Cummings: The reality of 8 more weeks of remote learning is a challenge for all of us
Grafton Superintendent of Schools Jay Cummings issued the following statement on Gov. Charlie Baker’s closure of schools for the remainder of the year.
As you may have seen, Governor Baker has extended the closure of all schools through the remainder of the school year. In Grafton, that means we will continue remote learning through June 12. On a health and safety level, this is probably not a great surprise to most. The reality of eight more weeks of remote learning is a challenge for all of us. Our immediate challenge is to further strengthen remote learning for the extension and ensure that we are meeting as many student and parental needs as possible.
The state will be putting out additional guidance for school districts to follow in the next week. We are planning on the need to move forward with new curriculum for all grade levels. We will be working to identify the components of the curriculum that are most critical, and making sure to focus on those standards through the remainder of the school year. New learning will simply be weaved into the remote learning program, there will be no significant changes in how the remote learning program is constituted.
I want to reiterate that remote learning is hard on everyone and is far from perfect. While we are going to do our very best to make remote learning as meaningful as possible, it is not going to replace in-person instruction. There are going to be many ‘off’ days and missteps for all of us. Life is going to get in the way, there are sure to be countless times that parents can’t figure out how to help their children, kids will be kids, and the technology just won’t work, etc. That is all going to happen and it’s okay. Just this morning (as I was drafting this email), my youngest overslept and missed a class. I meant to check to make sure she was up and didn’t… Eventually, we will return to school as we have known it and we will bounce back. When we do return to normal, we will make sure that no one is left behind.
Today’s announcement moves the unknown into mid-June and beyond. We are working through issues such as graduation, summer services, and even the start of the 2020-2021 school year, yet we simply do not know what the status of things will be in June or the following months. We are basically creating numerous plans that can be utilized depending on what the situation looks like once we get to June, July, etc. It is far from ideal, but is the best we can do given the circumstances.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions or concerns.
-Jay
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