The following letter written by Superintendent Dr. Mark Neighbors was posted on the Opelika City Schools website yesterday. It has been copied in its entirety below and a PDF of the letter is embedded beneath.
Dear Parents/Guardians,
I
wanted to take a moment to touch base with you to update you on our plans for
the next few weeks in regard to the Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak and schools
being closed. We realize that being
absent from school can be difficult to many children so we are trying to
alleviate some of that stress by providing a connection to school and their
teachers. While we have not
received
final guidance from the State Department of Education or the Governor’s
office,
we believe it is prudent and in the best interest of our students to
plan AS IF we are not returning to campus for the remainder of the
school year.
This
week, we are developing an instructional plan to provide critical content to
students by each grade span. In order to
provide continuity and consistency of instruction, our administrators are
working on an instructional plan that will help provide critical content to
students while our schools are closed. Our goal is to roll out
instructional resources to students by March 30.
Information
will be provided by your school principal on the school website to access
instructional resources. Later this week
you should receive a phone call from your child’s homeroom teacher (grades K-8)
and AO teacher (grades 9-12) to check in and make sure your students know how
to access the school website.
Our
plan is to focus on critical content so students will be prepared for the next
school year. We are awaiting guidance
from ALSDE for clarification on many issues including grades, graduation,
earning course credits, etc. This is an
ever evolving situation and we ask for patience as we finalize the
details.
Sincerely,
Mark Neighbors, Superintendent
