Cantrell’s Comments
8/7/2020
Cantrell’s Comments
August 8, 2020
Hello Trojan Family,
I hope everyone has enjoyed their summer. This comment page will be longer than usual, but I want to make sure everyone knows what is happening within our district. Next week begins a new age in the state of education. We will begin school next week for the first time with a split student body. Many of our students will arrive on campus, but some of our students will begin the 2020-21 school year utilizing a virtual platform. I want everyone to know that whichever decision your family has made we will do everything in our power to provide the best education we can for your students.
I want to provide some information that we utilize to make decisions regarding school. Our administration team constantly monitors information from the State Department of Education, the CDC, and the State Health Department. Currently we are using the County COVID Risk Map to make many hard decisions. You can find this map and our district Health and Safety Protocols on our website and Facebook page. You will see that currently our county is in the “Yellow” zone. This helps us decide what protocols we set for the school. This map is updated every Friday afternoon and helps make decisions for the next school week. (So, our status could change this afternoon.) I cannot guarantee that we will not have a COVID case at school. In fact, it would be naive to think that we will be immune to this virus. However, we are making every effort to ensure the safety of our students. We have ordered masks, neck gaiters, and a limited number of face shields for our students and staff. We have purchased hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes for each classroom, and foggers for each campus to completely clean all of our classrooms and athletic facilities.
For those of our students who will be receiving instruction on campus it is imperative that you wear a mask when indoors. In order to contain we can equate the protocol to a triangle. The 3 sides of the triangle are: Social Distancing, Masks, and Proper Hand Hygiene. When you have all three sides you have maximum protection from the virus. When you remove one side, such as social distancing at school, it is more imperative to increase the use of the other 2 sides. This is the approach we will use at school. It is important for parents and students to understand this very important fact: 4th grade – 12th grade students will wear masks while in school buildings or they will need to enroll in our virtual program.
For our students enrolled in our virtual instruction, we will do everything to ensure you get the same, quality education that our on-site students are receiving. Virtual students, it is important for you to realize that this form of instruction will be different than the instruction last spring. You will be held accountable for course content and attendance. In addition, even though you will not be on campus, you still can qualify for free or reduced meals through the school. Please make sure you fill out an application and contact your building principal if you are interested in participating in the child nutrition program. Meal location pick up will be announced next week.
We will be making plans for remote learning in the event we have an increase in new cases within the county.
Parents, digital access will be very important for our students. Our district received a grant from the OSDE for some Wi-Fi hotspots. If your family would like to complete an application for one of the hotspots contact your building principal. We are also looking at adding hotspots in various locations throughout the district to ensure that all of our students have equal access to digital learning.
As I mentioned in the opening of this letter, we are in a new age of education. This is not a bad thing, however. The American education system was designed 200 years ago for wealthy, white, male students. Within these 200 years we have worked to develop the best education system in the world that includes ALL students. We will continue to monitor our situation, and make the necessary changes to ensure that ALL of our students receive the safest and best education possible.
Do Good Things, and Go Trojans!
Dr. C
Steven D. Cantrell, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Caney Valley Schools