Dear Families,

Sincerely,

Emily Blaney

"Our TK-2 Hybrid Classrooms at all three elementary schools will reopen on Tuesday, November 17, 2020. This allows LCUSD next week to actualize all of the finishing touches to the Department of Public Health Protocols, making our campuses completely ready for the return of TK-2 students, and in turn, our teachers, and staff.

For TK-2 Parents in the Virtual Learning Academy (VLA), please be assured that virtual instruction will continue as it has been, without interruption. TK-2 teachers on the Hybrid Schedule who are preparing to return to on campus instruction will provide their classes with asynchronous assignments and learning opportunities on November 12, 13, and 16, providing teachers time to ready their classrooms and make the shift to in-person teaching and learning. If your child’s teacher instructs both a VLA class and a Hybrid Class, the VLA class will be provided with a substitute teacher to direct the lessons.

Along the same lines, some of our families who elected the Hybrid Schedule have communicated that they are not ready to return to campus for in-person instruction at this time. We are working hard to accommodate these requests with minimal disruption to class rosters, but it is not always possible. Principals will be contacting families who have indicated that they would like to remain virtual to explain your options. Sometimes it requires an AM or PM swap, a teacher change, and in 2nd grade, we have hired an additional temporary AM Virtual teacher to accommodate the number of inquiries regarding remaining virtual at this time."

- Wendy Sinnette

AM Cohort:

7:45 - 8:10 Arrival

9:00 - 9:20 1st and 2nd Grade Recess

9:10 - 9:30 TK and Kindergarten Recess

11:05 - 11:30 Dismissal

11:05 - 12:05 Cleaning of Classrooms

PM Cohort:

11:40 - 12:05 Arrival

1:00 - 1:20 1st - 2nd Grade Recess

1:10 - 1:30 TK and Kindergarten Recess

3:00 - 3:25 Dismissal

Photo Credit: Photo by Malvestida Magazine on Unsplash

I have contacted all families who did not fill out the TK - 2nd grade survey and will be reaching out to those families who are not comfortable with their children returning to school at this time. I'll do my best to keep students in an AM or PM schedule and shift those students to a Virtual Learning Academy class with another teacher. However, some students may have to change teachers and schedules. Check your email and voicemail.

"Preparing and filing our TK-2 Reopening Waivers was an intensive process, and a few times we found the requirements changed on us mid-stream. Most significantly, the strict cohorting requirements set the maximum class size for students at 12. This was not the case in the summer as we loaded our AM and PM classes. Our TK and Kindergarten classes in some cases were loaded at 15 students because we could maintain 6’ of social distancing when students returned to campus, and that was the requirement in August. The point of sharing this with you is that over the next week we will need to adjust Kindergarten rosters. We have interviewed and will hire next week 2 AM K teachers who will be assigned to PCY. In order to meet the 12 student limit in our AM classes, we will need to move some students into those classes. Your principals will be reaching out to ask for volunteers, then we will be looking to students without siblings to transfer, and then we will go to a lottery process. I apologize for any disruption this may cause to a family, but we could not foresee the waiver requirements in summer when we planned these classes."

- Wendy Sinnette

We are running multiple scenarios by the Department of Public Health, and I will update you on protocols as things change or I get more clarification, but the bottom line is this:

STAY HOME IF YOU ARE SICK.

iPhoto by Gary Tou on Unsplash