Schools
Novato Unified School District Superintendent Weekly Update
Next Monday marks the beginning of Phase 2 with our first and second grade students returning to our campuses for hybrid learning.
Find out what's happening in Novatofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Dear NUSD Family,
Today marks the conclusion of Phase 1 of our reentry plan. Next Monday marks the beginning of Phase 2 with our first and second grade students returning to our campuses for hybrid learning.
Find out what's happening in Novatofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Topics included in today’s letter are:
- Phase 2 students return on Monday
- New student calendar – minor changes
- Revised Parent Handbook
- Spring 2021 Semester Placement Request for Virtual Learning Academy or Flexible In-Person Learning
- Middle School Schedules
- Saving Novato Community Money Through the Sale of Remaining Measure G Bonds
Phase 2 Students return on Monday
On Monday, November 9, NUSD will welcome our first and second grade students back to campus for hybrid learning next week. The safety precautions in each of our classrooms far exceeds those required by Federal, State, and County guidance and we continue to learn and improve our processes.
New Student Calendar – Minor Changes
Our Board of Trustees approved minor changes to our student calendar for this school year. You can find a link to the revised calendar here. The key changes are as follows:
- VLA Parent Teacher Conferences – November 13-19, 2020
- Flexible In-Person Parent Teacher Conferences – February 8-12, 2021
- January 15, 2021 will be a student day instead of a professional development day
With safety in mind, and to provide teachers with time to prepare for students to return to campus, the professional development day previously scheduled for January 15, 2021, will be (or was held) as follows:
- October 23, 2020 (Grades TK,K,K-1)
- November 6, 2020 (Grades 1,2,2-3)
- November 20, 2020 (Grades 3,4,5,6,7,8)
- January 4, 2021 (Grades 9-12)
Revised COVID Handbook for Students and Families
As you know, Marin County moved from the red tier (substantial spread) to the orange tier (moderate spread) in California’s rating system. As such, Marin County Public Health has revised their COVID Handbook.
This revised handbook answers many questions about how we will handle specific situations. The updated Handbook has been posted on the NUSD COVID page https://nusd.org/covid/ and can be found here.
Please remember that keeping our community safe is each of our responsibilities.
Spring 2021 Semester Placement Request for Virtual Learning Academy or Flexible In-Person Learning
NUSD families have the option of remaining in either Virtual Learning Academy or Flexible In-Person learning program or request a transfer for the spring semester that begins on January 4, 2021.
You do not need to complete the form if you intend to have your child remain in their respective program.
To inform us of your choice, you can click on the link here. Informing us of your choice by November 20, 2020, will give you priority for the requested change. Requested changes are not guaranteed. Forms received after November 20 will receive lower priority on a waitlist. We will honor the waitlist and make placements as best we can until January 15, 2021. For purposes of classroom continuity, placements will remain for the rest of the school year. Unique cases will be addressed as needed.
Middle School Bell Schedules
After bringing middle school parents, teachers, and administrators together to review possible middle school bell schedules and hear their feedback, we have arrived at two bell schedules for the middle school return to hybrid learning.
From November 30-December 18, 2020, our sixth-grade students will be enrolled in our sixth-grade academy program. This three-week academy will help our students better transition from elementary to middle school. As discussed with the Board, a review of sixth grade students’ assessment data shows that our current failure rate is too high and we need to better support these students with this transition that is challenging during the best of times. The schedule for the sixth-grade academy can be found here .
Following winter break on January 4, 2021, the middle school hybrid schedule can be found here.
Saving Novato Community Money Through the Sale of Remaining Measure G Bonds
As part of our commitment to both long and short-term fiscal responsibility and due to the historically low interest rates in the bond market, NUSD opted to sell $101 million worth of Measure G Bonds early. The true interest rate of the issuance was an extremely low 2.2249%. By changing the timing and size of this process, NUSD saved the Novato Taxpayers approximately $30 million over the life of the bonds.
This was possible, in part, due to NUSD’s very strong credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service of “Aa1.” NUSD has held this very strong credit rating since 2017 because we have maintained healthy finances through expenditure reductions and our commitment to maintaining healthy reserves. The district has made prudent budget adjustments in light of declines in enrollment and flat state aid as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This marks the final bond sale of the $222,000,000 in General Obligation bonds approved by the voters in the 2016 election.
Again, I thank you for all you are doing to keep our kids and community safe.
Sincerely,
Kris Cosca
This press release was produced by the Novato Unified School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
