SCHOOL CLOSURE TO IN PERSON LEARNING FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS SCHOOL YEAR

April 21, 2020

Good day parents and guardians of students in Archuleta School District 50 Jt.

As you may have heard, yesterday evening, Governor Polis announced that schools in Colorado would not re-open to in person instruction the remainder of this school year.  While he mentioned this in his press conference, there were no details given yesterday. This morning I was able to participate on a conference call with the governor and was able to hear more from him, regarding this decision.

While the governor indicated there will be a gradual relaxation of some of the restrictions for businesses, in order to bring children back into a school environment, where social distancing would still be required, would create huge challenges and he and his advisors believe it would not make sense to try to do this.  Thus, his decision to not return to in-person learning the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.

That being said, I want to emphasize that we WILL continue to provide distance learning and expect all students to engage in this process, through the normal end of the school year, on Friday, May 29th.  High school seniors who have completed their graduation requirements are finished on May 22nd.  While I know this is not ideal, and may be creating extra burdens for families, I hope that the instruction, support, and guidance you are receiving from our teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators are helping you as you work with your children.  

While there is still much to be worked out, in terms of how we will allow students to retrieve personal belongings from the schools before the end of this school year, I wanted to provide this information to parents and staff as quickly as possible.  As we develop plans for these and a myriad of other things, we will continue to keep you updated.  

Thank you for your time and efforts on behalf of the children of this community.  

Kind regards,

Superintendent Linda Reed