April 26, 2020

Dear Alvord Families,

What can we expect when the 2020-21 school year begins? That's the question everyone is asking me since Governor Newsom suggested schools will look very different when students and staff do eventually return to school for the 2020-21 school year. He cautioned everyone that large gatherings would be “negligible at best until we get to herd immunity and a vaccine." At this point in time, both herd immunity and a vaccine are not expected before the 2020-21 school year is currently scheduled to begin on August 10 for Alvord's students. See the 2020-21 school year calendar here.

Distance learning will continue until May 28, the last day of 2019-20 school year. Summer school, which begins June 1, will also be delivered using distance learning strategies. Summer school is in the process of being retooled too. We now expect our students’ needs to be far different than before the COVID19 disruption in student learning. Learn more about summer school here.

So what now? What's the plan for 2020-21?

The process of planning for the future in the age of COVID19 requires flexibility and building in contingencies. The following factors are all considerations in the 2020-21 planning process:

HEALTH & SAFETY: First and foremost, the health and safety of our students, staff, and community stands at the doorway of decision-making.

GUIDANCE: The Governor, the CA Department of Education, the Riverside County Public Health Officer, and the CDC all provide guidelines and protocols. But education is largely locally controlled and governed by elected officials trusted to make decisions.

INPUT: Stakeholder input from all primary interest groups as well as from neighboring districts where many of our employees and their families live and attend school.

UNCERTAINTY: We don’t have a definite answer or even an estimated answer to the question of when the State will reopen and allow people to congregate.

Regarding health and safety, on May 28, our maintenance team will begin the process of deep cleaning our schools to prepare them for 2020-21. In addition to annual deep cleaning we do every summer, we have purchased the Clorox® Total 360™ System to sanitize our schools and district buildings and keep them sanitized throughout the school year. Look for a video about the innovative electrostatic spray technology below in the newsletter. Our Maintenance & Operations team are also replacing classroom air filters and stocking schools with disinfectant products that may safely be used to eliminate outbreak-causing viruses like COVID19 and other influenza, as well as common illness-causing bacteria.

Regarding guidance from official agencies, the Riverside County Public Health Office, the Governor, the State Superintendent of Schools, the State Board of Education, the Collaborative for Educational Excellence, as well as the federal Center for Disease Control will all provide guidance. Those with positional authority may enact executive orders such as the current School Closure Order in effect through June 19 in Riverside County. While Alvord Unified School District is governed by an elected Board of Education and has the authority to exercise its emergency powers as established by law, our applicable collective bargaining contracts, board policies, and administrative regulations, executive orders such Governor Newsom’s and Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Kaiser’s proclamations, are tantamount to law and take precedence.

Regarding input from stakeholders, it too is dependent on any official orders that also would take precedence over any local decisions. We will continue to work closely with our employee associations and parent groups incrementally as we move forward. To that end, I have opened a new Thought Exchange today to begin gathering input on the 2020-21 school year. Click here to join the parent exchange. It’s anonymous. It does not require a log-in. And it’s easy to use. Please participate. See details of the last exchange below in the newsletter.

Regarding uncertainty, we are planning for our scheduled August 10 opening (see the 2020-2021 school year calendar). Our schools will be cleaned, sanitized, and prepared. Students will be scheduled in their classes. Teachers and staff will be given their 2020-21 assignments. In the event we cannot begin on August 10, we will know well before that time and announce Plan B. Plan B is contingent on a variety of factors, including health and safety, official guidance, and stakeholder input, all described above. One possible option that some early August-start school districts are considering is to have an alternative school year calendar in place with school starting after Labor Day, in the event schools are not able to open as planned.

These are unprecedented times. Every new day brings news of developments that would have seemed hard to believe just days or weeks before. These developments are coming so fast that it’s easy to lose track of just how radical these changes are. Closing schools, Stay Home Orders, cancelling public gatherings, suspending professional sports…and more importantly the hundreds of millions of people around the world who are suddenly unemployed. Because crises shape history, I believe it is reasonable to expect that this crisis will be no different. As it relates to education, I expect it will shape schooling for the better as we are forced to rethink and reconsider everything that we have long held sacred.

Thanks for reading my message. Please continue on from here and read the entire newsletter for a pictorial and video digest of the recent past and what’s around the corner too. Watch this week’s podcast featuring our counselors discussing their role in the age of COVID. The podcast also includes California State Board of Education Member Matt Navo discussing the State’s COVID19 response, as well as the highlight of the podcast: a Hillcrest High School freshman who has been fighting the battle against COVID19 by making and distributing face masks.

Thank you and be well.

In partnership,

Allan Mucerino