Dixon School Closure And Reopening Update May 28, 2020

Press release from the Dixon Unified School District:

May 28, 2020

Hello Everyone,

As we wrap up the 2020-21 school year, I want to thank all of you for your patience, flexibility, and determination since mid-March when we had to close our schools. I have worked in education for 32 years, and I never thought that we would ever be in a situation that would cause such a large disruption to our students, their families, and our staff. I believe that everyone did their best to make this work and thank you all for your positive attitudes and effort.

Everyone is wondering what school will look like when we reopen for the 2020-21 school year. This communication is intended to help to clarify the current information that we have and let you know about our planning for next year. Please take the time to read this entire message as it is crucial that you all know what we are doing to prepare for next year.

We are currently planning for four potential scenarios for the start of school in August:

1. Opening with regular classes and attendance for students.
2. Opening in a distance learning model for students.
3. Opening in a blended model of in-person class time and distance learning.
4. Opening with regular classes and attendance and being forced to close and go into

distance learning.

Based on current conditions and the fact that the start of school is more than 10 weeks away (August 10th), it is impossible to decide how we will open school. So, we are preparing for all possibilities which I want to take some time to describe for you.

It is clear that we cannot predict the conditions we will face in early August, and we are likely to be in a position where both families and staff have concerns about physically returning to school. Everyone’s first priority is and should be the health and safety of our students, staff, and families. We are already planning for what we expect to have to be able to address, with many details still to be determined. These issues are being worked on every day.

It is absolutely critical to have protocols in place regarding the health and safety of our students and staff. We will not be able to have a physical reopening without being able to ensure that we have clearance to do so from public health officials, and have designed and are ready to implement practices on all campuses to prevent infections and the spread of the virus. Planning for the restrictions and safeguards for students and staff that we will have to have in place for the eventual return to school will be the most challenging part of the reopening process.

Regardless of how good a job we do with safety practices, some people will have documentation from physicians saying that they cannot return to a regular school setting. Because of this, we recognize that a one-size-fits-all model, if schools are physically reopened, will not work. So, we have to plan for the likelihood that we will have to operate both a regular program and a distance learning program for those who cannot or do not wish to return to a campus with numerous students and staff present. Our planning over the summer will address needing to have both models available. It will be critical for families to follow our communications very closely as they will announce all reopening decisions and allow for requests to be made to continue in a distance learning model.

We can assure you that any distance learning in the 2020-21 school year will be significantly more effective than it has been this year. Many experts suggest that schools will be closed again at some point of next school year, or that we may possibly have to reopen with everyone in distance learning, so we know we have to be ready. We had no preparation or experience with distance learning prior to March, and have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t that will help us in moving forward. I want to applaud our teachers, students, and families for what they accomplished this Spring while also recognizing that any future distance learning will have to be improved.

District staff will be spending many hours over the summer working on the plans for the 2020-21 school year. We have increased the number of public meetings that will be held to both inform all of you and take your input on the issues related to reopening. We currently have Governing Board Meetings scheduled for the following dates all beginning at 6:00 P.M:

• June 4th
• June 18th
• July 2nd
• July 16th
• July 30th
• August 6th

All meetings are well advertised on our website and through Facebook posts and include our agenda when posted. As of right now, all of our meetings are held by teleconference via Zoom. The login information is included in each posting of an agenda. We will make announcements should we be able to return to in-person meetings.

In addition to the public meetings of the full Board, Board Members will be meeting in a variety of sub-committees with administrative staff to stay informed on the planning process and to be able to speak to it during public meetings. Each sub-committee will have two members who were assigned to their roles at the meeting held on May 16th. These meetings have already begun and will be reported on at each full meeting of the Board on the dates above.

I sincerely wish that I could provide you with a firm decision on how we will reopen school in August and also explain all of the health and safety protocols that we would have in place. It would be ridiculous to do that right now as things change so often and we are still two-and-a-half months from the start of the new year. We all agree that the best scenario is that we are all back

This press release was produced by the Dixon Unified School District. The views expressed are the author's own.