Conrad Public Schools Announcement

Conrad Public Schools & COVID-19 (#17)
Conrad Students, Families, Stafff, and Community Members:
At the April 14th regular Conrad Public School Board of Trustees meeting last night, a discussion was held on our District's plan for finishing out the 2019-2020 school year. 1t was decided that CPS, for the safety of our staff, students, and community, would not return to a traditional onsite school environment for the remainder of the J.9-20 school year. We will finish this school year with our current off-site, online, distance education system. Additionally, the graduation ceremonies for the Class of2020 will be planned as a virtual celebration with potential opportunities to celebrate by maintaining appropriate social distancing and stay at home directives.
While this is undoubtedly unwelcome and disappointing news, it is not unexpected and not unprepared for. Our staff has worked very hard in developing, implementing, and continually improving what can provide for our students. Hopefully this decision will take some uncertainty out of waiting for a decision every two weeks from our state government and give our students, staff, parents, and community in Conrad the closure, focus, and understanding to move forward with a common goal in mind. We will continue to do everything we can to provide and improve our educational systems for our students. Let's all work together and continue to stay engaged for the final push to the end of the school year. I have no doubt that together we can minimize the impact of learning loss and put our students in a good position to succeed when traditional school resumes.
This decision was not taken lightly. As a district, we worked early in this process to put everything necessary in our district policy for this possibility. By taking these steps, we have ensured that our funding will remain wholly intact for the school year. The district will continue to offer our grab-and·go breakfast and lunch program. We have approved the administration and staff to implement the systems in place and work to determine proficiency for our students in this uncertain time. CPS continues to plan and adjust for our summer programs, camps, and Cowboy Academy and intend to utilize these to help fill gaps with our students. Input was used from our state government, our· local., state, and federal health departments and professionals, as well as the details of our local situation and impact. We realize the tremendous burden that this puts on all of us in this community for the greater wellbeing of all those in our community and beyond. Please continue to support each other in these unprecedented difficult times. Our community has done a tremendous job of implementing socal safety directives and our hope is that we can continue on this path to give the greatest chance for our healthcare professionals to be successful in dealing with the COVID-19 threat.
CPS wants to give you a sincere thanks for all your hard work to help provide the best possible learning opportunities for our students while sacrificing so much of your lives for the greater good of our community and society.
Sincerely.
Sean Beddow, Superintendent
Conrad Public Schools