Dear Royals Family,
We have now welcomed three of our four class levels back to campus in Phase II of our reopening plan. So far we are pleased with the successes and we continue to gain wisdom from our experience with blended learning. The arrival of juniors in the coming week marks the final stage of Phase II, after which we will break for Thanksgiving and return to our 100% online programming to finish out the semester.
The State’s announcement this past Monday that returned SLO County to Tier 1 did not fundamentally impact our classroom instructional plans. However, non-classroom experiences are now subject to the public limits of Tier 1. All outside activities must be in stable cohorts of no more than 15 students and all indoor activities (except classroom instruction) can mix no more than three households at a time, which, for all intents and purposes, means no more than a few students in any given location. This effectively ends all indoor practices and gatherings until the county can emerge from Tier 1. It is with a certain disappointment that we take on the limitations of this new stage but we remain abundantly hopeful for the time when we can resume these campus programs.
Regarding our January plans, due to our reopening in November and in accordance with all state guidance, MCP retains the option to return to campus for in-person learning in January and in-person instruction certainly remains our desired modality. However, we recognize that high school does not happen in isolation and we are evaluating our local conditions to make a final determination on what January looks like for on-campus instruction. I wish we could be more definitive but we will be communicating our plans prior to the Semester Break in December. Those plans will, undoubtedly evolve as we move through the early months of 2021 so the plans for January will likely be different than our plans for February (and ongoing). But each of those adjustments will be the result of carefully weighing the fluid situation for health in our community.
We are confident that we have operated safely over the past two weeks and regardless of how we are able to frame the student experience in the second semester, we are delivering the most sophisticated and engaging student program possible. Our students are to be commended for persevering through this unprecedented era. I hope all of those students who joined us on campus this month were pleasantly reminded of the joy that comes from working in community, and we eagerly anticipate a fuller return in the future.
Until then, we simply take up our cross and soldier on, into these challenges. I am bolstered by the incredible spirit that each of our classes has brought back to campus over the past two weeks and by the active partnership we have with the parents of this community. Thank you for continuing to trust our staff with the education of your daughters and sons. We are forming and igniting the God given potential in each of these young women and men and it is with great anticipation that we look forward to the opportunities ahead.
Yours in Christ,
Mike Susank
Principal