Redding Educators,
We find ourselves once again in new territory at the start of a school year. I am writing this in light of the Redding School District Board of Trustees' decision to move the In-Person schooling option from Phase 3 to Phase 2: Hybrid (In-Person/Distance Learning) Model. Friday night's three-hour meeting was a true picture of democracy in action. We heard from staff, students, and parents in regards to the opening plan for the In-Person families. The board members had a very robust interaction and talked about the options and discussed them openly and honestly before voting on the decision. In the end, they made a decision and it is our job to execute for our families. I know that once again our superior Redding School District staff will step into this moment and change lives through education.
I have heard from many of our families that are supportive as well as those that now have challenges because of the decision. I also know that many of our own work families are also facing some of the same challenges. I ask for everyone right now to reach out to any agency; churches, non-profits, day programs, daycares, or other ideas that can support our families. I am sure we can come up with a list of options that our work and at-home families can consider. Always consider what story you are telling others about yourself, your school, your students, and our district. From my experience of getting to know most of you, if not all of you, that you all have a heart for kids and our families no matter your personal beliefs. It is time to come together and plan for what's best for our student's future lives based on our current plan.
We published in our plan five considerations that we used when distributing our proposal back in July; Safety, Science, Student Learning, Quality of Instruction, and Commitment to Equity. The other measures of our decisions are weighed on our Portrait of a Graduate Traits; Responsibility, Adaptability, Perseverance, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Empathy. It seems to me that all of these measures and considerations need to be in our minds when developing our program going forward. How do we serve our community with the above principles in mind?
I truly believe that we have placed all of the safety measures on our campuses. Our site and district teams have done a superior job preparing our schools to be ready for the In-Person schooling option with the principles mentioned above in mind. Offices have been prepared with Plexiglas barriers, distancing dots, and sanitizing stations. Classrooms have all had desks and room distanced at the 3 feet and 6 feet levels as suggested by our county health department. We have touchless thermometers for every classroom as well as a sanitizer in every location we can think of. We have cases and cases of supplies of masks, sanitizer, cleaning products just to name a few. Our leaders have worked with staff to come up with cohort schedules for recesses, lunches, libraries, and for starting and ending times. Now that we are in Phase 2 with only 50% of our students coming on campus each day, all of these measures will still be in place to help us eventually get back to Phase 3. It is important that our staff take the guidelines seriously and wear a mask whenever you are entering campus or on campus. Again, these are measures to help everyone perform at the highest possible level for our kid's future. This is our commitment to each other and to our community as a whole. Thank you for making that commitment to each other and to serve the public in Redding Schools.
Phase 2: Hybrid Model: In order to align with our partners at the high school and with the new Distancing State of California guidelines, we are changing our Hybrid Model plan to the Monday-Thursday Group A and Tuesday-Friday Group B with Wednesday as the Distance Learning day. All of our In-Person classes will build a whole class contact time in the morning or afternoon to have the In-school and at Home kids together with some in class and some online. This will allow the students to know their classmates as a whole and set us up for returning to Phase 3 as soon as conditions allow. Our Redding Achieve Community Day and SDC classes will continue with a 5 day a week program as they are already able to distance at the levels that the Hybrid affords. Regardless of students being on campus or not we will need all employees on campus every day to build this robust model. Here is the schedule for the next three weeks.
Phase 2 In-Person Schooling Only:
Week 1:
Wednesday, August 12 - Group A goes to school - Group B contact with the teacher
Thursday, August 13 - Group B goes to school - Group A contact with the teacher
Friday, August 14 - Distance Online learning for both Groups A/B
Week 2:
Monday, August 17 - Group A goes to school -Group B Distance Learning & (Whole Class contact activity)
Tuesday, August 18 - Group B goes to school - Group A Distance Learning & (Whole Class contact activity)
Wednesday, August 19 - Distance learning for all students
Thursday, August 20 - Group A goes to school - Group B Distance Learning & (Whole Class contact activity)
Friday, August 21 - Group B goes to school - Group A Distance Learning & (Whole Class contact activity)
Week 3:
Monday, August 17 - Group A goes to school -Group B Distance Learning & (Whole Class contact activity)
Tuesday, August 18 - Group B goes to school - Group A Distance Learning & (Whole Class contact activity)
Wednesday, August 19 - Distance learning for all students
Thursday, August 20 - Group A goes to school - Group B Distance Learning & (Whole Class contact activity)
Friday, August 21 - Group B goes to school - Group A Distance Learning & (Whole Class contact activity)
We need to have Chromebook checkout schedules and connectivity support to our families that don't have the Internet at home and other logistical processes in place fully developed but we will get through this and we will serve our families. I realized that this situation is frustrating for some but know that it is our goal to have our students back on our campuses five days each week and we will continue to monitor the changing landscape and make decisions in the future based on that changing landscape.
Rob Adams
Superintendent
Redding Elementary School District
New Millennium Partnership
5885 East Bonnyview Rd.
Redding, Ca 96001