I don't think the education systems know what side is up...

[The Conservative]

This is a letter I got from the Superintendent of the Littleton School Systems. I don't think they realize they are on the left side of the "scale"... which is rather scary.

July 13, 2020
Dear Littleton Families,
We hope that you have been able to take time to enjoy the beautiful summer weather and unplug from a busy and atypical end of school year. Our District Pandemic Planning Team as well as our School-Based Pandemic Planning Teams have begun planning for the reopening of schools for the 2020-2021 school year. As required by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, we are generating three plans that may be used next year. The graphic below, taken from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s guidance, illustrates the three plans on a continuum of fall reopening models.

As of this point in time, we know that the far left choice of “return without restrictions” is not an option. Therefore, we are generating an in-person learning plan, a hybrid learning plan, and a more robust remote learning plan. Our School-Based Task Forces, which consist of educators, parents, and building administrators, are tailoring the three aforementioned plans for their specific grade level needs. We have generated key tenets for the new plans based on our experiences from the spring and from responses received from parents/guardians, students, and staff from the survey sent in June. We have also incorporated expectations from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education within our framework. ​Key tenets of each schools’ framework include adhering to time on learning requirements, replicating and enhancing instruction that would take place within school classrooms, development of common schedules for the three models of learning, use of high-quality curricular materials, daily connections with all students as well as opportunities to learn synchronously and asynchronously.

On July 9, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released ​Guidance on Fall 2020 Special Education Services​. This as well as the ​Initial Fall Reopening Guidance​, released by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on June 25, has and will continue to offer support to our reopening task forces. Commissioner of Education, Jeffrey Riley, is also maintaining a ​Frequently Asked Questions document​, most recently updated on July 10. We continue to check this document as another resource when discussing the reopening of schools.

Families can expect a survey this week in which we seek input for the three aforementioned plans and your comfort level with potentially sending your child or children back to school for in-person learning. There is much to consider when we discuss reopening schools including our students’ social and emotional well-being. As much as we want to see all of our students return to our classrooms and be in front of their teachers, we know that we will need to continue to watch the data that is coming out from our community and state. We will continue to look for advice from the medical professionals and the state as to how to best reopen schools in the fall.

We continue to welcome your input via email or by reaching out to your child’s principal in order to be able to incorporate your input into our reopening plans as best we can. Additionally, we will continue to work with families and staff to ensure that we offer a safe and robust learning environment for all students for the 2020-2021 school year.
Our community and state have been successful in continuing to lower the rate of transmission of COVID-19. Let’s continue to incorporate the recommended safety precautions into our daily routines so that we can continue to move closer toward the eradication of COVID-19 within our communities and state.
Please take good care and be sure to take some time to enjoy our summer break!