Dear Jr./Sr. High School Students and Families:

Our schools remain closed through May 15th. There is no blueprint for our current situation except to do the best we can and support one another.  As I think about this, I am compelled to start with our team’s core belief of building and maintaining supportive relationships for all within our learning community. I recognize that not only did our educational world get flipped upside down, but your family’s world as well. I empathize that for many of you, you are not only a parent/guardian, but also an employee/employer, spouse/partner, a daughter/son, etc. Given this, our instructional plan is evolving to support our students with an important focus on getting used to a “new normal” for this period of time.

For the next two weeks, we will continue with our pacing guides. The May 4th-15th  pacing guides will be on our Jr./Sr. High School webpage on Monday morning and will be formatted the same as the previous guides.  I do want to note one change I have made to our pacing guides.  Each department has one particular day of the week on which they will not assign work.  This is an adjustment made to offer a day during the week within that department for students to check-in, review, have a make-up day, or focus on other classes. It is my hope that this increased flexibility will ensure that students can balance their studies with their at home situations and responsibilities.  

A few people have asked questions about grading and accountability during school closure.  I have stated in each letter that our focus has been on everyone doing the best they can with the materials we have put out and being as supportive, flexible, and patient as we can with each other.   Next week I will detail more specific guidance to families on how we will continue to hold students accountable and what practices we will employ for assessing the 3rd and 4th quarter.   These practices were developed with the well-being of our students in mind. They reflect the unprecedented situation the COVID-19 crisis has created but are also designed to preserve the integrity of an academic program our staff and students have invested so much in.  

I continue to be so thankful to work with amazing people in our learning community.  Thanks for your compassion, kindness, and persistence as we navigate through this.  As always if anyone has any questions or feedback please call or email me.  Normalcy is right around the corner!

Patrick McGee

Byron-Bergen Jr./Sr. High School