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Dear AUHSD Parents/Guardians,
I hope your family maintains health and can find moments of comfort and joy as we navigate these most extraordinary and challenging times. Thank you for your ongoing efforts and partnership to support your student's distance learning experience through these last two weeks. I know this has been a difficult and sometimes frustrating task, but be assured that our teachers and support staff continue to work hard and bring improvements for a successful finish to your student's school year.
The close to the school year is typically a time to celebrate accomplishments, acknowledge and celebrate our seniors, and simultaneously prepare for our transitions to the next school year. Our commencement ceremonies will be the week of June 1, and we must celebrate our graduates like we never have before. They are truly an exceptional group and deserve our focused support as they turn the page into their next chapter. (See your school's website for more information regarding each graduation event.)
We are beginning to formalize our planning for the next school year. As you no doubt are aware, it is an incredibly dynamic situation for schools as COVID19 conditions and outlook seem to change almost daily; however, even with the uncertainty, we must begin a more formal planning process so we are best prepared for the multitude of scenarios that might present themselves. Student and staff safety will always be at the forefront of our planning, and we will continue to follow guidance from local and state health officials. We simply do not know at this point whether we will be engaging in school in our buildings with physical distancing parameters and safety precautions, introducing a more robust distance learning program, or doing a blend of the two. The District will work through the summer to ensure high quality educational opportunities and support services are available for our students at the start of the school year in whatever conditions exist at that time or throughout the year.
On Wednesday night, the AUHSD Governing Board will begin a very preliminary discussion regarding the process to evaluate and respond to COVID19 conditions and the process to develop school design, programs and precautions for the start of the 2020-2021 school year. The public can view meeting agenda through this Board meeting site and listen to the public meeting by registering for this Zoom webinar.
Parent input, concerns and thoughts regarding our reopening will be critical to our planning efforts. To that end, we will be administering a parent survey in about a week to elicit your opinions. We are currently having a series of stakeholder focus groups that will inform our survey. We will prioritize parent communication through the summer, work with the District Coordinating Council, and ask for additional input from families as COVID19 conditions evolve and we learn more from state and local health and education officials.
No doubt, the upcoming months will remain challenging and anxiety-producing for all as our County Health Services opens things up slowly and closely monitors health data. We can only be very cautiously optimistic and must manage our expectations for the opening of our school buildings on August 11, when the school year begins.
Take care and stay well.
Sincerely,
John Nickerson
Superintendent
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