Superintendent Letter To Belmont Public Schools Community For January 2, 2022

Press release from Belmont Public Schools:

January 2, 2022

Dear BPS community,

I would like to send each of you my best wishes for a happy new year. As we begin the second half of the academic year in the midst of the Omicron surge, I am writing to share several district updates. Our current goal, as it has been all year, is to keep children in school and to do so as safely as possible.

As a reminder, school will start with a one-hour delay tomorrow, Monday January 3rd. This will give us time to distribute KN-95 masks, update our staff on new CDC guidance, and acclimate any subs to our buildings.

Over the past few weeks we have worked to prepare for the January return to school:

As our partners in educating Belmont children, we ask families to uphold mitigation measures as we return to school, including the following:

We have learned over the last two years that this pandemic and associated state and federal guidance can be unpredictable and can change quickly. The district is doing our best to prepare for all eventualities. I would ask families to be aware that the next two weeks may require shifts in schedules and staffing in order to maintain our goal of keeping children in school. I appreciate the fact that, like snow days or other unforeseen schedule changes, this can be difficult for families. We hope to avoid changes but want to alert you to this possibility.

Our educators and community have done a great job keeping students in school for the entire first half of the year. Thank you! I am grateful to the Belmont community for everything it has done to allow a return to a much more “normal” school experience, and very much want to see that continue for the remainder of the year.

Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns."

Sincerely,

John P. Phelan

This press release was produced by Belmont Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author’s own.