Dear Community,
Hope this message finds you well. I spent the weekend working in our garden and stacking more wood for the fall. These quiet weekends have given us time to get so many more projects done around the house.
Last month Nurse Meghan announced that she was resigning from her position as school nurse in order to stay home with baby Abigail. We are sad to see her leave, and wish her family happiness and joy with their new addition. I am pleased to announce that the district hired Heidi Haghighi. Heidi has extensive experience working with elementary age children, most recently as the Nursing Director and Head RN for a non-profit that operates residential and day camp programs for more than 1000 children each summer. She also has experience as an RN at a boarding school and worked on a medical-surgical floor for adults and children at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Some additional highlights include that she is a certified yoga teacher and was the Outdoor Education Leader for a boarding school. We are thrilled to have her join Conwell during such an unusual year. Her experience, passion, and excitement to work for our community will be a great relief for me as we begin to plan for reopening in the fall.
Below are a few updates for this week.
- Governor Baker’s office and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released their initial guidance for all schools about reopening this fall. The Department of Education plans to follow the Initial guidance with FINAL guidance late July. The full initial document can be found at: http://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/.
- Please take a few moments to respond to the Fall Opening survey. The survey will remain open until JULY 1, 2020.
- The Reopening Task force will begin meeting in the coming week(s) to give input on three possible learning models for this fall: 1) in-person learning with new safety requirements, 2) a hybrid of in-person and remote learning, and 3) the continuation of remote learning.
- The Worthington School District Reopening Task Force will develop plans that are child-centered, age-appropriate, and in the best interests of our whole community. Our task force will work with the state guidelines and develop comprehensive reopening plans (all three models) to report to DESE in August.
- All public and private schools in the State of Massachusetts are required to create these three plans (In-person, Hybrid, and Remote) and required to follow these guidelines and protocols for opening in the fall.
- Shannon Madden, our Enrichment Coordinator has asked families to take a moment and complete a survey in regards to summer programming at Conwell. Please click the link below. This survey will close on July 1st.
As always, thank you for your patience and support.
Warmly,
Gretchen Morse-Dobosz
Superintendent/Principal
Worthington School District
147 Huntington Road
Worthington, MA 01098
gmorsedobosz@hr-k12.org