Dear OMSD students, families, staff, and community:
In a March 31, 2020 letter to California’s county superintendents, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond stated, “Due to the current safety concerns and needs for ongoing social distancing, it appears that our students will not be able to return to school campuses before the end of the school year.”
That assessment echoed remarks from today’s press conference by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Today Governor Newsom supported the recommendation made last night by State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond, to keep all schools closed for the remainder of the school year. Our county superintendent, Ted Alejandre, is aligned with this decision and recommends all schools in San Bernardino County follow this directive due to safety concerns and the need for ongoing social distancing.
As a result, I have again 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 May 1, 2020 to May 21, 2020. To repeat, our current shutdown is now being extended for all OMSD schools for the remainder of the school year.
OMSD now plans to resume our regularly scheduled instruction at all schools beginning
Thursday, August 6, 2020.
I plan to provide additional information and guidelines in the days ahead to our students, parents and families, staff and community regarding distance learning, meal services, summer school/extended school year programs, and continuance of pay for our OMSD contracted employees.
While I recognize these closures pose challenges and hardships to many families, the most effective way to slow and disrupt the transmission of this pandemic is by continuing to implement social distancing practices along with good hygiene practices.
I am grateful to our OMSD community for your tremendous support during these challenging times and the wellness and health of our students, families, staff and local community continues to be our highest priority.
Respectfully,
James Q. Hammond, Ed.D.
Superintendent
