December 11, 2020
Dear Students, Staff, and Families,
I hope everyone is doing okay as we do our best to deal with the unrelenting impact of this pandemic. As you know, our country, state, and community continues to experience an increasing number of positive Covid-19 cases. The Cumberland School Department has been significantly impacted with more students and staff testing positive. Hundreds of students and staff have been quarantined by the Rhode Island Department of Health due to close contact with individuals who have tested positive.
The biggest challenge this has presented to the School Department is staffing our schools. Given the number of school personnel impacted by the virus, we are struggling to cover all of our classrooms. For example, the high school alone had 15 staff members in quarantine yesterday. This does not allow us to cover all of the classes our students attend. The same struggle is happening in all of our schools.
As a result of this daily challenge, the school department has decided to move to distance learning. The following schedule will be implemented for students in grades PreK to 12.
Beginning the week of December 14th, all students in grades 6 through 12 will move to DL until the week of January 11th, 2021.
Beginning the week of December 21st, all students in grades PreK through grade 5 will move to DL until the week of January 11th, 2021.
This includes students in special programs.
Please keep in mind that even with the steps taken above, additional closings in the PreK-5 schools may be necessary during the week of December 14th due to staffing and/or COVID issues. The spreadsheet with the most current COVID-19 data for the Cumberland School Department is attached for your review.
We know that this is difficult for students, staff, and families. However, given these circumstances, we feel that this is the responsible approach due to the increasing number of cases. Since the time frame when students will be distance learning includes the holiday recess, elementary students will only lose three days of in-person learning and students in grades 6 through 12 will lose 5 days of in-person learning.
There is one additional issue that I need to bring to your attention. All of the school districts in the state received a bulletin from the Education Operations Center (EDOC) informing us of reported scams associated with contact tracing. The bulletin is attached for your review.
Thank you again for your patience and understanding as we navigate our way through what has been one of the most challenging times we have experienced. However, there is hope and a light at the end of the tunnel. Hang in there everyone. We’ll get through this.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Mitchell
Superintendent of Schools
11 de diciembre de 2020
Estimados estudiantes, personal y familias:
Espero que todos estén bien mientras hacemos todo lo posible para enfrentar el impacto implacable de esta pandemia. Como saben, nuestro país, estado y comunidad continúan experimentando un número creciente de casos positivos de Covid-19. El Departamento Escolar de Cumberland se ha visto significativamente afectado con más estudiantes y personal dando positivo. El Departamento de Salud de Rhode Island ha puesto en cuarentena a cientos de estudiantes y personal debido al contacto cercano con personas que dieron positivo en la prueba.
El mayor desafío que esto ha presentado al Departamento Escolar es dotar de personal a nuestras escuelas. Dada la cantidad de personal escolar afectado por el virus, estamos luchando por cubrir todas nuestras aulas. Por ejemplo, solo la escuela secundaria tenía 15 miembros del personal en cuarentena ayer. Esto no nos permite cubrir todas las clases a las que asisten nuestros estudiantes. La misma lucha está sucediendo en todas nuestras escuelas.
Como resultado de este desafío diario, el departamento escolar ha decidido pasar al aprendizaje a distancia. El siguiente horario se implementará para los estudiantes en los grados PreK a 12.
A partir de la semana del 14 de diciembre, todos los estudiantes de los grados 6 al 12 pasarán a DL hasta la semana del 11 de enero de 2021.
A partir de la semana del 21 de diciembre, todos los estudiantes en los grados de PreK hasta el grado 5 pasarán a DL hasta la semana del 11 de enero de 2021.
Esto incluye a estudiantes en programas especiales.
Tenga en cuenta que incluso con los pasos tomados anteriormente, cierres adicionales en PreK-5 las escuelas pueden ser necesarias durante la semana del 14 de diciembre debido a problemas de personal y / o COVID. Se adjunta para su revisión la hoja de cálculo con los datos COVID-19 más recientes para el Departamento Escolar de Cumberland.
Sabemos que esto es difícil para los estudiantes, el personal y las familias. Sin
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Dear Garvin Families and Staff,
We are working with the Rhode Island Department of Health to appropriately respond to the positive cases we reported to you yesterday at Garvin School. We need to make tomorrow, Friday, December 11th, a distance learning day to allow the Department of Health to complete the required contact tracing. We will keep you posted as we learn more about this situation. We know this is difficult for everyone including students, staff, and families. As always, we appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this challenging situation.
