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Dear Members of the AUSD Community,

Happy Thanksgiving. Our annual Thanksgiving break begins this coming week. School will resume on Monday, November 30. Principals and their teams will resume second semester planning when we return too. The fundamental premise for second semester scheduling is to make as few changes as possible, while honoring family/student requests to attend school either remotely or in-person during the second semester. Students/families can expect to hear from their principal/counselor if a scheduling change is necessary.

As I reported in last week's message, about 2,500 more students have chosen to attend school virtually during the second semester. As of today, we continue to plan to reopen for in-person instruction for students and staff in the hybrid program on Tuesday, January 19, 2021. That decision will be revisited when school resumes the week of January 4, 2021, based on our COVID-19 Risk Status at that point in time. As of this date, schools in Riverside County are not eligible to reopen as the county remains firmly in the most restrictive purple tier as public health officials urge residents to test, wear face coverings, follow safety guidelines, and keep holiday gatherings small, short, and safe. To stay current with COVID-19 cases and news updates, please regularly visit the state's COVID-19 dashboard here, the City of Riverside COVID-19 dashboard here, and Alvord's COVID-19 dashboard here. Student and employee privacy is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). However, the privacy rule allows us to inform public health authorities of all positive test cases so that they can conduct contact tracing.

Here are some upcoming key dates:

Thanksgiving Recess: 11/23/20 - 11/27/20
School Resumes: 11/30/20

Last Day of First Semester: 12/17/20

Winter Recess: 12/21/20 - 01/01/21

First Day of Second Semester: 1/4/21 (Distance Learning Only)

See the entire 2020-21 School Calendar here.

Among the things I am most thankful for this holiday season is the level of partnering between our teams of educators and our families to make the most of pandemic schooling. Many of our families have reached out to me to express their frustration with pandemic schooling and how it is not working well for their children, especially their younger children. Without the emotional connection that develops over time during in-person instruction, many students, at all grade levels, are not as connected as they would normally be. After all, learning, especially early learning, is fundamentally a social process and develops as trust develops over time through a series of face-to-face interactions. I acknowledge the world of hardship that many families are experiencing as a result of pandemic learning and I will continue to do everything in my power to reopen our schools. The Board of Education is equally committed to reopening our schools. But in the meantime, I understand and appreciate the frustration many students and their families are currently experiencing.

Unlike when schools closed in March, 2020, teachers have not had the chance to develop those in-person connections with their students and consequently that critical element in the learning process remains underdeveloped. The great variety of strategies and tools our teachers and instructional support teams and counselors and others are using to connect to students continues to improve. Parents and other home support providers are also improving. We have had a record number of parents attend our virtual parent workshops. Together we are all improving in the interest of supporting our students. But as COVID fatigue sets in everything we do becomes more of a challenge, including staying positive. We have to lift each other to the best of our abilities.

Thanksgiving is all about family, friends and food. Unfortunately, like everything else in 2020, things will be different this year, but that doesn't mean it has to be any less meaningful. Thanksgiving is the time of the year we are reminded of the hunger crisis in America and address food insecurity among our fellow Americans. I am thankful that our volunteer charity group Alvord Cares, along with other local charitable organizations, as well as our own Child Nutrition Services team are doing their share to make sure no Alvord family goes hungry this Thanksgiving or any other day of the year.

On behalf of the Board of Education and our entire organization, enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Please celebrate safely and follow all of the CDC guidelines (English here) (Spanish here) for holiday celebrations and small gatherings. The more we all work together to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the sooner our friends, our families, and our entire community can get back to normal and the sooner we can reopen schools.

Stay healthy. Stay positive. Be well.

In partnership,

Allan Mucerino