October 26, 2020
Dear Families:
I wanted to take a minute to thank you all for your part in what we have been able to accomplish so far this school year. Because of our community’s dutiful adherence to the Health and Safety Plan the Board of Directors enacted for this school year, we have been able to remain open despite the rise in COVID-19 cases in our area.
Over the past few weeks, several school districts in the IU28 region, including four of the seven districts in Indiana county, have experienced at least partial shutdowns due to COVID-19. To this point, our hybrid design, adherence to the social distancing guidelines, and a little good luck have allowed us to stay open. That said, the data on new cases across our nation, our state, and our region are not encouraging. We all need to be aware that we are always one bad day away from being shut down as well, and we need to be prepared for that possibility. If possible, we are asking that you revisit the conversation about wearing facial coverings on the bus and in school with your children. Everyone’s collective efforts are needed and our students have done an amazing job meeting the moment.
We have made plans to provide remote learning for all students immediately following a shutdown order if one were to occur. This means that we have built a system that if we were to be closed on Monday, we could resume learning, remotely, on Tuesday. Building principals have plans to quickly distribute materials and Chromebooks and have plans to provide both synchronous and asynchronous learning for our students for the duration of any shutdown. We are encouraging families to have a plan as well in the event we have to close our doors temporarily. With continued vigilance and fortitude, hopefully, these will be plans we never have to implement, but we owe it to our children to be ready at a moment’s notice should the virus force us to close a building or the district.
As always, I will keep you as informed and up-to-date as possible in this ever-changing environment. As of now, we are open and will do our best to maintain this status; however, things could change and we simply wanted to make you aware of this possibility. We will get through this together.
Respectfully,
Mr. Michael J. Vuckovich
IASD Superintendent