Superintendent Michael B. Gradone
I love kids, and I love reading. This is the best of both worlds!
Dear Parents, Grandparents, and everyone else who has supported our students,
Thank you. The trials of the past four months have stretched us all in ways we never imagined. Our teachers had to figure out “remote learning” day by day. It couldn’t have succeeded without your participation and commitment, difficult as it must have been to remake your own lives in social isolation. I hope the kids appreciate how much you’ve done for them this spring.
Thankfully, there are signs the worst of the pandemic is beginning to pass. The number of cases has dropped consistently for the past few weeks, allowing Governor Baker to ease some of the restrictions on our daily lives. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has begun to publish information about what comes next. It’s all very cautious and tentative, but it’s headed in the right direction. To start, we have the first draft of what summer school might look like. We’ll begin with a more individualized version of remote learning, similar to what we put in place the past several weeks for students on Educational Plans. If the number of Covid-19 cases continues to decline, we may try to bring some children to school later in the summer, for what the Department calls a “soft re-entry”.
Later this month, we’ll receive the first guidelines about a full re-opening in September. The Department has a Working Group, representing everyone from Public Health to the state Teachers Association, working on this report. We expect to see it in a couple of weeks. In Truro, I’ve recruited a twelve-member planning committee to help us decide how to turn the state’s guidance into our “new normal” operations. That will take much of the summer, and we’ll keep you informed as we go.
We understand that as anxious as we all are for a return to something like normal, some may not be comfortable sending children back to school before a vaccine is available. We will take that into account as we plan, and be prepared to provide remote instruction to those who prefer not to have their children at school right away. We’ll send out a preliminary survey in a few weeks, to get a sense of how many of you expect to send your children back to TCS in September, and how many may wait a bit. We’re not looking for a commitment either way, but a sense of what to plan for. We’ll also ask about riding the bus, or driving your kids to school. Buses will be socially-distanced, at least for a while, so the fewer children we have riding, the safer they’ll be. More about all that in a few weeks.
Once again, we can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done to support your children, and our teachers, during this time of disruption and stress. We’ll continue to look for ways to collaborate in our children’s best interests, until this crisis has passed, and beyond. I have often reflected what a privilege it is to work in Truro. I hope many of you feel the same way about having your children at TCS.
Stay safe and well,
Mike Gradone, Superintendent
Thank you. The trials of the past four months have stretched us all in ways we never imagined. Our teachers had to figure out “remote learning” day by day. It couldn’t have succeeded without your participation and commitment, difficult as it must have been to remake your own lives in social isolation. I hope the kids appreciate how much you’ve done for them this spring.
Thankfully, there are signs the worst of the pandemic is beginning to pass. The number of cases has dropped consistently for the past few weeks, allowing Governor Baker to ease some of the restrictions on our daily lives. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has begun to publish information about what comes next. It’s all very cautious and tentative, but it’s headed in the right direction. To start, we have the first draft of what summer school might look like. We’ll begin with a more individualized version of remote learning, similar to what we put in place the past several weeks for students on Educational Plans. If the number of Covid-19 cases continues to decline, we may try to bring some children to school later in the summer, for what the Department calls a “soft re-entry”.
Later this month, we’ll receive the first guidelines about a full re-opening in September. The Department has a Working Group, representing everyone from Public Health to the state Teachers Association, working on this report. We expect to see it in a couple of weeks. In Truro, I’ve recruited a twelve-member planning committee to help us decide how to turn the state’s guidance into our “new normal” operations. That will take much of the summer, and we’ll keep you informed as we go.
We understand that as anxious as we all are for a return to something like normal, some may not be comfortable sending children back to school before a vaccine is available. We will take that into account as we plan, and be prepared to provide remote instruction to those who prefer not to have their children at school right away. We’ll send out a preliminary survey in a few weeks, to get a sense of how many of you expect to send your children back to TCS in September, and how many may wait a bit. We’re not looking for a commitment either way, but a sense of what to plan for. We’ll also ask about riding the bus, or driving your kids to school. Buses will be socially-distanced, at least for a while, so the fewer children we have riding, the safer they’ll be. More about all that in a few weeks.
Once again, we can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done to support your children, and our teachers, during this time of disruption and stress. We’ll continue to look for ways to collaborate in our children’s best interests, until this crisis has passed, and beyond. I have often reflected what a privilege it is to work in Truro. I hope many of you feel the same way about having your children at TCS.
Stay safe and well,
Mike Gradone, Superintendent