August 28, 2020 Update

Good afternoon MMCA Families,

Happy Friday!

I want to congratulate our staff, students and parents for getting through the first week of school!  Between Zoom-based Back to School Nights, Meet and Greets, introductory teacher-class GMeets and Zooms, not getting Edgenuity access until the day before our orientations for our Edgenuity kids - it's been crazy, but we got through it! I have a couple brief updates for you going into the weekend:

1) Distance Learning Families: By today, you should be receiving a lesson schedule for next week's lessons from your child(ren)'s classrooms.  There will be lessons and work time expected within our normal (8:30a-3:10p) school schedule.

2) Edgenuity Families: By now everyone should have their logins and have gone through all of the introductory videos (student based 6-8, somewhat parent/student based 1-5th).  Additionally, for our 1st-5th grade families, the core subject workbooks have arrived and are available in the office to be picked up.

3) "Placer County is off the state watchlist - Do we get to return to site-based instruction after the 14 day threshold?" Since Placer County was taken off the watchlist, this is a question I've received a lot the past week and, unfortunately, apparently the answer is 'no'.  I had heard rumors that Governor Newsom was going to be completely revising his watchlist thresholds and setting new "stricter, slower" reopening standards.  He made his announcement publicly today that he was doing so.  I haven't had the chance to review the new requirements yet (the basics of which can be found on this website: https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/), beyond hearing from our County Superintendent that now we have a 'new' color metric tool of purple/red/orange/yellow, and that Placer County is apparently purple, therefore schools can't reopen for site based instruction, and she doesn't know yet when we'll be allowed to reopen. As we learn more information, we will share it.  Again, if it becomes clear that we will be in state-mandated distance learning for at least a month - which I'm hoping the County will give us guidance on next week - then we will be looking at options to provide limited on-site K8 child care for our families.  I sincerely wish I was relaying different news. With that, have a good weekend! Mr. B