Good Evening, Caleb Families!

Last week, after I shared with you that we would not be able to collapse our cohorts, our central office granted permission for us to invite a limited number of students back for in-person instruction four days per week for the remainder of the school year based on a specific set of criteria that included students with disabilities, English learners, chronically absent and disengaged students, students experiencing homelessness, foster youth, students at risk of abuse and students in need of significant academic, behavioral and social/emotional interventions. 

While our staff and I would love nothing more than to bring all of our students back for as much in-person instruction as possible, per the district’s process, only a limited number of Caleb students may return to in-person learning four days per week based on the high numbers of students attending in-person, space constraints, and the six-feet physical distancing required by our agreements with labor partners. In order to expand in-person to all Caleb students, the CDC’s three-feet guidance would need to be adopted through a successor agreement with labor partners. I know the district would like to make this change should labor partners agree, and if circumstances change to allow us to safely bring more students back for four days, we won’t hesitate to do that.

If you did not receive a personal invitation directly from your child’s teacher for four-day in-person learning, please continue to bring your child for two-day in-person learning in your existing A or B cohort. If you aren’t sure, or are concerned you missed an email, please feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher or me to confirm. 

You can see this contract language in Section VII/A in the Memorandum of Understanding with SCTA. I’m sorry I cannot invite all of our students back for additional in-person learning at this time. I know it is disappointing. If you have concerns about this process and decision, please elevate them, including communicating with Superintendent Aguilar, our Area Trustee at Leticia-Garcia@scusd.edu, and SCTA Leadership. 

The Center, which is the organization that has been providing our Expanded Learning after school program, just announced this week that they will be running a fee-based summer program at Caleb Greenwood from 7am-6pm, Monday-Friday for eight weeks this summer. They’re committed to making this an engaging, inclusive summer program for all who register. You can find more details and register here. 

As I said last week, our Sac City School Board voted on a resolution to affirm their commitment to return to traditional, in-person instruction for five full days per week when school resumes in the fall. You can find that resolution here. We are already busy preparing for this return and we can’t wait to welcome all of our Cougars back in person full-time, but if you do not intend to return in the fall, please send me an email as soon as possible to share this very important information. We continue to have families waiting for spots, so your timely communication regarding your intentions is critical to others and me as I guide our staff in planning for next year. 

Thanks to all who have made donations to transform our library into the Caleb Action Center next year. Our vision for the Caleb Action Center includes the library as well as the areas in and around the library as spaces for learning, exploration and inquiry. It will be bigger,  better, and more accessible than our existing library. Not only will students get to go to the library every week to check out books, there will be flexible time for classes to use the library for inquiry, special projects, lunchtime programming, mini-lessons for classes, book talks and groups, free inquiry, exploration times and more. In addition to your generous donations, we need help from our students to expand our book collection and share their ideas about programming. So this week, please visit the IB PYP Google Classroom to tell us your favorite books, book series and topics.

Thank you for your generous support as the donations keep pouring in for our Enhanced Library aka The Caleb Action Center! Please explore the Fund-A-Need website and Vision Boards for the types of items to which your donation will contribute such as IB Learner Profile and culturally responsive book collections, updated technology, flexible furniture, outside learning space equipment and more! https://calebgreenwoodfundraiser.org/

Shipments of the 2021 Caleb Greenwood Yearbook are making their way to campus and should arrive by next week. Families that purchased yearbooks for their children in Cohorts A & B, yearbooks will be handed to classroom teachers for distribution. For distance learning-only families in Cohort C, a separate distribution event will be scheduled for curbside pick-up. Stay tuned for details.  

Please remember you can stop by campus tomorrow, 11am-1pm, to pick up breakfasts and lunches for distance learning days. 

We’ve got this, Cougars! Set your alarms, get a good night’s sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, come to school and Zoom prepared and on time, and remember to WEAR A CLEAN MASK to school each day.

We can’t wait to see you this week! 

-Mrs. Hanson