Morristown Elementary School District

March 19, 2020

Morristown Elementary School Families:

I want to acknowledge all of you for your patience as our country moves through these challenging times. As we come off of spring break, we will face the reality that school closures will have on our families, and I want to stress that our teachers and staff will be working diligently to do their best to meet the needs of the students of the school. Communication will be very important with this, and we will use several different options for this. These methods of communication from the district will include our website, our Facebook account, and one-call notification. In addition, our teachers will be involved in the communication process. This will include using email and phone calls as appropriate. Many of our students have a school Gmail account. This is first initial last name followed by @morristowneld75.org. (For example, gsackos@morristowneld75.org.) The teachers in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8 will be using the Gmail platform, so please have your children in these grades log into their Gmail accounts and email the teachers Ms. Hefner and Mr. Trad. These teachers need to know the capacity of these students to use technology from home. If there are problems with logging in or with technology in general, please contact Dr. Sackos at (623) 546-5102.

On Thursday, March 19, in response to the governor and state superintendent's announcement of statewide school closures, the Morristown Elementary governing board will hold a special meeting to ensure that essential functions for our district continue. A resolution authorizing the closure of the school and the suspension of all related school activities will be presented. The resolution will demonstrate the need to support all our employees as we move through the closing of the school. When approved, the resolution will allow the district to continue to pay employees for the time period of school closures. Employees will have tasks both at the site and from home. This effort will allow for the school to follow the social distancing recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in maintaining fewer than 10 people in specific locations.  

The resolution allows for employees to complete essential functions surrounding business services and the food service program. Food service will be putting together and distributing breakfast/lunch bags to all youth under the age of 18. Starting Monday, March 23, the school will begin providing meals. Per USDA regulations, all children must be present at the time the meals are distributed. The food distribution locations will be at the established stops of our bus routes and at the school itself.  See our Free Breakfast and Lunch During School Closures flyer for the schedule. If you cannot access this link, please go to our school website for information on times and which bus routes we are using.

All school events and activities are canceled through March 27, 2020. This includes parent teacher conferences, the PTSA monthly meeting, third quarter awards ceremony, and Lifetouch pictures. We will reschedule these events pending the ending of the school closure. We will reschedule the scheduled AIMS Science tests after the school closure ends.

Our teachers will begin working on developing and providing supplemental educational opportunities to support student learning during the time of school closure. These supplemental educational opportunities will increase should the school closure extend beyond March 27. The upper grades will use the Google Classroom platform where lessons can be stored and student work saved, monitored, and submitted. We fully understand the possible limitations of technology of our families from home. We will be very cognizant of this and look for ways to overcome these obstacles. Some teachers will be making weekly packets available, and we need to work together to get these to our students.

We are continuing to receive information from the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) regarding testing and whether we will need to make up instructional days, depending on the number of closure days. We will share additional information and answers as soon as we receive them. Through this endeavor we encourage you to stay posted on details. You can do this through the school’s website, the school’s Facebook page, and by communicating directly with your child’s teacher(s) via email.    

The governing board, our staff, and I appreciate your support as we continue to focus on the needs of our students. Staff members have been working hard to support our next steps, and I appreciate their work. It is in times like this that the greatest results take place when everyone is working as a team and supporting one another. Some of the most difficult situations can be an opportunity for the greatest learning experience. These endeavors can truly shape our youth for success in their future.  

Sincerely,