Superintendent's Message November 30, 2020

Good afternoon,

Welcome back, we hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving. Last week, a draft proposal regarding cohort and schedule changes was shared internally with staff. The proposal was distributed  to gather valuable feedback from our educators. We understand this initial proposal has since been shared with a larger audience. We apologize for the confusion and concern this may have caused. . 

Over the last week, a number of suggestions and concerns have been raised which need to be addressed before bringing the plan forward. Our goal is a plan that will allow us to move flexibly between models in response to ever changing health data and guidance. We want to increase student-teacher contact time, continue to improve student engagement and remote learning capabilities, as well as provide ongoing professional learning and support. 

To this end, we will be eliminating remote Wednesdays for secondary students and increasing in-school instructional time for elementary school students, among other improvements.  A full presentation of the plan will be made at the upcoming Regular Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, December 8th.  The presentation will be posted with the meeting agenda next week and there will be public comment during the meeting. As a result of this change, tonight’s Special BoE Meeting has been cancelled.

Thanks for your continued support.

Mike

Michael Cummings

Superintendent of Schools

Fairfield Public Schools