Hello Families,
Thank you all for your dedication not only to Pathways but to supporting your children through this challenging year. If you listen to the news, then you have probably gotten used to the constant “new” updates about Covid; however, as we prepare for a broader reopening of our school it is important to remember the basics:
- Keeping students and staff safe is our priority and we can do this by implementing the safety protocols at our sites.
- Staying connected to our students is our priority and we want to get students back to learning centers and in-person meetings, as desired.
- Offering what students and families need and want is our priority so our plans for fall include a range of options: school at home, online classes, and learning center classes and services.
Families enroll their children at Pathways for a variety of reasons. Some of you are looking for a solely home-based program supported by our teacher and curriculum resources. We can still do that. Others want classes but only online. For fall, we have a selection of classes for grades 7-12 online every afternoon between 2:00-4:00. And many of you want “to get back to normal” which means having your child attend classes at our learning centers. We are hopeful that as the Covid case count continues to diminish we will be able to fully reopen our learning centers in the fall for our full class schedules. Each region is finalizing those schedules and will have a draft posted on our website under “regions” by May 21st. These schedules follow the same typical regional patterns as we have historically used. Along with the schedules, instructions will be posted on how you can register your child for classes. Priority is given to current families who have re-registered for next year and then in August we will open class registration to newly-enrolled students. The registration process is:
- Students in Grades 9-12: Completed by IST
- Students in Grades K-8: Completed by parent/guardian using form posted on the regional page (Google or other format)
Let me say a bit more about our plans for fall classes and services at the learning centers. We are a public school and are bound by State and Local requirements. That means we must follow the guidelines issued by the California Department of Public Health, which include:
- Masks for all persons onsite at a learning center
- Social Distancing (now down to 3’ between students and 6’ for staff)
- Screening for Covid symptoms at home and upon arrival at school site
- And much, much more...
It is imperative that we stay nimble and adjust our plans as these rules, which are outside of our control, continue to evolve. Luckily, we are a small school and can adapt and pivot quickly which has allowed us to serve students well over the past year during the pandemic.
We do have a back-up plan for classes in the event that the social distancing requirements prevent us from fitting a full class of students into a single room each day. The details of these schedule changes will vary by region so watch regional eBulletins for any updates. If it is necessary to break the students in Grades 7-12 into smaller A and B cohorts, each of which would attend class on-site one day per week, we will make that change and notify families in early August. However, with the way the trends are headed, we are hopeful that we will have space and will be able to run classes as we typically have done. Given that Covid conditions change so often, we will not make the final decision about class configurations until early August. Again, this is the back-up plan which will depend on required county health guidelines (mainly, the spacing required under social distancing guidelines).
We are committed to keeping you updated on our plans and welcome your input or questions.