Dear Shrewsbury Families & Colleagues,
I am providing an update to you this evening both through this email message and through this six-minute video message I recorded earlier this evening with the assistance of Marc Serra, the Executive Director of the Shrewsbury Media Connection, which I encourage you to view.
Please note:
Per the order of Governor Baker, our schools will remain closed through May 1, with a current scheduled reopening date of Monday, May 4. If this changes and the closure is extended, we will communicate that with you. The Division of Public Health has confirmed 41 cases of COVID-19 in the Town of Shrewsbury. While we have not been officially notified of any connections to our school community, we are aware through other sources of two parents who are among the positive cases. Given that our schools have been closed longer than 14 days, and because of the state of the pandemic, I will no longer be providing updates on the number of cases in these communications. To subscribe directly to COVID-19 information alerts from the Town of Shrewsbury, click here.
At this past Wednesday evening’s School Committee meeting, the leadership team provided an update on our school district’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can click here to view the meeting, or click here to view the presentation slides. A report was also given on the impact so far on our finances and operations, which can be found here.
This past week, we shifted our remote learning program to include specific academic assignments for students to complete and submit for feedback. In the coming week, we will continue providing assignments while also adding interactions with educators to connect with students and advance and support their learning. Families will receive further communication on these additional elements early next week. Please also remember that there are many resources for learning that students and families can access on our website here, including resources from our partner, the Shrewsbury Public Library. Like many of you, I’m trying to do more reading of “real” books during this time when we are homebound, and I encourage our students to do as much reading for pleasure as possible – it’s a great lifetime habit for our students to acquire now. Parent read-alouds are a great way to start for our younger ones!
Our partners at Shrewsbury Youth and Family Services are experiencing a financial crisis due to the cancellation of their annual fundraising gala because of the pandemic. SYFS provides critically important social services and supports for so many in our community, and are a valuable partner to our schools. Please click here for information on how you can help SYFS during their time of need if you are able.
I deeply appreciate your support of our schools during this very challenging time for students and their families and our staff and their families. I wish you all the best for remaining healthy.
Respectfully,
Joe Sawyer
Superintendent of Schools