East Penn School District: Flexible Instructional Day Announcement – Monday, 12/20 (EHS Only)

Emmaus PA

20 December, 2021

2:48 PM

Description

Press release from East Penn School District: December 19, 2021 East Penn School District / District News / Flexible Instructional Day Announcement – Monday, 12/20 (EHS Only) Good evening Emmaus High School Parents and Students. Thank you all for your support on Friday, as we worked to address what we now know was a hoax that caused substantial alarm and disruption to our school community. We are grateful to the Emmaus Police Department for their swift response and investigation, which led to an arrest of the individual responsible. The EPD has assured us that we can safely return to normal operations.  However, as you know, our district is experiencing a temporary shortage of bus drivers, which will require adjustments to schedules in all of our buildings over the course of this week. In response to these challenges, Emmaus High School only will operate under a flexible instructional day tomorrow, Monday, December 20th. Faculty and staff members will report to the building as normal, but students will participate in their classes remotely. During the day tomorrow, we will work with our teachers to ensure that we are fully prepared to help students process Friday's events and support them when they return to us in person on Tuesday. After school and evening activities can continue as originally scheduled. As a reminder, any time we have a flexible instructional day, the following will be in place: Moving forward, East Penn will continue its efforts to maintain safe and secure school buildings through crisis planning and preparedness, positive behavior interventions and supports, and clear behavioral expectations for all students. We would like to encourage you to have conversations with your children about responsible social media use and the consequences of making threats. Any social media posts involving threats or actions of violence against our school community will not be tolerated. Threats of violence have very real consequences, regardless of the reason the threat was made. If you or your child see something concerning, please do not share or re-post the message. Instead, report it to school officials or the police department right away.  We recognize that some students may feel anxious or hesitant about returning to school after Friday's events. Counselors and our school psychologist will be available this week – both online and in person – to any student that is having a significant reaction to Friday's events. We look forward to seeing our students online tomorrow, and in person again on Tuesday morning. Sincerely, Dr. Kate Kieres, Principal – Emmaus High School This press release was produced by East Penn School District. The views expressed here are the author's own.