Sincerely,
Robert Mitchell
Superintendent of School
Estimadas familias y personal de Garvin:
Estamos trabajando con el Departamento de Salud de Rhode Island para responder adecuadamente a los casos positivos que les informamos ayer en la Escuela Garvin. Necesitamos hacer de mañana, viernes 11 de diciembre, un día de aprendizaje a distancia para permitir que el Departamento de Salud complete el rastreo de contactos requerido. Lo mantendremos informado a medida que sepamos más sobre esta situación. Sabemos que esto es difícil para todos, incluidos los estudiantes, el personal y las familias. Como siempre, agradecemos su paciencia y comprensión mientras superamos esta difícil situación.
Sinceramente,
Robert Mitchell
Superintendente de escuela
Good Afternoon,
The Cumberland High School will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, December 10, and Friday, December 11, because of a staffing shortage. Tomorrow and Friday will be distance-learning days for the High School.
Sincerely,
Robert Mitchell
… Read More...
December 4, 2020
Dear Students, Staff, and Families,
I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving holiday under these difficult circumstances. This pandemic has had an impact on many of our routines and traditions. However, we must continue to push forward. We will get through this. Vaccines are on the horizon and we will hopefully be able to get back to some sense of normalcy in the not too distant future.
As you know, the number of positive cases continues to rise. Please know that despite this trend, our goal will be to keep our students in school. Our biggest challenge right now is staffing. We have had to go to distance learning at the high school twice this week because of staffing issues. We have a number of students and staff in quarantine due to the increase in positive cases. We will attempt to let students, staff, and families know as soon as possible when a decision is made to go to distance learning to allow everyone to plan accordingly.
Listed below are a number of items for your information:
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Congratulations to the three new members of the School Committee, Keri Smith, Amy Rogalski, and Kerry Feather. Karen Freedman was elected as the new Chair of the committee and Mark Fiorillo was elected as the Vice Chair. We look forward to our work together.
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We have created a spreadsheet that provides information on the impact of covid-19 in each of our schools. The spreadsheet provides the number of students and staff that have tested positive as well as the number of students and staff that have been quarantined by the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH). The spreadsheet is attached for your review. It will be updated as new cases are reported.
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The State of Rhode Island and RIDOH are continuing to make improvements to the contact tracing and communication process. As I have mentioned previously, the state has divided the state into regions with specific personnel assigned to each region. Cumberland is assigned to POD 4. Each POD is assigned a medical professional, school liaisons, educational contact, and a program manager. We have contact information for all of these positions. The goal is to provide timely support and communication to schools and families.
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All families have received guidance from each of our school’s Principals on what their plans are for January, 2021 and beyond. Under the circumstances the district leadership team believes that we should maintain the status quo until we see a decline in the number of positive cases. Given the current rise of positive cases and challenging staffing issues, we are not in a position to change the model we are currently using. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your student’s Principal directly.
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Each year several of our schools (elementary and middle school) and schools from across the country are chosen to participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Like many other things, these assessments are a casualty of the pandemic. Cumberland’s schools that were chosen to participate will not be giving this assessment during the 2020-2021 school year.
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The safety project at the high school is moving along. Much of the outside work has been completed. The next phase focuses on work inside of the high school. The bulk of the work will be done in the area next to the auditorium. This project will be finished in the spring after the landscaping phase is completed.
As always, we appreciate your patience and understanding during this difficult time. Please know that our goal is to keep our students in school. As you can imagine, we want all of our students and staff to return to full in person as soon as possible. The uncertainty of the current situation is challenging for all of us.
Enjoy the weekend.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Mitchell
Superintendent of Schools
Positive Cases in the Schools 2020-2021.pdf
4 de diciembre de 2020
Estimados estudiantes, personal y familias:
Espero que todos hayan tenido unas buenas vacaciones de Acción de Gracias en estas difíciles circunstancias. Esta pandemia ha tenido un impacto en muchas de nuestras rutinas y tradiciones. Sin embargo, debemos seguir avanzando. Vamos a salir de esto. Las vacunas están en el horizonte y es de esperar que podamos volver a la normalidad en un futuro no muy lejano.
Como saben, el número de casos positivos sigue aumentando. Tenga en cuenta que a pesar de esta tendencia, nuestro objetivo será mantener a nuestros estudiantes en la escuela. Nuestro mayor desafío en este momento es la dotación de personal. Hemos tenido que ir a la educación a distancia en la escuela secundaria dos veces esta semana debido a problemas de personal. Tenemos varios estudiantes y personal en cuarentena debido al aumento de casos positivos. Intentaremos informar a los estudiantes, … Read More...
