Good Morning, Hopewell families!
As you are aware, the decision that was made together with the School Board in late July was to begin instruction virtually through the first nine weeks, or 1st quarter. While there are positive aspects to virtual learning, we did not make that decision because we thought it was the best way to instruct our students - we made that decision because of striving to balance instruction with the health and safety of our students, families, staff, and community. It was, and continues to be, our desire to bring students back for in-person learning as soon as it is deemed safe to do so. And that target has been by the beginning of 2nd quarter, if it can be done within a low enough risk to health and safety.
We are currently 1/3 of the way through the 1st quarter, and have been working on plans for bringing students back into school as the health indicators suggest is reasonably safe. We will be discussing our plans, and the health data that will guide our plans, at the upcoming Board meeting on October 8th.
In the meantime, we are planning to move ahead with bringing some students back in mid-October. This first group to return to school for in-person learning is some of our students with special education service and English Learner supports. These are students identified by state and federal guidelines as a group to bring back to school as soon as possible. We plan to put in a comprehensive set of precautions to support these students, and staff, as safely as possible. And it is many of these same precautions that will be in place when health conditions allow for the next group of students to return until we have all of our students back.
After we meet with the Board on October 8th, we plan soon after that to be reaching out to you for your intent to have your children return to in-person learning or remain virtual. We will provide you that choice throughout this school year, and we will have more details for you on that in mid-October.
We will be announcing early this week regarding our first group of students that we plan to bring back - some of our most vulnerable students who have special needs. We plan to not wait until the end of the 1st quarter to bring them back, but rather do so in mid-October. If we are not able to bring all students back at the start of the 2nd quarter, we will then look to expand the child care option as much as possible to meet those needs.
Please stay tuned for more updates in the next couple of weeks, and know that we are pushing forward with in-person learning as much as the health and safety factors suggest is appropriate. We very much miss seeing your children, and you, in person. Please be safe and take all reasonable precautions so that as a community we can minimize the spread of the virus and get back to in-person learning as soon as possible. Please give your students a hug for us. We can't wait to see their precious faces again!
Melody Hackney, Superintendent of Schools