Superintendent’s Update

September 25, 2020

Dear Tanque Verde District Parents, Staff and Community,

We appreciated the very thoughtful comments of the board and community members at the September 23rd Governing Board meeting. This is a time of contrasting opinions, deeply felt emotions, and great concern for our students, their families and our teachers and staff members. This was clear from the public comments, but what was also clear was the strong connection and support from our Tanque Verde Community for each other. What brings our community together is our schools. And with support and positivity, we will continue to meet the challenges of this time. As a board member stated, the schools are the heart of our community, and we all chose to be a part of this TVUSD community because of the amazing teachers, staff members, students and parents who make it a special place to be.

In the coming days, we will work together toward the commencement of the hybrid learning program, and the continuation of the online, distance learning program. Whichever program you choose for your child(ren), the expectation and intention is that program will provide a meaningful learning experience for each student.

The Governing Board approved moving forward with the following Hybrid Instruction Start Dates.

Hybrid Instruction Start Dates

Grades K-3 Grades 4-6 Grades 9-12
Grades 7-8

Monday, October 5th Monday, October 19th Monday, October 19th
Monday, October 26th

Last names A-L M/W Cohort Last names M-Z T/TH Cohort All students online Fridays

You will be contacted by your school with more detailed information.

What to Expect Now?

We have outlined more of the Phased Hybrid Instruction step-by-step information on the Return to Learning page. Please be sure to review the information here: Return to Learning.

Pima County Guidance

You may have seen the news reports recently of the uptick in Pima County

COVID-19 cases. Pima County Medical Director, Dr. Francisco Garcia, issued a letter to all Pima County School Superintendents on September 24th, reiterating that the guidance for Pima County Schools continues to be to reopen cautiously via a hybrid return to in-person instruction. His letter may be reviewed here: PIma County Update on Current Metrics (24-Sep-2020)

Hybrid Instruction Information

In your school newsletters on September 24th, you received more detailed information regarding the hybrid instruction schedule, including dates, school schedules on hybrid days, and program information. We have compiled all three school levels into one document for easy access. Please click here for the pdf document.

We have also created an FAQ section on the Return to Learning page. We will keep this updated as we receive additional questions that relate to the general hybrid program, online program and other requested information of a general nature.

FAQ Phased Return to Hybrid In-Person Instruction

Parent Choice Forms

Also in the September 24th school newsletters, you received a link to the Parent Choice Form. After completing the Parent Choice Form, parents will receive a confirmation email generated from the form, confirming our receipt of your form submission(s). Schools will process the information received, and school registrars will then determine the student’s hybrid group and communicate regarding any requests made to change the hybrid assignment. The plan includes keeping students within families in the same hybrid groups across all school levels. We will attempt to accommodate any requests to change hybrid assignments to the best of our ability, but cannot guarantee that all requests will be confirmed.

Acknowledgment Forms

Parents who choose the hybrid instructional option will be asked to complete an Acknowledgement Form. The form will be provided by your child’s school. Once the acknowledgement form is received, the registrar will confirm the student’s hybrid group assignment. This form is simply an acknowledgement that there is a level of

risk associated with in-person attendance, and the social distancing requirements for attending in-person. This is a requirement of the district’s insurance carrier.

Continuing Attention to Health and Safety

As we proceed to hybrid instruction, we will continue to keep student and staff safety at the forefront of our priorities. I have been working very closely with the health officials at the Pima County Health Dept. and attending weekly meetings with the Pima County Superintendent’s Back-to-School Committee. In addition, we have a PCHD Liaison assigned to our school district, as well as several contact tracing personnel, who will assist in the event of positive COVID-19 cases in our schools.

We have outlined our plan to address positive cases in an annex to our TVUSD Emergency Operations Plan. We have made the plan available on the Return to Learning page at this link: Pandemic Annex

As we move forward together through the steps of our phased hybrid instruction plan, we ask that you continue to let us know what is going right and what is proving to be challenging. Please direct comments and questions to your school principal. And we will continue to communicate important information with you via school and district emails.

Thank you for your continued support of our students and teachers.

Kind Regards,

Scott Hagerman, Ed.D Superintendent