Novato Unified School Superintendent's Update – High School Students Return, Single School Plans For March 3

Novato CA

06 March, 2021

12:55 PM

Description

Press release from the Novato Unified School District: March 5, 2021 Dear NUSD Family, "We had another big week here at NUSD. We welcomed our ninth and tenth grade students back to our campuses and we couldn't be more excited for eleventh and twelfth grades to return on Monday. We saw our second week of athletics competitions and have vaccine allocations for every interested NUSD educator to get their first vaccine dose by March 13, 2021. Topics included in today's update are: Ninth and Tenth Grades Are Back! Eleventh and Twelfth Grades Return Next Week Update on Enhanced Hybrid Learning and Future Full Return Respect on Social Media Single School Plans Parent Surveys – Special Education and School Schedules Virtual Learning Academy Athletics – Message from North Coast Section Ninth and Tenth Grades Are Back! It was great to welcome our ninth and tenth grade students back to school this week. There was so much excitement and joy on the faces of our staff and students. I appreciate all that went into making this latest transition so positive, heartwarming, and successful. Here's a short video from Novato High's MSA dance class this week. So great to see our students back on campus! Eleventh and Twelfth Grades Return Next Week On Monday, March 8, 2021, we welcome our eleventh and twelfth grade Flexible In-Person students back on to campus for hybrid learning meaning we will have all of our FIP students in hybrid learning. This is a significant accomplishment that the vast majority of unified school districts in California have not accomplished. While we consider this transition just one step towards bringing our students back to our campuses full time, it is something in which we take pride. Here are the bell schedules for each high school: Novato High School San Marin High School Marin Oaks High School Update on Enhanced Hybrid Learning and Future Full Return As I shared at the Board meeting on Tuesday, I want to clearly state that we fully anticipate, are preparing for, and will be ready for a full return of all students to our campuses in August of 2021 at the latest. We are fully committed to this. As it pertains to this spring, we have 4 sessions scheduled with the Novato Federation of Teachers between now and March 15. This includes a session from 3-7 PM today and then again on Monday, March 8. In those sessions, we will discuss both enhanced hybrid learning and a future full return for this school year. I will provide an update next week. Respect on Social Media Social media is an incredibly powerful tool that can be both extremely positive or the opposite. We have seen both scenarios play out over time here in NUSD. Recently, we have seen some social media posts from staff and families that have raised the temperature on the discussion surrounding just how much time our students should be on campus. This is an incredibly important topic and one that is worthy of respectful debate. We ask that these debates remain respectful. As a school district, we are unified around many things, particularly by our desire to provide the best possible education for all of our students. As part of this Unified District, we want everyone in our community – students, staff, family members, community members – to conduct themselves appropriately, as we are all part of the NUSD family. To that end, we ask everyone to refrain from personal insults or attacks, as they do not help in this situation or any other, and only serve to inflame tensions. Whether we are families, staff, or both, we all want the best for Novato's students. We hope everyone assumes the best of intentions in each other, and that we will find ways to work together to provide the best for our young people, rather than doing anything counterproductive to that mission. Single school plans At this week's Board meeting our middle and high schools shared their single plans for student achievement (SPSA). I was incredibly impressed by the principal's presentations and all their team's accomplishments over the course of this very challenging year. You can see each of the secondary school's SPSAs and presentation here. Elementary schools present their single plans for student achievement on March 16, 2021. Parent Surveys – Special Education and School Schedules – Important survey links NUSD values parent input. We are currently collecting information on two different and critically important topics: Special Education and our current hybrid School Schedules. If you have not already done so, we ask that you complete the survey prior to the survey windows closing. Special Education survey – http://bit.ly/2021SPEDSurvey Closes Friday, March 19, 3 pm Parent Survey – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r... Closes Monday, March 8, 5 pm Virtual Learning Academy In case you missed them or want to explore the VLA newsletters, the links are below. Here are links to this week's VLA newsletters: Elementary – March 4, 2021 Middle School – March 4, 2021 Athletics – Message from North Coast Section "It is our understanding that the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) will be updating its Youth Sports Guidance based on a settlement agreement reached in a litigation matter pending in San Diego County. It is further our understanding that the settlement agreement is not yet available for review. We are therefore reserving comment on the terms of the agreement until it is finalized. Until such time, it is our understanding that the current CDPH Youth Sports Guidance remains in effect pending the publication of any updated CDPH guidance. When we have any further information we will update everyone!" Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to open school for live instruction and consider how to make our athletic program meet the needs of our student athletes. Have a great weekend." Sincerely, Kris Cosca This press release was produced by the Novato Unified School District. The views expressed here are the author's own.