Dear Parents/Guardians:

First off, I want to thank all of you for your continued support in what has turned out to be a good start to the 2020-21 school year.The entire school community, working together, has reminded me of why we are so fortunate to call this area HOME.

Under difficult circumstances, we have managed to continue to provide an experience to our students The Wayne Highlands Way. I am proud of our faculty and staff and feel strongly that their hard work and dedication is making a difference. At the same time, however, this time in our lives has proven to be a bit challenging for all of us.

We entered the school year with a Health and Safety Plan that we felt good about. A lot of thought went into the plan. Knowing that flexibility is one of the pillars of our plan, we went into this year expecting to have to make adjustments along the way. In part, that's what this message is about.

As we have analyzed and reflected on the start of the school year, one common theme keeps coming up...TIME. For all of us, the 2020-21 school year has proven to be different in almost every way. Those differences have taken not only time to adjust to but even more so, time to complete what needs to be done. Everything from teaching in a dual platform (In-Person/Synchronous) to deep cleaning buildings according to the Health and Safety Plan, has made us realize that there are only so many hours in a day.

As a result of all of the above, on Monday, October 12, 2020, the Wayne Highlands Board of Directors approved a plan for 12:30 p.m. early dismissals, beginning with our October 21, 2020, Act 80 Day, running every Wednesday up until Christmas break. The dates are as follows: October 21 (Act 80 Day), October 28, November 4, November 11, November 18, November 25 (Early Dismissal/Day Before Holiday), December 2, December 9, December 16, December 23 (Early Dismissal/Day Before Holiday).

For educational purposes, students will be provided with a full day of learning on early dismissal days. For Option 1 students (In-Person), the AM part of the day will remain in-person and the PM part of the day (after dismissal), will be remote learning. It is expected that education will continue in the PM for all students, remotely. More information will be provided by building principals and teachers as we draw closer to the early dismissal dates.

We are happy to report that our 1:1 iPad initiative will assist with the educational delivery. As we sit today, grades 9-12 have iPads in hand, Grades 6-8 have had them delivered to the appropriate buildings with individual delivery to students currently being scheduled, and K-5 is expected to be delivered to buildings by the end of the month, if not sooner. That is all great news!

Again, I am so very thankful to all of you for your continued cooperation and support.

The above schedule will be reviewed as we go along, with a decision made before we leave for Christmas break on how we will proceed in 2021.

Please contact me with questions.

Sincerely,

GREGORY FRIGOLETTO
District Superintendent