Dear East Granby Families and Colleagues,
I certainly hope the first couple of summer break weeks have been relaxing for you! On Thursday, June 25th, Governor Lamont and Commissioner of Education Cardona shared statewide school reopening guidelines. We have been directed to plan a reopening for all students to return with in-person classes every day. To achieve this, enhancements for health and safety protocols will include: frequent hand washing and cleaning, wearing of masks, and maximizing social distances. Our first day of school for students is scheduled for Wednesday, August 26, 2020.
Additionally, we will be required to plan for a hybrid model consisting of both in-person and virtual learning, and also enhance our distance learning plan. Any changes from full in-person school to either a hybrid or complete distance learning model will be determined by the health department, and dependent on virus transmission trends. Decisions will be made in collaboration with the Farmington Valley Health District and in alignment with the Governor's guidelines, recommendations, and executive orders.
The East Granby Public School District will continue to meet with subcommittees to plan for the many details and the many more unanswered questions that will eventually become our "plan". Any guidance provided to date is subject to change. School administrators have been asked and I will respectfully pass this along to all of you; please remain flexible and patient. I also appreciate your support as we work through this very challenging task.
As a school community, there is no doubt we will be split on what is "best", and for every person who is happy to be returning, there is another person who is not pleased. All reasons, thoughts and concerns are valid. We are not "back to normal". We are charged with developing a plan for full in-person learning five days a week that follows requirements and recommendations to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
At this point, we are going to expand representation on subcommittees to include parents/guardians and staff. We would like to invite 4-6 parents/guardians and another 4-6 staff to become active members of each of the subcommittees. If you are interested in serving on a subcommittee, please contact one of the co-chairpersons noted below. Because not everyone will be able to serve on a subcommittee, we welcome you to email the co-chairs with a question or suggestion. In your email, please put "Reopening" in the subject line.
Reopening Chair: Mr. Bob McGrath [email protected]
Subcommittees:
Health / Safety
Ms. Karen Gogel [email protected]
Mr. Tony DeMelo [email protected]
Facilities / Transportation / Schedules
Tim Phelan [email protected]
Marsie Luckenbach [email protected]
Curriculum / Instruction / Technology
Marjorie Light [email protected]
Maylah Uhlinger [email protected]
Below are links to the Reopening Slides and the Executive Summary shared by the Connecticut State Department of Education. If you are not able to link directly to the documents, copy and paste into your browser.
Slides: CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Executive Summary: ADAPT, ADVANCE, ACHIEVE
Best,
Missy Bavaro-Grande
and the Administrative Team