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GJUHSD Superintendent Video Message 4-20-20

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A special video message from the Superintendent, April 20th, 2020. (10 min)

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Good morning this is William Spalding superintendent of the Galt joint Union High School District with some updates and some previews of things to come it's April 20th 2020 and we have been in this new system for our education in this where buildings are closed but school is still open for a little over a month now in that time we've been able to make some major changes and to move from our normal high school environment our normal high school system to an entirely remote learning online learning system and I believe we've done that with a good deal of success that's although there have been some bumps along the way but in 5 days our staff and you students and Community were able to move from high school as we know it in high schools we've taught it for many many years to an entirely online system in just at five days so while our buildings are closed our educational system continues and your teachers are continuing to provide learning activities for you for remainder of this semester we've also been able to successfully move to a Food Service that is delivering our food through public Drive In during the week during the day so that our students are still able to access their lunches and their breakfasts and we were able to do that and turn that around within 24 hours of our school closure A couple of things that have come up for our students getting some questions we've been getting are questions regarding grading and questions regarding graduation first let's talk a little bit about grading we recognize that as much as we are trying to replicate our school system and the way we normally teach it's different online it just is normally we have our students in our classes for 90 minutes every day with their teacher and with other students interacting with other students interacting with their teachers that's not possible now so recognition of that we want to provide a grading system that is simple that is fair and that considers the very complex situation we now find ourselves in we also heard University of California and from the California State University and colleges that they will be looking at grades very differently this semester that given the situation in our state given the COVID virus pandemic and given the fact that all schools are in a closure situation they will not be counting grades in the GPA the way they normally do but they're looking for students to continue to work hard and to pass their courses for this semester so soon we will be coming out with a grading system that is as we were talking about is fair simple and consider the complexities of trying to provide online education and the struggles with some of our students have had being able to access this online education we ask that you students continue to work hard and work with your teacher and interact and be online we also recognize when the grading takes place that we have to be fair about that and we have to recognize that this has been a very difficult and challenging time look for additional information in the coming days and weeks on how the grading system will be the next thing I want to talk about is graduation and this is a tough topic for us this is a time where normally bustling with energy bustling with activities that we have for our seniors and it's mighty class of 2020 is having a very different very different experience as we get ready for graduating you we recognize that normally we be doing a whole lot of things that we'd have you in our classes and we be doing a lot of things with you and getting you ready to go outside into that big wide world out there and to acknowledge and to recognize and celebrate all of your achievements you've been in our public school system for 13 years and you're finishing up the required Public School experience that you have we wish that you could be here we wish we could all be here and we wish we could be doing this normally and traditionally in the way that we normally do unfortunately that's not possible but but what we are trying to do is working with our school principals our administrators and our Student Activities advisors to try to come up with new and different and creative ways to celebrate your achievements and to recognize you and to have activities that are meaningful and special even if they're different and even if they're remote look for a number of activities that will be coming up in May that will be having for you they won't be the same they'll be probably a lot of them remote or drive-by things that we'll be doing symbolically for you but know that we appreciate you and we care about you and we really wish we were here with you and we wish you were here with us and we want to make sure that we try to make that time as special as we can be we know this is not the springtime experience that you and the class of 2020 would have chosen we wouldn't have chosen this for you but it is an experience that you will be telling your grandchildren about this is something really unique in our history it's something that you're working through and you're living through and you're striving through and we're proud of you and we're proud of your efforts you worked hard and we wanted acknowledge that as far as graduation ceremonies go as you know we're in a shutdown we're in a situation where our government and our public health authorities have issued a stay-at-home order for all of us and it really changes the way we can do things we have to do our social distancing we have to really reduce our time outside of our homes but again we're looking hard at what we can do and what kinds of things we can do that meet those requirements make that social distancing and then at the same time give you something meaningful and celebratory for your graduation so we're looking hard at where this would occur how this would occur and when this would occur and we're coming up with different ideas and alternatives for how we might provide a graduation ceremony please bear with us stay patient in the next few days and weeks will be coming up with some things and setting some times and dates for what we can do to provide a meaningful graduation experience for you know that it's going to be a little bit different and know that we must keep it safe but we do want to make it something that is special and we do want to make it worthy of your efforts as seniors we're really proud of the work you've done we really proud of you in this class of 2020 we know that you're going to take on the world and make the world a very different and special place you've already had some experience with that this spring we want to thank you all students staff teachers administrators the community our parents for all that you've done in working with us working closely with us being patient and being flexible through a very strange set of circumstances we recognize it has not been perfect but we're doing our best I think you're doing your best to get through this we hope that you'll continue to follow the the health guidelines that are so important you know the drill wash your hands for 20 seconds wash them thoroughly wash them frequently if you are coughing or sneezing cough or sneeze into your shirt into your elbow stay six feet away from one another if you have to be outside your home if you have to be outside your home wear a mask stay far away from others if you're not feeling well make sure that you're staying at home staying down call your doctor if you have any symptoms that are dry cough or fever or any kind of shortness of breath make sure you're calling your doctor we're going to get through this together we're strong we're Galt strong we're going to get through this and we're going to get to the other side and we're going to see you soon a special shout out also to our brothers and sisters in the medical field who are working hard our First Responders and the people that are part of our supply chain that keep us fed keep it keep us stocked people working in farms in grocery stores driving trucks all of those who are keeping this moving for us thank you so much to all of you be strong be safe stay healthy and keep the faith we're going to get through this together and we're going to come out of this a little stronger and a little wiser thanks so much and take care look for future messages from me either through the phone dialer on the website or through video thanks so much take care and all the blessings to you and your family

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GJUHSD Superintendent Video Message 4-20-20

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