May 19, 2020 - On Monday, Jeff Aranguena, Superintendent, Mariposa County Unified School District provided an update on COVID-19.

May 18th, 2020

Dear Mariposa School Community,

Last week we were provided with a variety of mixed messages at the State and Federal level regarding reopening our schools. The President communicated that he believes our Country should be getting back to normal, while the Nation’s disease expert expressed reservations regarding the opening schools in the fall. Additionally, our State Superintendent informed school districts that guidance for reopening our schools in the fall would most likely not be provided by our Governor, and it will be left to local school districts to make that decision. Finally, we learned that all CSU campuses have made the decision to continue distance learning for the fall 2020 semester.

While all this uncertainty continues around us, I want to assure all of you that our team is working very hard to keep an open mind while we consider multiple options to address what I consider our top priorities at this time: graduation, school reopening, and addressing the budget crisis. When problem solving these specific items, the health and safety of our students and staff members continue to be our number one priority.

A brief update on our top priorities at this time:

Graduation: Our team expects to have graduation plans prepared by the end of this week. We will be having a school board meeting on Thursday, May 21st to review options. I would like to stress once again that the health and safety of staff and students will be our priority when finalizing our district plans.

School Reopening: Our team continues to work with state and local officials to review and consider a variety of options. Distance learning, blended learning, and seat based learning options are all being considered at this time. The health and safety of our students and staff continue to be the top priority in every scenario. With social distancing guidelines in place, all seat based options continue to be extremely problematic at this time.

Budget Crisis: Governor Newsom released the May Revision to the current California budget last week. Our team is in the first stages of translating what the historic stark financial forecast and budget deficits mean for our school community. With the proposed budget shared last week, Mariposa schools are being asked to do more, with a lot less.

After the end of this week, we will have only three weeks left until the conclusion of the 2019-20 school year. This time of year is usually filled with excitement, traditions, and celebrations. Instead, we all find ourselves adjusting to a new way of life, while doing our best to take care of ourselves as well as checking in on friends and family.

I encourage our students to stay fully engaged in their learning and ask that parents continue to reach out to their child’s teachers and school principals if they need additional support. We are here to help and support you as we all navigate through these challenges together.

Our team will be assessing our current distance learning platform, while looking to retool and improve based on our experience over the last three months. This is important, in the event we must continue to utilize distance learning in the fall. We continue to be committed to working closely with our state, local, and county officials, as well as seek feedback from our parents, staff, and students. We continue to be all in this together.

Warm regards,
Jeff Aranguena
Superintendent
Mariposa County Unified School District
Source: MCUSD