This issue of our e-Newsletter chronicles the steps to school reopening and highlights the heroes that made it all possible. It also honors our students, teachers, and staff by shining a spotlight on the great things happening at school and in our classrooms… both physical and virtual.

Back in July, the Cypress School District Board of Trustees approved the district’s 2020/21 School Reopening & Safety Plan which provided three options to meet the needs of students and their families… a Regular on-campus school schedule, a full-time Distance Learning schedule, and a Hybrid school schedule, which includes a little bit of both. However, when the first day of school arrived on August 26, Orange County was still in the state’s Purple tier, so the new school year began with all students and teachers engaged in Distance Learning.

Despite the awkwardness of meeting for the first time on a computer screen, our teachers worked tirelessly to ensure a positive experience for students. Back to School Night was also held virtually with teachers welcoming parents and families in online meetings to learn more about what their children would be studying during the year. While it wasn’t your typical Back to School Night by any means, the warmth and professionalism of our teachers made the evening feel as if it were all perfectly normal.

Capes aren’t necessary for our superheroes in Maintenance/Operations, Transportation, and Technology (MOTT). Our team has always worked tirelessly to support schools and student success, and this is especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the summer months, our custodial and maintenance team sanitized classrooms, installed new air filters, assembled countless desk shields, and set up kiosks on each of our school campuses for daily student temperature screenings. Our technology staff deployed over 2,200 computer devices to support student engagement in distance learning. To accommodate physical distancing on school busses, our transportation staff redesigned the district’s bus schedules, adding multiple routes to ensure an added layer of safety and protection for students riding to and from school each day. Our team’s amazing superpowers made sure we were well prepared when we were able to reopen classrooms and welcome students back for in-person instruction on September 23. While this would be a significant accomplishment for any school district, it’s just another day’s work for our heroes in MOTT.

Since fifth-grade students can’t travel to the Joint Forces Training Base to participate in STARBASE this year, the program came to them! In a safe and physically distanced manner, Arnold students had the opportunity this month to study molecules, create compounds, and explore pressure.

Ms. Abuebeid, Student Activity Supervisor Coach at King, facilitates enjoyable games for students at recess while at the same time observing current safety guidelines. Students enjoy participating in these games since many organized sports opportunities outside of school have been suspended.

First-grade teacher Ms. van der Putin designed recess zones for each class cohort. Students can enjoy outdoor playtime with their classmates with plenty of room for physical distancing. During a “Brain Party” in Mrs. Robledo’s class, first graders learned that the brain is like a muscle, it gets stronger when you do challenging things and have a growth mindset.

Mrs. Ochoa is a champion at providing instruction for students in the Learning Center while juggling the Regular, Hybrid, and Distance Learning schedules all at the same time! Her ingenuity and amazing support staff enable students to feel “together” even when they are learning in different locations.

Mrs. Sorenson transformed first graders’ desks into Jeeps to make desk shields and physical distancing in the classroom fun for students. She also created recess baskets for each student to supplement their play options while avoiding shared equipment.

Not only are students thriving in the Regular, Hybrid, and Distance Learning classrooms, they are also having fun at recess with structured, physically distanced activities provided by the Student Activity Supervisors.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

Candi Kern - Sandra Lee - Brian Nakamura - Bonnie Peat - Lydia Sondhi, Ph.D.

Anne Silavs