Dear AUSD Community,
A Special Board Meeting will be held on March 16, 2021 from 6:00-9:00pm for the Board to hear additional input, discuss, and determine models for in-person instruction as we reopen Albany school campuses. Results from the latest survey regarding in-person instructional models and schedules will be presented.
To our collective relief, pandemic conditions have markedly improved. On Tuesday, March 9th, Alameda County moved out of the Purple Tier, where we had been since November 2020, into the more relaxed Red Tier. Vaccinations for education professionals have been available and many who work in the District have been able to access this additional measure of safety, which is layered on top of AUSD's robust facility safety plans. The Hybrid Reopening Plans were carefully prepared, involving many stakeholders, and were approved by the Board of Education. Nevertheless, it is my responsibility as Superintendent to stay at the forefront of changing conditions to make sure that we are doing our best for Albany students.
In-person hybrid instruction for Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten will proceed as planned next week. We are thrilled to welcome our youngest learners to their classrooms beginning Monday, March 15! If you selected the hybrid option in the Intent to Return form, please follow the instructions provided by your principal regarding your student’s return to campus.
What about the rest of the reopening schedule? First, please be assured that AUSD is committed to offering a remote learning option for the remainder of this school year. That will not change. As unsettling as it is, it is needful and appropriate that the Board of Education re-examine reopening plans, with input from our entire community—parents/guardians, staff, and students. New surveys will be distributed. I encourage you to participate in that, as it paints a broad and inclusive picture of the thoughts of families throughout our school community, even those who seldom use their voice. A similar survey is being sent to staff so that their view will be represented.
Does this mean that Hybrid Reopening is off? No, absolutely not. AUSD is moving forward as quickly as possible. Opening dates for school districts throughout Alameda County are available here, and AUSD is on par with the first wave of reopening schools, and ahead of many others. The Board of Education may choose a model of instruction that would necessitate a pause in our reopening schedule in order to make adjustments. The reopening of our schools has always been conceived as a stepwise process—you don’t emerge from a pandemic in one day. I wish there was an ideal solution, with dates and bell schedules, that I could provide to you right now. But the right process for reopening is what some might consider a little untidy. It involves repeated rounds of examination of the evidence emerging about the COVID virus, check-ins with our professional educators on sound practice, and extensive conversations with families about what their students need. I stand behind this plan to re-examine our goals next week, and I know that we will emerge from this discussion more unified and pulling together as a team as we define, and then achieve, each new stage of reopening.
Stay hopeful and encouraged,
Dr. Frank Wells
Superintendent of Schools
Albany Unified School District