Lucille M. Nixon School
from the principal
September 17, 2020
Dear Nixon Families,
That little bit of rain yesterday seemed to have cleaned the air, at least for awhile. What a relief to not worry about the air we are breathing! Across these months of lockdown and school closure, I’ve had moments of recognizing the small things that I took for granted before the pandemic brought so many changes into our lives. One of these that I was thinking about recently is the random conversations I had with children on the playground. I learned about what they liked to play, who their friends were and sometimes who they did not consider to be friends. I could observe their problem solving strategies, their leadership skills and their sense of what it means to be “fair”. I miss getting to know children this way, even though none of it was carefully planned. If we succeed in reopening next month, I will no longer take for granted the opportunity to casually talk and interact with children each day.
Re-Opening Plans
We are pushing forward with the plans for the re-opening of our school buildings. Santa Clara County continues to be ranked in the “red” rather than “purple” risk level by the state relative to COVID-19. You can find more information here. If this continues into next week, it means that schools in our county will be eligible to open. You should have received an email from our Superintendent who shared that the Board will consider a Re-Opening Plan at the Tuesday, September 22 Board Meeting. The agenda for this meeting and supporting documents will be posted on the PAUSD website this Friday, September 18.
Additionally, the Superintendent plans to host a webinar on Monday, September 21 to explain more about the Re-Opening Plan. Information about this event will be sent out on Friday. I encourage you to watch both the webinar and Board Meeting to better understand your options as parents for sending your child(ren) back to campus or continuing with Full Distance Learning. Safety measures, protocols, and schedules will be discussed to help you make this decision. An official district parent survey will be sent out soon asking you to decide whether to allow your child(ren) to return to school or continue with distance learning. Staying informed about your options through the webinar and Board Meeting will greatly assist you in that decision.
A proposed schedule for students’ return will be discussed at the Board Meeting. The proposal to the Board of Education for the hybrid in-person return dates are as follows:
- Grades TK – 1: October 12
- Grades 2 – 3: October 26
- Grades 4 – 5: November 9
- Grades 6 – 12 : January 7
Please note that nothing is final until the Board approves the plan. I will host a parent information meeting to clarify the safety plans at Nixon and answer questions on Wednesday evening, September 23 at 6:30 pm. Zoom link for this meeting: https://pausd.zoom.us/j/97972411976
Planning for A and B cohorts
Given that our situation will continue to evolve, we are committed to trying to adjust to make school work as well as we possibly can for the children. As always, we are grateful for all that you are doing to support us.
Take care,
Mary Pat
Lucille M. Nixon School
Email: moconnell@pausd.org
Website: lmnixon.org
Location: 1711 Stanford Avenue, Stanford, CA, USA
Phone: 650-248-9085