December 17, 2020
Dear Dunham Families,
As we head into Winter Break I wanted to give you an update regarding the reopening of school to on-site learning. In October we set a date for an early January 2021 return. We were hopeful as things seemed to be getting better in late October and it seemed the Red Tier was within reach. Unfortunately, things have taken a drastic swing in the wrong direction with COVID-19 cases growing at an alarming rate. Right now opening when we return from Winter Break in January is not an option due to State and County guidelines. Like you, we are disappointed. We will continue to monitor State and County guidelines and have prepared a plan to return when Sonoma County moves into the Red Tier.
We have worked hard to update our initial reopening plan to reflect practices and guidelines for reopening the school. We have turned the plan into a handbook which can be viewed on our school website’s COVID resource page at: https://dunhamsd.org/covid-information-for-families/ . Please take some time to read through so you can know what to expect once we return to on-site learning. We will have parent information nights to share and review the information in the handbook once we have a hard reopening date.
As indicated in the handbook, when infection rates decrease and with the guidance of public health authorities, we will move into a Hybrid A/B Instructional model where students return to in-person learning two days a week. Group A students will attend Tuesday and Wednesday and Group B students will attend Thursday and Friday. Monday will be a distance learning day for all students. With this model, students will have three distance learning days and two on campus instruction days. This is a change from what had initially been planned as our hybrid model back in July of 2020. The prior model, an A.M./P.M. schedule, we came to find would not work logistically, especially with the cleaning and sanitizing that needed to happen. Also, it would have made it very difficult to support students that were doing 100% distance learning and opting not to participate in the onsite hybrid model.
Winter Break starts on December 21 and goes through January 1. Our first day of school for 2021 is on Monday, January 4th. I sincerely hope you enjoy this time and are able to make some lasting memories with your loved ones. On behalf of the Dunham Staff, we wish you happy holidays.
Daniel Hoffman
Superintendent / Principal
