October 22, 2020
Dear North Royalton City Schools' Community:
As I communicated to you last week, we wanted to get additional data and information from the Governor before making any decision on whether or not we will return our K-8 students to five day in-person instruction. Our plan was predicated on Cuyahoga County being in Level 2 (orange) and on October 15 we changed to Level 3 (red). Today at the Governor's news conference, the county is labeled Level 3 (red) with a star and high incidence designation. As explained by the Governor, this means that our county has met enough indicators to be labeled purple, but they wait one week before placing that designation on the county. It means there is a high probability that the county will be in the Level 4 (purple) the following week.
As you are aware, our current plan is based on the level system for Cuyahoga County. It states that when the Health Advisory System for the county is red or purple, we will move to all remote learning. When we first developed our plan in July and August, we believed that the county level system would provide a smooth way to transition from one learning phase to another. While we have found this to be somewhat more cumbersome than originally thought, it is our plan at this time.
As Mondays are currently remote learning days in the District, beginning Tuesday, October 27, 2020, the North Royalton City Schools will be moving to all remote learning for grades PK-12. In addition, any class changes that were to be made in grades K-8 beginning Monday will be put on hold. Your child will remain with their current teachers. While we will be delaying our move to have K- 8 students return to five days of in-person instruction, we will continue to work on a revised plan that will allow for the safe return of all of our students to the classroom. We will continue to monitor the data and cases in our county and area to assure that bringing in students five days a week will not be contrary to the health and safety of our students and staff. Your building principals and teachers will communicate with you prior to Tuesday to notify you of the remote student schedules that will be in place as well as any materials that need to be picked up from the classrooms.
Our ultimate goal is to safely bring students back in school five days a week. In the coming weeks, we will be working to adjust our plan to one that can reflect the conditions in our city, county and region and not be completely tied to the colored level system. I hope you understand this cannot be done overnight and because parents made their initial choice on our current plan, we must honor that. Unfortunately, with conditions in our county, state and nation declining, I must err on the side of the safety of our students and staff.
I appreciate your patience and understanding as we all work together in order to have our students return to school safely.
Sincerely,
Greg Gurka
Superintendent
