December 11, 2020
Dear Noble Community;
This is sent to inform you of several additional changes to our school calendar. As you know, our district participated in remote learning for grades K-12 in the four days leading up to the November Thanksgiving break.
At that time, those four days of remote learning provided students and staff with a safe instructional situation and also provided the necessary time needed in order for District Representatives to notify families about “presumed positive” cases and get feedback from families regarding any student/family symptoms. It also mitigated the possibility of individuals being in the school setting during an “infectious period”.
That model proved to allow us the lead time needed to deal with communication revolving around a myriad of cases and in large part assisted in allowing our school buildings to be able to reopen following the Thanksgiving break.
With that in mind, and being aware of current conditions, we will move to full remote learning for the four days leading up to the scheduled December break (December 17, 18, 21, and 22, 2020). Those additional remote learning days will not only provide students and staff a longer break from in-person instructional contact but it will also provide the necessary time period for the District to be able to inform families, when necessary, of potential positive COVID direct contact, prior to the scheduled Holiday Beak in order for proper steps to be taken. If your student attends SRTC you will be receiving communication regarding that schedule.
That said, as this remains an extremely fluid, day-by-day, situation, should we have an influx of cases in particular buildings or across the entire district between now and December 17, 2020 we may still need to move to remote learning prior to December 17th. We will keep you informed should that need to occur!
Additionally, after significant review of the Health and Safety Guidelines and watching the upward trend of recent positive cases after Thanksgiving, students will begin school after the Holidays in a fully remote model on January 4, 2021. In-person hybrid instructional model will resume on January 11, 2021. At that time, your child will follow his/her established hybrid schedule.
We recognize that this continues to be a very challenging time for everyone in the community and the schools. Our decisions try to take everything into consideration and are not made lightly as we strive to balance the health and safety of our students and staff with the need to be consistent in our instructional programming and keep schools open when Health and Safety Guidelines dictate.
We also recognize the immense cooperation from our community. Many Thanksgiving gatherings and plans leading up to December break were changed or modified by community members and staff to help alleviate potential positive cases in the school settings across the district. This proved incredibly helpful and significant to get us where we are right now.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher(s), school counselor, nurse, or building administration if you need assistance with anything from academics to health and wellness and anything in between. We will continue to provide updates and health and safety reminders as we head into the latter part of December.
Sincerely,
Audra E. Beauvais
Superintendent of Schools