on quality learning experiences that promote engagement/participation, critical thinking, and discovery. This is an opportunity for teachers, administrators and families to formatively monitor student engagement and learning in order to inform teacher planning rather than administering quantitative metrics and letter grades.
The OMSD Learning & Teaching Division is also planning a communication in the near future to parents and families who are receiving services through our Parent Education Center and Family Collaborative Services Department. These departments are preparing alternative means to communicate and continue providing programs and services during our temporary shutdown.
I also want to take time to thank the amazing classified support staff of OMSD. During this extraordinary time of transitioning to distance learning districtwide, our classified support staff have performed brilliantly in providing essential services that help operate OMSD.
During our temporary shutdown, OMSD custodians have continued to deep clean school sites and district office buildings, and our Food & Nutrition Services (FNS) classified support staff have served thousands upon thousands of breakfast and lunch meals at all 32 school sites.
Instructional aides, proctors, health aides and clerical staff have all played critical roles in supporting the plans that every school site has developed to administer meals, communicate with families and help plan the lessons used for distance learning.
Maintenance, Operations, Grounds, Warehouse and Information Services personnel have ensured that essential functions of the school district are attended to without interruption during our temporary shutdown. Other classified support staff at the site and district office level have found a myriad of ways to support their colleagues and supervisors with responsibilities that are truly “above the call of duty”.
Campus Safety Officers continue to rotate among our school sites during the time of meal service, as well as throughout the day ensuring our campuses remain safe.
More information on the pending responsibilities for our classified support staff during this extended shutdown will come from either Mr. Phil Hillman, Chief Business Official (CBO) or Mr. Hector Macias, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources over the next several weeks.
Thanks to the leadership of OMSD’s FNS Department, FNS classified support staff and OMSD CBO Mr. Phil Hillman, OMSD plans on administering breakfast and lunch meals at 7 locations
(Edison ES, Euclid ES, Lincoln ES, Montera ES, Moreno ES, Mariposa ES, and Sultana ES) from March 23-March 25, (10:00 AM to 1:00 PM). This team of committed classified support staff and administrators will provide meals to OMSD students during our scheduled Spring Break. This includes an increased apportionment on Wednesday, March 25, that will provide meals to our students for the remainder of Spring Break. Breakfast and lunch meals will resume at all 32 sites (10:00 AM to 1:00 PM) beginning Monday, March 30, 2020.
Voicemails at all OMSD school sites and district offices will continue be monitored and staff will make every effort possible to return calls from voicemails within 48 hours. All district staff are being asked to monitor their district emails and communicate in a timely fashion. Any general inquiries during our temporary shutdown can be sent to
info@omsd.net.
As a reminder, the primary reason for extending the temporary shutdown in OMSD is for staff and families to continue best practices related to social distancing and maintain quarantine-like behaviors that can mitigate the potential spread of COVID-19. For the exception of essential activities in your professional and personal lives, we hope that you can adhere to guidelines provided to us by the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health and the California Department of Public Health.
My office will continue to keep you informed as more information on the impact COVID-19 is having in OMSD.
As a reminder, OMSD will resume our regularly scheduled instruction at all schools beginning
Monday, May 4, 2020.
Again, this return date may change as I evaluate any new information related to COVID-19.
I am both grateful and thankful for all our OMSD teachers, classified support staff and administrators for the compassion and dedication they have demonstrated through this challenging time for our students and families. All of you have exemplified outstanding leadership, teamwork and love when it has been needed most.
Sincerely,
James Q. Hammond, Ed.D.
Superintendent
