• Superintendent's Message

  • March 25, 2021

    Dear Christina Parents/Guardians and Students,

    We want to provide you with the most up-to-date information on the status of Reopening Christina Schools. We have listened to your feedback through our most recent survey and have made plans to pivot to the next phase of our learning plan. Our implementation plan will continue to address the needs of our students and families by focusing on the following:

    • Increasing the amount of In-Person Learning
    • Providing more targeted support for struggling students via high dosage tutoring.
    • Increasing the opportunities for enrichment and acceleration
    • Continuing to allow flexibility for hybrid families who chose to remain in their current cohort.
    • Continuing with our highly successful Virtual Academy
    • Continuing to focus on mitigation strategies to ensure the safety of our students and staff.

    We remain committed to providing a safe learning environment and providing our students the very best educational opportunities. 

    Phase 3 - Safe Return to Additional Learning Opportunities

    Christina School District (CSD) has reviewed recommendations from national, state, and local health agencies and experts when considering the implementation of our plan.  We have also taken into account the COVID-19 metrics and the fact that schools are opening without major outbreaks. 

    Finally, we have analyzed the CSD Instructional Support Family Survey data and received the mitigation strategies recommended by the CSD Reopening Task Force, which concluded its work this week. 

    We are excited to announce the next phase of our plan as described below:  

    • For the past month, CSD educators have been working with families to safely bring students back on a prioritized basis. We will continue to invite more students to come back for additional learning days as we move forward and space is available. Our prioritized list includes, but is not limited to students with disabilities, English Learners and students who are struggling in the remote environment.  Our schools will continue to extend invitations for additional in-person learning until we reach capacity on our buses and in our classrooms. 

    • Additional learning opportunities for students who have accepted the invitation will start the week of April 12th. We chose April 12th to allow students and families, as well as, our school teams the opportunity to remain focused on academics as everyone prepares for Phase 3 - Safe Return to Additional Learning Opportunities. 
    • Wednesdays will now be a FULL instructional “remote learning day” for all students. This includes students enrolled in our Virtual Academy and students who do not accept the invitation for additional learning opportunities. Everyone will receive extra learning time on Wednesdays. You can expect to receive a new Wednesday schedule before April 12th.   
    • Current school times will remain in place.  

    • As we phase-in additional in-person learning, the Christina School District continues to be mindful that all current mitigation strategies are fully implemented and strictly enforced.

    • Over the next week, schools will be communicating additional details, such as safety protocol expectations, new schedules, transportation information (if applicable) and meal service updates.  
    • As we increase the in-person learning time for students, we highly encourage all hybrid students to participate in free Antigen testing offered at our schools. Students and families must opt-in for testing and complete the consent form. Please select your child’s school-specific consent form.
       

    Safety Considerations 

    For the health and safety of our staff, students, parents/guardians, and families, we continue to require daily health screenings before leaving for school.

    • Routine cleaning will be done throughout the school day and after school hours. EPA registered cleaners and disinfectants will continue to be used daily and multiple times throughout the day in high-touch and high-traffic areas.

    • The custodial staff will clean and disinfect all high-touch points in classrooms nightly, including but are not limited to, student desks & chairs, tables, bathrooms, door handles, countertops, and light switches. The custodial staff will also re-apply BioProtect over the spring break. BioProtect will add another layer of protection on all high-touch surfaces to enhance the EPA-approved disinfectant used to prohibit the growth of any bacteria and viruses on the surfaces. 

    In addition to implementing this next phase, we are also near completion of our summer learning plan.  We will provide extended school year services for qualified special education and prioritized regular education students based on academic need.  More communication will be provided soon. 

    Spring Break for our schools will be April 2 - 9. We hope you have a safe and relaxing break, and we look forward to seeing everyone when we launch the next phase of our Safe Return to Additional Learning Opportunities.

    Thank you for your partnership and patience during this pandemic. Our ability to continue moving forward depends on all of us wearing masks, staying home when sick, and following all the other mitigation strategies recommended by Public Health to reduce the spread of the virus. 

    Together we will ensure our students continue to grow and learn.

    Thank you. 

    Dr. Dan Shelton
    Superintendent of Schools

  • Dr. Dan Shelton

Messages from the Superintendent

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  • Message from the Superintendent - January 4, 2021

  • Message from Superintendent - December 3, 2020

  • Message from the Superintendent - November 17, 2020

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