July 14, 2020
Dear DCS Community:
I know that you are all eager to learn about our plans to reopen our school buildings. In advance of receiving specific state guidance, a local committee of various district stakeholders has been meeting for several weeks to establish tentative plans. As you may have heard, guidance was issued yesterday by the Department of Health and the Board of Regents; we also expect additional guidance from the governor tomorrow. As expected, this guidance discusses reopening in broad strokes. We will now work to fill in details to meet a goal of submitting a plan to the state for approval prior to July 31. An announcement will be made by the governor during the first week of August regarding whether or not we can return in-person to our schools in the fall.
Though my goal is to send you tentative details of our reopening plan as soon as I am able to do so, I also know that there may be specific concerns that are keeping you up at night. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can help alleviate any anxiety.
I am also writing because I need your help with two items:
Remote Learning Survey
One of the tasks of the reopening committee is to plan for improvements to our remote learning capabilities. Please complete this survey to provide your perspective.
Equity and Inclusion Committee
DCS’s mission is to provide every student the support, dedication, quality instruction and experiences they need as they strive to fulfill their dreams and aspirations for the future. It is important to understand, identify, address, and eliminate the biases, barriers, and disparities that can limit a student’s opportunities. To that end, I am looking for student and parent volunteers to serve as part of an Equity and Inclusion Committee. If you or your child would like to be a part of that work, please contact me.
Thank you for your continued support of DCS!
Sincerely,
Dr. James Niedermeier
Superintendent of Schools