Greetings!

As we prepare to wrap up another school year, which officially ends on June 14, now is a good time to reflect on all we accomplished these past 10 months.

Indeed, 2020/21 was a year like no other. Despite obstacles of epic proportions, our entire school district community came together to ensure a quality education for our students. Providing families with three school schedule options – regular in-person, hybrid, and full-time distance learning – on all six campuses enabled us to meet the needs of students and families. However, the three school schedule options were only part of the equation. The true secret to our success during the pandemic was the commitment, creativity, perseverance, and hard work of each and every staff member to safely and effectively serve students day in and day out.

So before everyone heads off to enjoy a well-deserved summer recess, we would like to give you a behind-the-scenes look at 2020/21 as we set our sights on a much brighter school year which begins on August 19, 2021.

Sincerely,

Anne Silavs, Superintendent

Distance Learning – Lights, Camera, Action!

Teachers assigned to provide distance learning this year transformed their classrooms into mini production studios to broadcast student instruction across our community. They spared no effort to ensure authentic engagement while many of our students were learning from home.

Hybrid Learning – Here, There, and Everywhere

Hybrid learning was arguably the most challenging schedule for teachers as they worked with students both at home and in the classroom. Undaunted, each teacher found a creative way to deliver hybrid instruction that met the needs of their students and promoted a sense of classroom community.

Regular In-Person Learning – A Full-Time Return to the Classroom

The in-person schedule that enabled students to return to campus five days a week was far from “regular” due to health and safety restrictions. However, combining ingenuity and innovation, our teachers and staff ensured student safety while providing great opportunities for peer interaction. Staff also reinvented many school activities, including sixth-grade science camp, to ensure a fun and well-rounded educational experience for our students despite the pandemic.

To avoid the use of shared equipment and the spread of respiratory particles, it was also necessary for us to redesign our STEM and music programs. In addition to synchronous online instruction, our STEM and music teachers prerecorded lessons, like the samples below, to support student learning.

Student and staff safety is always a top priority in the Cypress School District. This year, it was especially important for everyone to follow the health and safety protocols in the district’s 2020/21 Reopening & Safety Plan. While virus mitigation measures were certainly not fun, they prevented students and staff from getting sick at school. Indeed, there were no cases of person-to-person COVID-19 transmission in any of our schools thanks to everyone’s commitment to following our safety procedures.

Regardless of the pandemic conditions our staff had to navigate, there was a lot of impressive student learning to celebrate this year. Unfortunately, we couldn’t invite families into the classroom to enjoy our annual spring Open House, but that didn’t stop our teachers. Using a variety of technology tools, they found many unique ways to acknowledge the hard work and accomplishments of their students and to share it with their families, as these examples show.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

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

Anne Silavs