Welcome to August! We are looking forward to reconnecting with and engaging our learners across CUSD. Instruction will begin as planned for all students on Thursday, August 27 via an online, virtual environment, as aligned with Governor Newsom’s mandate. Fall distance learning schedules and structures will be available for community review early next week. Site-specific information regarding textbooks, instructional materials and class scheduling will be shared through our principals’ newsletters as we approach the start of our semester. An application to request use of district-issued technology can be found here.
Thank you to those who participated in our Town Hall forums. Information provided focused on planning and preparedness in order to respond to three potential learning models for the 2020-21 school year: on-campus, hybrid, or online/virtual learning. In addition to the presentation, staff responded to questions submitted by shareholders. Links to the four sessions can be found here. To assist with staffing and enrollment projections, and with consideration of information recently provided, we will circulate an updated survey for parents to complete in order to signal their intent for accessing instruction in the 2020-2021 school year. Yesterday afternoon, the California Department of Public Health released guidance on the waiver process to open in-person instruction for elementary schools in counties that are on the state monitoring list. We are currently reviewing this information as we remain committed to a physical return to campus as quickly and as safely as possible.
In order to encourage community participation and voice, the public was invited to attend our Town Hall experiences. As such, the links to participate were not password-protected and were openly shared and distributed. Unlike structured and owner-facilitated virtual meetings like classroom or school events, opening the sessions limited our ability to monitor and control entrants. Unfortunately, during one of the presentations, someone used the virtual environment to briefly post incredibly offensive content. After quickly removing the user(s) from the room, CUSD immediately filed a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a department within the FBI, and provided the organization with all pertinent username and login information. We are awaiting further guidance as they investigate the incident. We strongly condemn this deplorable behavior and it will not be tolerated. We regret that this occurred during one of our public forums. It is our shared responsibility to foster learning communities where each student is safe, valued, and respected. We remain steadfast in our purpose to connect, challenge, and champion every child, every day.
Karl J Mueller
To read the full update with additional links and information, click here.
