Dear Shrewsbury Families & Colleagues,
I am communicating updates to you through this email and through this four-minute video message that I recorded earlier today.
Thank you to everyone who sent messages to our staff in honor of the recent national recognition days for cafeteria staff, teachers, school nurses, and principals. They make a difference, and it's especially appreciated under our current circumstances. It's never too late to send a message of appreciation or gratitude, so if you haven't had the chance, please consider it.
Please note:
1) Last night the School Committee accepted an extraordinarily generous anonymous donation of $50,000 to assist with our costs due to the pandemic, and the Committee heard reports on a) supporting mental health during the closure; b) ways we are providing tutorials for parents for accessing online learning platforms such as Schoology and Seesaw (see more below); c) how our operations and finances are being affected by the pandemic; and d) considerations and options regarding refunds or credits for tuitions and fees paid prior to the school closure. The School Committee will vote at a future meeting, perhaps next Wednesday, regarding its approach to potential refunds/credits for fees and tuitions paid. If you wish to provide the School Committee with input regarding this decision, please watch that segment of the meeting and/or review the slides presented last night, and send an email to schoolcommittee@shrewsbury.k12.ma.us. To watch the entire meeting, click here, and to view the different report slide decks click here.
2) In response to your feedback, we’ve developed tutorials for parents and caregivers for how to access the learning platforms Seesaw (for Grades PreK-4) and Schoology (Grades 5-12). These, along with information on logging in to Zoom and the parent tech support email address, can now all be found in one place by clicking here. Thank you to our team members who created these resources, and a huge thanks to our entire IT department, who have expertly handled over 2,000 requests for assistance since the school closure began.
3) Staying physically active is crucial for all of us, especially during this time. Thank you to the over 1,500 of you who made last weekend's Rise Up Together Virtual 5K a huge success! To check out photos and messages from the event, click here. Many thanks to our partner, Sneakerama, for providing coupons for all of the participants. Now, there is a new challenge that has been issued by our SHS Physical Education faculty. The audacious goal they've set is for our community to complete 2,002,000 minutes of physical activity during the month of May to honor the great SHS Class of 2020. Click here to check out their promotional video and click here for the link to quickly log your minutes. Let's do this Colonials!
Thanks for your continued strong support of our schools.
Respectfully,
Joe Sawyer
Superintendent of Schools