Students move to distance learning Jan. 5-7, schools closed

Dear families, students and staff,

Schools will be closed for in-person learning from Wednesday, Jan. 5 through Friday, Jan. 7. Students and staff will transition to our distance learning plan. We plan to have students back in class on Monday, Jan. 10.

With keeping the safety of our students, staff and families in mind we are choosing to move to distance learning for the rest of the week. Meridian School District has been faced with the same challenges as other school districts locally and nationally with staffing shortages and the increase of COVID-19 transmission in our community has made operating our schools even more difficult. We’ve also seen an impact on student attendance this week. With the added complexity of limited testing available in our community, staff and students are having to remain home. Finally, the forecast is calling for additional snow which could cause unsafe road conditions.

Students will use their district-issued devices and a combination of Google Classroom, Seesaw, Skyward and Zoom for learning. Instruction will be both synchronous (or live) and asynchronous (or independent). These tools and learning modes are outlined in our distance learning plan.

The distance learning school day may differ from the in-person schedule. Modified schedules for distance learning are as follows:

Thank you for your patience and understanding. We know our students are best served when they are in school. We will continue to assess our staffing, student attendance and weather conditions over the next few days and update families if distance learning will be extended beyond this week. If you have questions, please reach out to your child’s school.

Our regularly scheduled School Board meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 5 will move to Zoom, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83440215378.

Thank you,

James

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