BRRSD Superintendent’s Update: April 1, 2020

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(The following is a message from the Belmont Redwood Shores School District)

Hello Belmont-Redwood Shores Community,

Our government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic continues to develop, and I am writing with education-related updates:

  • County stay at home order extended to May 3
  • State shifts expectations for remainder of school year
  • Next steps

County Stay At Home Order

San Mateo County, along with six other Bay Area jurisdictions, has extended its stay at home order to May 3 for all residents and businesses. The two-page press release is here, and the full order, which specifies essential activity, can be found here.

State Outlines New Expectations for 2020-21 School Year

At noon today, Governor Newsom held a press conference that formally set the expectation that California’s public schools will not reopen to students for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year (through June 10, 2020, for BRSSD). While this may not have the force of a formal order, it seems clear that we should all plan for the continuation of distance learning, or At-Home Learning, through the end of this school year. Note that in the United States, public education falls under the jurisdiction of the state, so the guidance of the California Governor (who was also joined in today’s press conference by the California Superintendent of Public Instruction and the President of the California Board of Education) does carry weight.

Additionally, the speakers at today’s conference shared that promotion and graduation ceremonies currently scheduled for May and June will almost certainly be postponed or cancelled. We will work with our principals, teachers and PTA leaders on how best to celebrate our students’ accomplishments in June, especially for our 5th and 8th grade students.

Next Steps

We are finalizing our new Terms of Use for educational technology, revised for the At-Home Learning effort. Later this week, those Terms of Use will be shared with parents and staff via email and with students via the Clever portal that students use to access most BRSSD online applications. Teachers’ use of videoconferencing may resume on Monday, April 6.

More broadly, our administrative team will continue to review the information coming to us from our education, health, and governmental leaders at both the county and state levels. We will do our best to share updates with you in an organized and timely fashion.

Sincerely,

Michael Milliken
Superintendent