Brewster School District issued the following announcement on June 12.
Brewster School District students and parents, below is a message from OSPI regarding the opening of school in the fall. While there are still many questions and issues to work out, it appears to be optimistic. There will be more information coming out over the next month or two. We will keep you posted.
Dear Superintendents:
Thank you for your patience as we finalized our guidance related to summer programming and fall reopening. I’m pleased to share that our fall reopening guidance is now available. The summer programming guidance from the Department of Health should also be posted shortly, and we will share a link with you when it is live.
I will be speaking with members of the media about the fall reopening guidance this morning at 11:30. My remarks, as well as the Q&A with reporters, will be livestreamed to TVW’s website as well as our Facebook page. If you would like to watch and you miss it live, the recording will be available afterward at the links above.
I want to review a few key pieces from the guidance document. For both the fall and summer guidance, please know the guidance is grounded first and foremost in the public health science and data provided by DOH. DOH is providing the regulatory framework when it comes to hygiene, physical distancing, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other public health considerations.
Fall Reopening Guidance
• It is my expectation that schools will open this fall for in-person instruction. Health conditions in your county or region may cause a local health authority or even the Governor to have to reconsider this opportunity to open, but your primary planning should be a presumption of a fall opening.
• You will be required to adopt a reopening plan through a local board resolution. These plans must be filed with OSPI and the State Board of Education within two weeks of your fall start date. More information on this is to come.
• I encourage you to add flexible days to your calendar for the 2020–21 school year to help you meet the 180-day and 1,027 average instructional hour requirements should you experience facility closures during the year.
You will receive additional guidance from us in the weeks to come on topics such as special education, early learning transitions, higher education, family and community engagement, and career and technical education. We also stand ready to explore other areas as guided by your planning efforts.
Lastly, I want to encourage you to take this opportunity to shift past practices that need updating or make large-scale transformations that you have been considering but have not yet moved on. Please do a deep dive into your grading policies, homework policies, disparate technology access, learning standards, mastery and competency-based learning models, multi-tiered systems of support, and other innovations.
I trust your first priority will be to safely open schools, but I also know you are committed to using this moment to build more transformative systems for our students.
In your service,
Chris
Original source can be found here.
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