Superintendent's Update - September 18, 2020

Dear Shrewsbury Families, Colleagues, & Community Members,

I am pleased to report that overall we had a very successful first week of the 2020-2021 school year.

I am so very grateful to our incredible staff for all of their efforts to prepare for opening school in a different way than we have ever done before.  I believe that the students who attended in person for two days felt welcome and safe, and the students who attended remotely felt welcome and connected to the school community.  Thank you to our families for ensuring students were prepared and for your continued patience, flexibility, and grace in cases when things didn't go as smoothly as we would have liked.  

I had the great pleasure of visiting all nine of our schools over the course of the week, and it was clear to me that our students' and our staff's spirits were uplifted by being back together, whether in person or through Zoom.  The collective effort that was made to get to this point was enormous, and it is extremely gratifying to have our schools open again and to have our students benefiting from the wonderful education that our excellent Shrewsbury educators and support staff provide.  We will continue to adapt to our circumstances as we move through the opening phase of the school year, and I am confident that by all of us working together we will ensure that our students' education - academically, socially, emotionally, and physically - will be of the highest quality possible that we can provide under the challenging circumstances we face.

Our continued success this year depends on all of us doing our part to follow the public health precautions that stop the spread of COVID-19.  Please follow the guidelines for wearing masks, physically distancing, and frequently washing/sanitizing hands.  Please use good judgment and follow guidelines for group gatherings.  Please be reminded that everyone in our school community must follow the state's travel order as no one may come to school if they've traveled to a high-risk state without first getting a negative test or quarantining per the state order.   And, finally, I am asking our high school families in particular to make sure that our high school students are not risking the health of their families, friends, and school community by making poor choices regarding socializing, as has unfortunately been the case in other communities in Massachusetts.

I wish everyone a relaxing fall weekend, and "Shanah tovah" to all who will be celebrating Rosh Hashanah.  Thank you for your continued support of our schools.

Respectfully,

Joe Sawyer
Superintendent of Schools