This has been the most unique year I can remember. Students, parents, and educators have had to endure many new obstacles and challenges during this unprecedented Covid-19 school closure. The transition to a virtual learning environment has many inherent challenges. From time management to independent learning, students, parents and educators navigated through the many challenges and worked collaboratively to make the best situation possible for our students. With the school year winding down, I encourage every parent to have their child check in with all of their teachers to ensure that all of their assignments are complete. This will help to ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding their child’s progress during this school closure. The last scheduled student day of school this year will be June 5th. The last day we can accept assignments (including packets) will be June 10th. Our goal is to have everything graded and 4th quarter report cards in the mail during the week of June 22nd.
Since the majority of students have not had a chance to clean out their lockers, we will provide students an opportunity to clean out their lockers while abiding by the restrictions still in place. Also, students can use this time to return library books, school issued books, science magazines, etc. at this time. We will provide 4 days for students to return items and clean out their lockers on the following days:
- June 1st from 9:00am - 1:00pm: 6th Grade Locker Clean-out Day
- June 2nd from 9:00am - 1:00pm: 7th Grade Locker Clean-out Day
- June 3rd from 9:00am - 1:00pm: 8th Grade Locker Clean-out Day
- June 4th from 9:00am - 1:00pm: Extra/Makeup Locker Clean-out Day
On the day they are assigned to clean out their lockers, students will need to abide by the following restrictions:
- They must wear a face mask before entering the building.
- Only 25 students will be permitted in the building at any given time. A staff member will greet you as you enter the middle school. As long as we don’t have everyone showing up at the same time, we shouldn’t have to make students wait before entering the building.
If you are unable to bring your child to the school during the scheduled locker cleanout times, please try asking another family member, neighbor, or family friend if they could bring them to school. We will also allow other students to return items and clean out the lockers of another student as long as that student has a note from the parent/guardian not in attendance giving permission to that student to return items and clean out their child’s locker. Our plan is also to distribute yearbooks during the locker cleanout days. However, the yearbooks have not been shipped yet and we do not have an estimated deliver date yet. If we are unable to distribute yearbooks at that time, we will notify everyone when yearbooks will be distributed in a subsequent letter and phone call.
This year, students will keep their laptops during the summer months. We are hopeful that we will be able to resume school when we return in the fall. If for some reason school continues to be closed, we want to ensure that we have a plan to ensure a continue schooling virtually until schools are permitted to reopen. Please note that students will continue to be responsible for their laptops during the summer months. Students will still be responsible for any damage that occurs to their school issued laptop. However, students with insurance will continue to be covered until the beginning of the next school year.
Many decisions regarding next school year remain unknown at this time. The one thing we do know is the first day of school is scheduled to be August 25, 2020. Information regarding next school year’s Open House and 6th Grade/New Student Orientation have not been finalized yet. We will mail home letters during the summer months when those events have been finalized. Any updates regarding next school year will also be communicated to everyone once details become available. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding during this school closure. We are hopeful we will be able to resume normal operations as soon as it is safe to do so. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the school at (724) 478-6000 ext: 2000 or email me at [email protected].