Dear Parents/Guardians,
There has been good news this last month for a change regarding COVID-19. With positive testing numbers continuing to drop and vaccination rates continuing to rise, it appears that there is light at the end of an often dark tunnel. Our community mitigation strategies are making a difference. As more teachers, staff members, and community members become vaccinated, we continue to make progress in the fight against this disease.
Thank you for your continued support and partnership as we move forward with in-person instruction in our schools. Working together, we ensure health, safety, and educational stability for our students.
This weekend, we closed an in-person instruction survey that was completed by more than 6,200 staff and parents. As we analyze the results and prepare a summary to share with our community, there are a few themes that are already apparent. While there are strong and differing feelings regarding increased in-person learning, there is common ground and support in our community for continuing to move forward through a phased-in approach. With this in mind, here are the next steps in our return to full in-person instruction:
· Students in
self-contained special education programs and our secondary English Learner courses
are scheduled to return to four days per week of in-person instruction
beginning the week of March 1. Parents in those programs have received
information directly from the executive director of special services and our
secondary principals regarding this return.
· The remainder of K-12
students will return to four full days – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday –
beginning the week of March 15. Wednesday will remain a remote learning day.
Your school principals will shortly be sharing information with you directly on
how this change will impact your child’s school.
· It is our goal to return
to full in-person instruction the week of April 19. This is one week after
spring break and allows the district to address the impact of community travel
during the annual break. As a proactive measure, UCS will be in full remote
learning the week of April 12 to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our
community.