August 9, 2020
Good Evening Belmont-Redwood Shores Community,
This evening the Belmont Redwood Shores School District and Faculty Association reached a tentative “Distance Learning” Memorandum of Understanding. As a part of this agreement the start of school will be delayed from Wednesday, August 19 until Friday, August 21 to afford our staff additional preparation and professional development time. In order to maintain the required mandated instructional days, September 21, 2020 and January 4, 2021 will become student attendance days.
Pending ratification by the BRSSD Board of Trustees and BRS Faculty Association, the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District will open on
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2020
with a 100% full distance learning model.
Highlights of our agreement include:
- Schedules aligned to SB98 required instructional minutes with the addition of music, science and PE “specials” at various grade levels.
- Daily live interaction with teachers and peers for purposes of instruction, progress monitoring, and maintaining school connectedness.
- Content aligned to grade level standards that is provided at a level of quality and intellectual challenge substantially equivalent to in-person instruction.
- Distance Learning delivery via consistent platforms, (i.e., Google Suite, SeeSaw, Illuminate, Zoom, or SchoolLoop) to serve as the primary mode of communication between the teacher, student and family.
We all wish that our start was a traditional start. While that is not possible, we believe that our Memorandum of Understanding allows for students to continue to progress academically and provides our staff the support and planning needed to deliver on our commitments to our students. The District would like to acknowledge and thank the Belmont-Redwood Shores Faculty Association for their continued effort to reach this agreement.
As conditions in San Mateo County Change, we will reevaluate our model with the goal of in-person hybrid instruction when all safety conditions, protocols and guidelines can be met.
Additional information, class schedules and other logistical information is forthcoming and will be sent to families via your school principals. Information on class assignments will be provided to families by August 17. We understand that parents and students are eagerly awaiting this information. We appreciate your patience and will get this information to families as soon as possible. Unfortunately, principals are not able to accommodate requests from parents to build classes based on “pods” parents are forming because it would prevent them from forming balanced classes of students.
With just under two weeks to our official start, we wish you and your family good health, wellness and a bit more rest and relaxation!
PENDING RATIFICATION BY THE BRSSD BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND THE BRS FACULTY ASSOCIATION,
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU VIRTUALLY ON
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21!
Yearly Student Information Update
You will soon receive an email from the District getting you started with the yearly update of your student’s information. This year the process is facilitated by SchoolMint, an online registration tool that creates new emergency contact cards for each student each year. We ask that you when you receive the communication from SchoolMint, you complete the process to be sure we have the most up to date information, as this is what we will use to communicate with you on a routine basis and in the event of an emergency. In addition, this process will allow you to donate in support of your schools. This year, all BRSSD PTAs and SchoolForce have partnered to make this easier with the joint Education Commitment Campaign. Our funding from the state is over $1,500/student below average (details here, click financial data tab), so your donation to the Education Commitment Campaign is critical to providing quality programs and closing that gap!
Technology Needs
We will be sending out a questionnaire to assess the technology needs for the BRSSD students in your household. The information we gather will be used to coordinate device distribution with other materials distribution at your school site. We will also include device recommendations and internet content filtering solutions for families who are interested in purchasing their own technology.
Mark Your Calendars:
New Family Orientation
Wednesday, August 12, 6:30-7:30pm
Board Meeting
Thursday, August 13, Open Session 6:15pm
Visit BRSSD.org for more information on these events.
Sincerely,
Dan Deguara
Superintendent
Suvarna Bhopale | Amy Koo | Samuel Leinbach | Jim Howard | Rahila Passi | Board of Trustees
