Dear Serra Community,
I hope everyone is safe and healthy after another week in this pandemic.
I wanted to start by letting you know that we have hired some amazing new teachers and also have said goodbye to a few. This happens every year for a variety of reasons. I know its going to be extra hard for the new members this year as they will be learning not only our school and how it operates but building rapport with students and gaining their trust. They are very excited and I know we picked the right people.
Say Hello To:
Sabrina Ferrari---Physical Education
Cassandra Clark--Physical Education
Kendra Gardener--Math
John Snedden--History and English
Gonzalo Ruiz-- World Language--Spanish
Still Looking for:
AME pathway teacher for Video and Photo (Both have teachers but I need another because so many students want it!)
American Sign Language Teacher
Science Teacher
Goodbyes--very sad but we wish them well!
Ann Calabough
Ken Colbert
Simone Brooks
Jason Demendonca
Elizabeth Griego
They all left to other sites, and:
Claire Oroszco--left to go back into research to help fight COVID--she felt it was her duty to help.
Updates:
I wanted to let you know that the teachers and the district came to an agreement this week that is tentative. This agreement will give you an idea of what is to come in regards to a schedule which I will have for you next week! I am collecting feedback and involving our Governance Team (Instructional Team) to make sure I have considered and thought of everything. A SPECIAL EDITION will come out later this week with lots of updates and I have designated what will in the blog as you read.
As a principal and a parent I've had to accept the fact that what I have known my entire life and career about school and how it functions operationally and instructionally has to change and probably permanently. What does permanently mean? It means we are what I'm calling "distance learning live" for who knows how long but then whenever we do return (October? January? Fall 2021!--I'm getting anxiety) it will not look the way it did on March 13th 2020 or any year prior ever again. Immediately upon our return some of you will choose not to, CDC guidelines will be strict and in place--as they seem to be fluid, I can not tell you what it will look like but you can guess I'm probably not going to have 36 students in a room and the list goes on. When we as a society reach a point of safety and normalcy (whatever that means) we have learned two very important things about this pandemic and education.
Many students have flourished when otherwise weren't with distance learning and vise versa.
Education has not caught up to society in regards to technology.
"Serra High" will need to adapt in a way that allows for both online and in person learning and it may stay that way if some students are being successful. We owe that to our students.
That is what permanent means and so we need to work in the coming weeks to wrap our minds around that and I know it is hard.
When the schedule is sent out, many of you may be happy or elated, some may be angry or disappointed, or lastly anywhere in between. I too am experiencing all of those things knowing that I will be running a high school with three children at home. The master schedule will be created so that when we return to campus very few things will have to change (or so we hope); we want to make it as seamless as possible.
We are going to do the very best we can for you and will work hard to help you in anyway we can!
Now that we have an agreement with the teachers the following list will go a lot faster. Master Schedule takes 6 months to build and I have three weeks! My teachers and my team are ready to go and we will hit the ground running tomorrow.
1. Finishing the master schedule as if school was reopening; only after that can it be manipulated for flexibility. We are lucky in that we are way ahead of schedule so this is one hoop we don't need to cross. Building a new schedule starting this week.
2. Waiting for guidelines based on negotiations with labor unions. These are what we call "marching orders" or the guidelines we can work from. It doesn't just mean the teacher's union; it means all unions and there are a lot of them from transportation, classified staff, custodial, para educators...and the list goes on. I believe I will have these agreement by next Friday....fingers crossed. COMPLETE
3. Start scheduling meetings with the Serra cluster of school principals to devise a schedule of meetings and also forums with parents and stakeholders. We can't do this alone and we will need you as partners! Meetings have been set up for the next few days as there is no time to waste.
4. Athletics--
MAJOR UPDATE:
5. Starting to revise our Distance Learning Handbook to reflect our new situation. We have started this. Our handbook we created went district wide for high schools! We are very proud of it and will make it even better this time around. If you have suggestions for it email me at erenfree@sandi.net
6. Starting to put together a weekly schedule of what I will be doing and what I would like you to do so you don't miss a thing such as a survey, or getting your shots, or anything leading up to the launch of school on August 31st. I want to make sure you are ready as well. Update will come in SPECIAL EDITION with the schedule.
7. Working on freshman bridge program and possibly extending that to all grade levels for social emotional reasons! Students need a morale boost and to interact with one another! Please reserve August 10-14th for this. SCHEDULE WILL COME IN SPECIAL EDITION THIS WEEK.
Name, Mascot, Color Change
Since we are not returning to school right away and with the new direction from Athletics we have decided we will be having forums the same week as bridge (August 10-14) for all students, staff, and parents. For students this will occur DURING their bridge. Parents and staff will be after. More on this to come. Then the idea is you will get information on how to access the ballot during packet pick up and it will close after packet drop off. It will be in Spanish and English and this is the best way we can make sure it reaches as many people as possible as packet pick up is a requirement. Stay tuned! SPECIAL EDITION will explain more
SATS:
Im getting a lot of questions around SATs. CollegeBoard has told us they want us to still administer them but we have not received the clearance from the higher ups. Im hoping the first week of August we will have an update. So please plan on still taking them if you are interested.
Senior Photos/ Class of 2020:
Many of you in the class of 2020 have asked about getting a proof of the photograph that was taken by the photographer Mike Salazar. He started calling those of you that already ordered pictures this past week. However if you would like a proof to see if you want to buy it you absolutely can. Please call or text him at 858-947-8450.
Class of 2021 and all grade photos:
I will have updates on these photos and all school photos this next week.
Emergency Rental Assistance:
If you need support during this time in order to stay in your home and you rent there are options!
Click here and its in Spanish and English: https://covidapplication.sdhc.org/https://covidapplication.sdhc.org/
Thanks,
Dr. Erica Renfree