Dear Sprague Families,
Hello!
As the month of July quickly comes to an end, it is hard not to acknowledge how fleeting time really is. My thoughts continue to be with you all, and I always send my love, best wishes for health, continued happiness, and summer joy! There is plenty of summer remaining so please go out and make lasting memories.
I have been silent these last few weeks working actively with many colleagues across Wellesley Public Schools, along with the talented Sprague staff, on the fall reopening plans. Back in March, the world was quickly forced out of its comfort zones, regular routines, and practices as the focus was on the health and safety of our students, each other, and our larger community. As July winds down, WPS continues to be charged with the health and safety of each and every WPS student, their family members, our staff, and the larger community while recognizing and understanding the great responsibility we have to educate our students of all ages. As a result, WPS has been and continues to be actively engaged in the collaborative process of a fall reopening. This challenging work continues while balancing the health and safety of all and simultaneously identifying the best model to educate our students.
Identifying, outlining, and implementing a host of health and safety protocols, and newly designed procedures at Sprague and across town, will support our goals of reopening in the fall. WPS and Sprague continue the awesome task of collaborating, vetting, and outlining best practices. This work requires thought, creativity, and great man power and as a result, my apologies for being silent. I look forward to more active and live communication over these next weeks.
As stated in Dr. Lussier’s email this weekend, Wellesley Public Schools is currently planning for a draft hybrid proposal (two separate cohorts of students) that would alternate within each week, but would be on fixed days to support family planning. Monday/Thursday would be fixed days for students in Cohort A while Tuesday/Friday would be fixed days for students in Cohort B, for example. The half-day Wednesdays would remain half-days with remote learning for all students on this day. We continue to plan for weeks that host a holiday. When these holidays occur, the Wednesdays would likely be used to replace instruction due to the holiday.
Please visit the following link as was shared at the Superintendent’s community event late last week. This slide deck presentation can also be found on the WPS main webpage.
https://wellesleyps.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/WPS-Community-Update-July-23-2020.pdf
The upcoming days/weeks will allow for the WPS plan to unfold. I look forward to being in touch to outline these identified plans. Until then, please do not hesitate to contact me as I welcome the communication.
On another note, each year WPS opens the Parent Portal through Powerschool, which allows families to update, edit, and revise family information. Once this important housekeeping process occurs, it then allows you to access assigned teachers for the 2020-2021 school year. As we continue to plan for the fall, many topics, such as identified dates, are being reviewed, tweaked, and adjusted. One of these dates is access to the Powerschool Parent Portal. I will continue to address this topic in future communications.
Sending my best always,
Leigh