July 15, 2020

Dear North Summit School District Families and Patrons,

As we prepare for this coming school year, we have developed a plan to open in August. The final detailed plan will be coming out in a few days on our website after the board approves it, but we wanted you to hear from us to know of our intentions. We are planning a normal school opening on Wednesday, August 19, with the same schedule as in the past, Monday through Friday. We are excited to have our students back in the buildings. Our hope is to keep school in the buildings, and we know it will take a concerted effort to keep our facilities safe from the spread of COVID-19. Our kids deserve the opportunity to have their schooling and activities restored as much as possible. It will take all of us to ensure that happens. We know there are sacrifices that will need to take place, but we know it is worth it for our students.

With guidance from the Summit County Health Department and the State School Board, we have established a plan for the opening of school with all students having the opportunity to attend with a regular schedule. Some of our plan had to be adjusted because of the recent mandate by the Governor requiring all to wear a face covering in schools. We will comply with the mandate in order to keep our students and staff safe and to keep school in session. Not all are going to agree with our guidelines or the mandates that have been placed on us; however, we are convinced that an optimistic approach to implementing our plan is crucial in making it a positive experience for our students.

We are committed to making “school work” for the 2020-21 year by doing the following:

• Encouraging proper hand hygiene, sanitization, face coverings, hallway flow adjustments, physical distancing, lunchtime adjustments for serving and seating, and recess modifications.
• Being aware of illness/symptoms in our schools and contacting parents of students who exhibit symptoms.
• Improving our digital curriculum and delivery to meet the needs of distance learning if it becomes necessary.
• Communicating regularly with county health officials to make adjustments for the purpose of health safety.
• Remaining positive with these temporary guidelines in place to promote a comfortable school climate.

We would hope that you would do the following in helping us prepare for a successful school year:

• Keep your child home if he/she has a fever, cough, cold or flu symptoms, and have the child return when symptoms have subsided.
• Communicate with your child about the changes being made that are necessary for the health of our community.
• Be positive with your child about these changes and assure him/her that it is a doable challenge.
• Encourage your child to be respectful of these guidelines and the administrators, teachers and staff at school who are implementing them.

If you would like your child to not attend school in person, we can assist you in setting up a remote learning opportunity. Please email the principal of your child’s school with any questions or to inform him of your intentions (see email addresses below). The principal will call you to discuss options with you. If your child is attending regular school during the year and becomes infected with the virus, we will make arrangements to have him/her participate with the class digitally and receive the direct instruction from the teacher. With what we learned in the spring, school will be a more traditional classroom setting vs. what we were thrust into at the end of school. With that experience, we are implementing changes to better our system. We will provide daily instruction to go along with assignments and tests. Here are the options available with remote learning:

1. Your child will be able to watch the instruction from home as it takes place in real time at the school. Every classroom will be equipped with a camera to video the teacher. The teacher will teach your child as if he or she were in the classroom. In the elementary, instruction would be available for core subjects.
2. If your child is not able to watch the lesson as it happens live, he/she will be able to access the recording for that day at any time.
3. If you would like your child to participate in an online program through North Summit, our principals will assist you in making arrangements for this option.

Any of the three options will give your student district provided services. With these scenarios, the student will receive a letter grade, and each teacher will provide a syllabus explaining the expectations. Each building will establish protocols for assessments. These options will be much improved over what you experienced in the spring. We want this school year to work for every one of our students no matter what their circumstances are. We are committed to get through this challenge together, and we will do all we can to make it a success for every single student at North Summit.

It is crucial that we communicate with each other throughout the year as changes occur. Please make sure that your contact information is up to date on Powerschool. Your child’s school can help you with that if you need assistance. Once again, look for the entirety of the plan on our website in a few days. It will give you more details about our focus. We hope you will read through it carefully and help us get our school year started in a positive direction. Let’s support each other during this challenging time and remember that we are doing it for our children.

Respectfully,

Jerre Holmes

Superintendent

Email Addresses of Principals:

Elementary: Russ Hendry rhendry@nsummit.org

Middle School: Brett Richins brichins@nsummit.org

High School: Wade Murdock wmurdock@nsummit.org

Superintendent- Jerre Holmes- jholmes@nsummit.org 435-336-5654

Business Administrator- Julie Black- jblack@nsummit.org 435-336-5654

District Administrative Assistant- Marci Sargent- msargent@nsummit.org  435-336-5654

North Summit High School Principal- Wade Murdock- wmurdock@nsummit.org 435-336-5656

North Summit High Assist. Principal/ Athletic Director- Devin Smith- dsmith@nsummit.org 435-336-5656

North Summit Middle School Principal- Brett Richins- brichins@nsummit.org 435-336-5678

North Summit Elementray School Principal- Russell Hendry- rhendry@nsummit.org 435-336-2101

IT Director- Kelly Richins- krichins@nsummit.org- 435-336-5656

Special Education Director-Kelly Paskett- kpaskett@nsummit.org-435-336-5656

Transportation Director- Lisa Richins- lrichins@nsummit.org- 435-336-2198

Food Service Director- Colleen Pace- cpace@nsummit.org- 435-336-5678

Maintenance- Dalton Ross- dross@nsummit.org-