HSA Katy Wednesday Mail
September 9th, 2020
COVID-19 Update
When the COVID-19 pandemic first began in our state last spring, we promised our Harmony community that our response to the pandemic would always be focused on keeping our entire Harmony community safe, and our students focused on learning. As a school system that places a heavy emphasis on science and math, we also promised that all of our decisions would be based on the best science and data available.
Today, we wanted to share with you an important update about the reopening of your child’s school. Just as importantly, though, we wanted to share with you more detailed information about how that determination was made and what specifics steps toward reopening will happen next.
From the beginning of the pandemic, Harmony has looked at a specific group of informed and reliable data sources to determine the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in our local community. These sources are the Harvard University Data Center, the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Department of State Health Services, our city and county health agencies, and information from our neighboring school systems.
From this data, Harmony Public Schools has developed a four-stage reopening plan for its 58 campuses across Texas that allows the specific COVID-10 conditions in each community to determine each school’s individual reopening plan.
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Our campus is currently Stage 1 thru September 18th, and will be in Stage 2 between September 21st and October 2nd.
In short, Stage 2 means campuses must remain closed for both students and staff for the time being due to a high presence of COVID-19 in our community; however, it may be safe to host a limited number of students in Harmony Learning Centers. In these Learning Centers, students would complete their daily classwork remotely from a Harmony facility in a supervised, day-long “study hall”-like setting. Students and staff members would be required to follow all safety protocols outlined in the Harmony Public Schools Back to School Playbook, as well as any others deemed necessary for safe, productive learning. In the next stage, Stage 3, we will open campuses for specific groups of high-need students, such as SPED, ELL, and students in the primary grades.
Our campus will begin Stage 3 on October 5th.
In short, Stage 3 means campuses will open only for specific groups of high-need students, such as SPED, ELL, and students in the primary grades. Students and staff members would be required to follow all safety protocols outlined in the Harmony Public Schools Back to School Playbook, as well as any others deemed necessary for safe, productive learning. In the next stage, Stage 4, in-person learning will be available for all students whose parents chose in-person instruction.
Our ultimate goal is to reopen our campus for all students who opted into in-person learning (Stage 4) as soon as conditions are favorable. Our goal for Stage 4 is October 12th, dependent on local COVID-19 conditions and TEA guidelines. All of our staff will return on September 28th.
Thank you for your support during these unprecedented times, and for helping keep our students safe and focused on learning.
We will continue to keep you updated as new developments take place.
If you have any further questions, please contact Mrs. Schaefer at mschafer@harmonytx.org
Sincerely,
Principal Mattingly
Virtual Home Visits
Harmony Science Academy Katy
Email: mschaefer@harmonytx.org
Website: www.hsakaty.harmonytx.org
Location: 22400 Grand Corner Drive, Katy, TX, USA
Phone: (832) 437-3926
Facebook: www.facebook.com/HSAKaty
Twitter: @HSA_Katy