| March 15, 2020
Dear TSA Families,
We are thinking of all of you and hoping you and your families are well. We recognize these are very extraordinary times. Here is our latest update on the COVID-19 situation relative to TSA.
As of this writing school will remain open. We anticipate further updates from the Secretary of Education. We will alert you when we receive any new information.
We have heard from a number of you that you have decided to keep your children home, and we completely respect your decision. As has always been the case, we ask that you please specify the reason for your student’s absence when you communicate with the school. This helps us keep track of how many students are out and for what reasons.
Absences by choice will not be counted towards a truancy total. Reasonable accommodations will be made to keep absent students up-to-date with class work. TSA is in no way resistant or opposed to closing school; we fully understand the power of large scale social distancing. We are taking our directive from Secretary French (whose letter is copied below) seriously to maintain a coordinated approach to school closure so that the measures we take are both effective and do not impair the ability of our health care system to respond to the needs of our community.
If (or, more likely, when) the State of Vermont mandates school closures, teachers at The Sharon Academy will take between 3 and 5 days to continue preparing distance learning plans for the foreseeable future. We want to ensure that the roll-out of our distance learning program proceeds as smoothly as possible from its inception. Teachers and staff will do our best to provide meaningful work to students with appropriate accommodations and modifications during that time frame. This transition will require patience and understanding. Please know we are doing our best to create a meaningful off-campus experience for your children.
Since at this point it is possible for the closure announcement to come at any time, we will be asking students and teachers to bring all of their materials home every night. This “backpack readiness” should make it possible for students to begin accessing distance learning strategies without having to retrieve their textbooks, binders, packets, notes, etc.
For Middle Schoolers who use a TSA Chromebook at school, we will not be sending those devices home every day in order to keep track of them. When school closure happens, we will arrange for chromebooks to reach each student. This may be by sending them home on a single day or arranging for delivery or pick up in the days that follow.
One of Vermont’s greatest strengths is the power of its communities, whether they be family, school, town, or state. When we act in coordination and cooperation with one another we are most effective. We welcome your questions, thoughts, and suggestions as we make our way through this unprecedented event.
With care and appreciation for all of you,
Michael Livingston
Mary Newman
Andrew Lane
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Saturday, March 14, letter from Secretary French
Dear School Board Members, Superintendents, and Principals:
Thank you for your work to date in managing the COVID-19 crisis. There is no doubt this is an unusual and concerning time for boards, administrators, teachers, parents and students.
It is essential that we model the calm, compassionate leadership that the Governor has called for in this moment of service.
That means decisions like how we approach school closures need to be coordinated, based on facts, sound science, and most importantly in a case like this, what is going to be most effective in our overall effort to protect Vermonters.
Put more clearly, we need to make decisions based on what is most effective in mitigating the spread and impact of the virus. Accordingly, our decisions should be based on the recommendations of the state’s best medical, public health and emergency response experts.
Districts should be urged, strongly, to think clearly and carefully about the guidance from the Vermont Department of Health and impact of school closures on overall response.
Here are some important points local districts should consider:
- Based on the best available public health science, data and assessments specific to COVID-19 closing schools in Vermont at this time is not recommended by the Vermont Department of Health. Again, this recommendation is based on the best available information and expertise.
- Closing our schools and childcare centers immediately would negatively, and in some areas severely, impact the ability of healthcare workers and others to report to work at a time when we need them making critical preparations.
- As we all know, there are also many students who have special, often significant, needs or who rely on school for much of their food. We should not close schools until there are effective plans in place to meet the needs of these students.
The Governor has issued an executive order establishing a range of provisions to mitigate spread and each measure is informed by experts and science, and considers the overall strategy of the state and its communities in the response. We all have to prioritize and coordinate decisions based on what is going to be most effective in the overall response – this is very important.
In his executive order, the Governor also directs me to lead contingency planning for school closures in Vermont— this work is well underway— and has waived all penalties for truancy, so parents are free to keep their children out of school if they choose to do so.
At this time, I recommend you plan for the possibility of the prolonged, preemptive closure of the schools in your district. The decision to close schools will be made with as much advance notice as possible, but we all recognize that this may occur quickly based on the best science and the guidance of the best public health experts we have in Vermont.
Here’s the bottom line: A coordinated approach to school closure— and it will likely be necessary to have school closures as part of the overall response— is essential to ensuring these closures are as effective as possible in mitigating the impact of the virus. We must not let fear lead to decisions that impair the ability of the healthcare system to prepare and respond, or to decisions that leave some students behind.
We need to work together, across all systems and levels of government. And, as Vermonters have proven time and again, when we work together there is no challenge we cannot meet. |
