May 17, 2020

Dear Alvord Families,

It's been nine weeks since schools closed on March 13. As we enter our final two weeks of the 2019-20 school year, which ends on May 28, look for communications from your principal with details and instructions on year-end procedures and events. If you missed your school's notifications, please visit your school's web site below for details:

Alvord Alternative Continuation High School

Alvord Continuation High School

Arizona Middle School

Arlanza Elementary School

Collett Elementary School

Foothill Elementary School

Hillcrest High School

La Granada Elementary School

La Sierra High School
Lake Hills Elementary School

Loma Vista Middle School
McAuliffe Elementary School

Myra Linn Elementary School
Norte Vista High School

Orrenmaa Elementary School

Promenade Elementary School

RMK Elementary School

Stokoe Elementary School

Terrace Elementary School

Twinhill Elementary School

Valley View Elementary School

Villegas Middle School

On behalf of the Board of Education and our entire organization, we join all of our students and their families in lamenting the loss of year-end celebrations and recognitions. Especially high school graduation. A customary graduation event is a rite of passage and is among the most disappointing of all of the consequences of this pandemic. We are celebrating our seniors in other ways but we all realize it's not a substitute for the customary graduation event our seniors have earned and rightly deserve. Read my message to seniors here. Compared to the worldwide devastation this pandemic has caused, our seniors have been quick to point out that while they are disappointed, it's a small price to pay, as expressed by the highest-rated thought on the Thought Exchange for Seniors:

"I understand that we are going through a hard time, if or when the time comes of being able to be in large groups then we as Seniors should be able to have our graduation Ceremony. We deserve to be able to celebrate our hard work and make our teachers and family proud."

Students promoting to middle school and high school also miss out on customary events to mark their accomplishment. I am thankful that our students and their families have been understanding while we continue to do our best to recognize our students and safely bring closure to the school year. Our site and district administrators are to be commended for managing their schools and the district during this difficult time. With families of their own to care for as well, our team has been nothing short of incredible while attending to their personal and professional responsibilities.

Since the decision was made on May 8 by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to revert to the state public health order, face coverings and six feet of social distancing are now strongly recommended Countywide, not mandated. However, when interacting on school campuses, whether picking up meals or learning material packets or personal belongings or dropping off textbooks, face coverings and six feet of social distancing are mandated, pursuant to Board Policies' 3000, 3514, 3515.2, 3530, and 5141.22, all policies to protect students and the public.

Thank you in advance for taking the following precautions in your day-to-day life too, in the interests of the public's health so we can all get back to normal as soon as possible.

Summer School 2020

Summer school will be provided for seniors recovering credit for graduation (first priority) and for high school students to stay on track for graduation (second priority). Students will utilize the Odysseyware on-line curriculum with teacher support and guidance to further personalize each student’s learning path. Some courses will utilize a distance learning model created by Alvord teachers using Google Classroom, or another approved distance learning platform. Students in the summer school credit recovery program were identified before school closure and are already signed up through their school counselor. Schools notified students of their summer school enrollment status last Friday, May 15th through an email and phone call. If you are not sure if your student is signed up please email your student’s school counselor below or your school principal, immediately.

Alvord Alternative Continuation HS Counseling Office
Alvord High School Counseling Office
Norte Vista High School Counseling Office
La Sierra High School Counseling Office
Hillcrest High School Counseling Office

Here are the credit recovery program details:

In addition to credit recovery programs, we are planning to offer enrichment and preparation programs. We anticipate significant learning loss due to school closure and are planning to offer a distance learning summer program from July 6 to July 31. Details and sign-up instructions will be provided by principals and counselors in the next couple of weeks. The program will be available to all students, TK-12, on a first come, first serve basis, and we plan to offer the following coursework:

• Math enrichment/preparation for all interested students TK-12.
• English language arts enrichment/preparation for all interested students 6-12.
• Early literacy support for elementary-age students.
• Enrichment through the arts

Since summer school will utilize our current distance learning format and will be taught by our teachers, students are expected to keep their laptop if they participated in the laptop loaner program. For connectivity issues please email your current principal to discuss district support. Printed material packets will also be available for summer coursework.

2020-21 School Year

Rumors as to what next school year will look like are a cause of high anxiety for students, parents, and district employees. As I've reported in this space as well as in my weekly podcasts, we are preparing to open schools as scheduled on August 10. We are sanitizing all school district building spaces utilizing the Clorox® Total 360® System. Every school district building site has its own Clorox® electrostatic sprayer. Check out the video below to learn more about the sanitizing solution.

In addition to readying our school facilities, we are working with our employee associations on staffing. While forecasting staffing needs is an inexact science under typical conditions, this year brings more challenges given the uncertainty of the impact of a budget gap of more than $54 billion brought on by the COVID-19 recession. In his May 14 proposal, Governor Newsom announced that his budget will require federal funding if schools, colleges, parks, child care, health care and other programs are to be spared deep cuts. Click on the image below for more details on the Governor's May revision.

Other news impacting school reopening plans came courtesy of The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also on May 14. The CDC released a decision-making tool (see below) that will serve as one among many guidance documents that school districts will utilize while planning to reopen in 2020-21.

Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-diseases expert, also weighed in on schools this past week in testimony before a US Senate committee about the dangers of reopening schools too soon. While Dr. Fauci didn't categorically oppose opening schools, he urged caution at every step of reopening. The advice of experts both nationally and locally will weigh heavily in the decision of when and how to reopen schools. The 2020-21 school year is scheduled to open as planned. See the calendar below.

We have joined the Riverside County Department of Education Reopening Schools Task Force.
The purpose of the Task Force is to discuss, plan, and implement key actions needed for the opening of schools in Riverside County in the fall. A broad base of stakeholders represent each Riverside County school district on this steering committee. Our two student Task Force members joined me in the podcast this past Wednesday. View our discussion here. Stay tuned for updates on Task Force recommendations in future messages. It's still premature at this point in time to predict what school will look like come August 10. But as I reported in a recent message, we will prepare to open school in a traditional sense with students attending school on campus, and plan a series of contingencies in the event that's not possible. It's likely there will be a lot of flexibility built into the fall reopening model.

Stay tuned for weekly updates and look for more opportunities to provide feedback too. In the ThoughtExchange that closed May 3, you can see in the Word Cloud below that parents were focused on class size and school size and sanitization. Look for another survey and ThoughtExchange in the coming weeks.

In closing, please accept my heartfelt appreciation and thanks for continuing to work as partners throughout this difficult time. On behalf of the Board of Education and our employees, many of whom also live in the community and have children in our schools, know that our hearts go out to every one of our families. No one is unaffected by this pandemic. And the stress and anxiety affects people differently. Please take care of yourself and reach out to us and other government agencies. We are happy to help you in any way that we can.

Sincerely,

Allan Mucerino

Congratulations Patty and to our scholarship recipient Antonio Moreno from La Sierra HS. See all of our exemplary staff members nominated in 2020. Thank you for all you do for our students and their families.