HCSD Announcement
Important Update COVID-19 3.12.20
HCSD Update on COVID-19 3.12.20
Dear Parents,
The HCSD staff and I continue to appreciate your support and flexibility as we navigate avenues in providing teaching and learning in the most effective ways to all students in our district.
In his most recent post, Dr. Scott Morrow, Health Officer of the San Mateo County Health Department, acknowledges that the most effective actions to combat or at least slow the spread of COVID-19 in light of community transmission are “to have everything grind to a halt for an extended period of time, as [has been] done in other countries.” However, he further explains that “all actions have consequences” and at this moment given what he knows, “grinding everything to a halt would cause us more harm than good.”
HCSD’s goal is to find a middle ground between shutting everything down and continuing our normal program. As more families make the decision to keep their children at home we will look for ways to support all students in our district - both those who are staying home and those who are attending school.
HCSD staff members have been preparing to deliver remote learning to our students. As a district, we have made tremendous progress in this endeavor. I am meeting with teacher leaders and site administrators today to discuss the next steps in supporting our students who are staying home as well as those who are continuing to attend school. We are in the process of developing these plans and will communicate with you regarding next steps as soon as possible. We move forward with confidence, even though we don’t yet have answers to every question.
If you are keeping your child home because of worry regarding COVID-19, we will ask teachers to treat these absences as they would other illness-related absences. As a district, we are also relaxing the requirements for make-up work. Please note that we are asking teachers to focus on instructing students who are attending school, while also planning for remote learning for their classes, so we will not be providing independent study or home instruction to students at this time.
As for our decision to keep school open for everyone else, it is informed by our regular communication with County Health, who are our local health experts. Discussions are frequent and ongoing. We will continue to review, monitor, and reassess as we learn new information.
I thank you for your understanding and flexibility. Please be on the lookout for more information over the next couple of days and please continue to be patient with us as we figure this out. We move forward with the best interests of all our students, their families, and the greater community at heart.
With gratitude,
Louann
Louann Carlomagno, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Hillsborough City School District
Email: news@hcsdk8.org
Location: 300 El Cerrito Avenue, Hillsborough, CA, USA
Phone: 650-342-5193
Facebook: facebook.com/hillsboroughschools
Twitter: @HCSD_k8