August 20

August 20, 2020

Dear Thoreau Families,

As you likely saw from Dr. Hunter’s email this week, the School Committee voted and approved an in person reopening of schools.  I cannot tell you how excited I am to be able to greet your children when schools reopen.  Now that an official plan has been adopted, I have a lot of information to share with you in preparation for reopening in September.  I want to start by answering a few frequently asked questions.

Class Placements: We expect classroom assignments will be ready to share by the end of next week.  The entire placement process has been incredibly delayed across all three elementary schools as we needed to know who was attending in person and who was attending remotely to ensure classrooms were balanced.  I appreciate your patience!

Arrival and Dismissal: With the increase in families driving their students to and from school this year, we have adjusted our drop off and pick up protocols.  We will be sharing detailed maps shortly. Families will be asked to remain in their cars and drop students off when they reach the drop off area.  At dismissal, parents will be asked to create placards with their child’s name and grade level written on them and should remain in their car.  Staff will bring students to their cars to keep traffic moving. Parents who wish to walk to pick up their students will meet their children on the upper field along Chase Road outside the 94 Wing no earlier than 12:30 PM.  Masks and social distancing protocols apply for all individuals.

Remote Learning Academy: Families enrolled in the remote learning academy will receive much more detailed information soon.  However, to answer the most common questions, students will be assigned to their own remote learning cohorts and be taught by Concord teachers.  They will not be zooming into in person classrooms for their core content instruction and materials will be distributed during the first week of school.

School Hours: In person instruction will occur from 9:00am to 12:25pm with instruction resuming remotely from 1:25pm to 3:30pm.  The remote learning academy will occur from 9-3:30 with synchronous learning and asynchronous independent work interspersed throughout the day.

Parent Forum: Our reopening handbook should be ready to share with families by next week.  This handbook includes safety protocols as well as adjustments we are making to regular routines.  Once this handbook is available, I will be scheduling a Q&A forum, which will also be recorded.  This will be an opportunity for families to ask any questions they may have about the protocol outlined in the handbook or reopening in general.

Also still to come…we have a video for students highlighting some of the major differences that they can expect when they return to school (masks, social distancing, the structure of the school day, using different entrances to get into school, etc.).

I know that the upcoming year is going to be challenging and very different than anything we have ever experienced.  But I also know that together, teachers, administrators and families will do everything we can to make it an enriching and rewarding school year for all of our students.

Warmly,
Mrs. Charles