Jeffco Public Schools Restart Update

Press release from the Jeffco Public Schools:

July 23, 2020

Since the announcement of our Restart Plan on July 8th, we have been engaging in daily conversations as conditions and our knowledge of COVID-19 has evolved. We have also been collaborating with and receiving guidance from Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH), Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE), Colorado Department of Education (CDE), Jeffco’s Board of Education, building leaders, staff, and our employee associations to gather feedback on our announced plan. We have continued to monitor the data about the spread of the virus and the decisions made by other school systems locally, nationally, and internationally.

Under these dynamic conditions, no plan is truly final. New information, data, and guidance from public health experts continue to inform our thinking and decision process about how best to restart schools for the 2020-21 school year.

On Monday, July 20th CDE and CDPHE released guidance for school reopening in Colorado. Based on these guidelines, feedback from our staff and community, and with a deep commitment to health, safety, and equity, we are announcing important changes to our Restart Plan.

Scheduling and Reopening Models

Jeffco Public Schools will open with 100% remote learning for a two-week period beginning August 24 through September 4.

On September 8, we plan on opening elementary schools (PreK-5) with 100% in-person and 100% remote options for families. For secondary schools (grades 6-12), we plan on opening with a hybrid schedule providing alternating days (A/B groups) of in-person learning and a 100% remote option for families.

This decision will allow us to better plan and prepare for in-person experiences, and to review the new health and safety procedures with students and families. It will also allow us greater time to prepare for a quality remote learning experience for those families who choose that option for their students.

August 24 - September 4: All students begin classes in a Remote Learning environment.

August 31 - September 4: Remote learning continues and all students who have selected in-person learning will attend an orientation at their school building on a schedule developed by each school. Remote-only learners will also have an orientation opportunity, to be developed and planned by each school. Families will hear from their student’s school by July 31 with additional start-of-school details specific to their school.

Tuesday, September 8: PreK-5 begins 100% in-person learning (with an ongoing remote-only option). Grades 6-12 begin hybrid learning.

The opening of schools on September 8 with in-person and hybrid options for Jeffco Public Schools will be contingent on virus levels in our community. Depending on how COVID-19 is spreading in our community, we will move between remote learning, in-person or hybrid learning, and fully in-person learning depending on public health levels as determined by JCPH. These levels and the type of learning model we will use are summarized in the diagram below:

As can be seen, Jeffco Public Schools will move between remote, hybrid, and full in-person models depending on local public health determinations.

Stay at Home - Remote learning for all students.

Safer at Home - Begin school year in remote learning, shift to 100% in-person/remote options for PreK-5 and hybrid/remote options for middle school and high school.

Protect our Neighbors – Shift to 100% in-person/remote options for all students after consideration of the state virus threat level, community infection rates, and available protective factors (i.e. the presence of vaccine and the demonstration that our virus mitigation efforts for in-person learning are effective).

Our ability to reopen schools and restore in-person learning experiences is contingent on the people in Jefferson County, and in the state of Colorado, doing their part to keep the spread of the virus down in our state and communities. The conditions under which we reopen schools are all of our responsibility.

Increased Mitigation Efforts

In addition to the changes to the schedule for the beginning of school and changes to our learning models depending on conditions, we will also have a number of virus mitigation efforts designed to build upon those already detailed in our Restart Plan. We have provided our virus mitigation steps below with greater detail and we have added a number of additional strategies.

This press release was produced by the Jeffco Public Schools. The views expressed are the author's own.