Rocket Families,
Let me begin by saying how excited I am to start our new school year and to get back to some experiences and opportunities all of us missed out on throughout last year. As we plan for our return to learning, I want to share some important information with you as it relates to the beginning of school.
Since the start of the pandemic, our goals have been to open school safely and to keep our students and staff in school five days per week for full days. I’m happy to say that we will be starting school full-time this year and we remain committed to keeping our schools open as safely as possible.
At our most recent Board of Education meeting in July, the Board and I discussed opening plans which included face masks being strongly recommended. Since then, the CDC and the IDPH have updated their guidance to recommend indoor masking for all teachers, staff, and visitors regardless of vaccination status.
Please know we are patiently and closely monitoring this information and how it will impact our schools and our learning plan. We will continue to work closely with our school teams, health officials, and other agencies to meet our goals of educating our students full-time, in-person, and safely.
In the coming days, we will release a draft plan and provide an opportunity for thoughts and questions prior to action taken at a special meeting of the Board of Education.
As we develop our plan, I cannot stress enough that there is no perfect plan. No single person or group has all of the answers. Instead, we as educators in Rochester schools, are doing our best work and trying incredibly hard to bring students together in a safe environment for all.
Thank you for your continued support of Rochester Schools.
It’s a great day to be a Rocket!!!
Be the Difference,
Dan W. Cox, Superintendent of Schools