MDUSD Superintendent: No Decision Has Been Made About Students Returning To Campuses This School Year

The following letter is from MDUSD Superintendent Dr. Robert Martinez:

Dear Mount Diablo Unified School District Community,

I am writing to you tonight in response to a news story that has surfaced across California publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, on Tuesday, March 31, 2020, and has been told and retold across social media platforms.  The stories make reference to a letter distributed from State Superintendent of Schools, Tony Thurmond, to the states county Superintendents, where he offers an opinion that schools may not reopen this school year.

Please note, that at this time, this is not a directive nor guidance from any state office, including the governor’s office or the California Department of Public Health. Yesterday evening I heard from County Superintendent Lynn Mackey, that while these concerns were discussed on a phone call with the county superintendents yesterday by State Superintendent Thurmond, on Monday, March 30, 2020, there was never an indication that any decisions about potential closure extensions had been determined.

Here is the language from Tony Thurmond’s letter to County Superintendents regarding schools potentially not being in session the rest of the year, “Due to the current safety concerns and needs for ongoing social distancing it currently appears that our students will not be able to return to school campuses before the end of the school year. This is in no way to suggest that school is over for the year, but rather we should put all efforts into strengthening our delivery of education through distance learning.” – Tony Thurmond, State Superintendent of Schools Read the full letter here.

The Mt. Diablo Unified School District is working to broaden our Distance Learning opportunities for children, and we are working to prepare for the possibility that the suspension of in-class instruction could extend beyond the current May 1st guidance, we continue to work with the California Department of Education, the State Board of Education, the Governor’s Office, and the Office of the State Superintendent, and we will collaborate any change to our current response to any such decision on any new extension of school closures with our Contra Costa Public Health Department.   I want to assure you that we will continue to collaborate with our state officials, receive and review guidance, and continue to engage in consultation with many, before issuing any such direction.

As you know, things are always subject to change. Should there be any official recommendation to extend our current closure, I will strive to inform our public and employees as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will continue with the work we are doing to connect, engage and support our students, their families.  We will strive to work with each other to accomplish great things for our students. We will continue to develop and build quality distance learning for students in all of our schools and work to provide food to our students in need as best we can with the resources we have available.

As always, please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns and please work to keep yourselves and your families safe.

Also, please find a link below to our second “Town Hall” meeting that is focused on providing information about our extended learning programs and resources for our families.

With respect and appreciation for you all,

Superintendent Dr. Robert A. Martinez

RELATED STORIES:

• Superintendent Of Public Instruction: It Appears Students Will Not Return To Campuses This School Year
• Expect Schools To Stay Closed Through Summer Break Because Of Coronavirus, Gavin Newsom Says