In School Learning Suspended Through April 17

DSST Families,

Good morning, I hope all of you are feeling healthy and doing well today.  Settling into a new reality of quarantine is not easy for families - mine included.  The reality of supporting your children’s learning from home, setting new family routines, caring for sick family members, while trying to manage work expectations is very challenging.  This is compounded by not knowing what is next and how things will impact all of us economically and physically. Please know that you are in our thoughts and best wishes as you navigate this time.  

To complicate things, I realize that there is a lot of uncertainty about what is next for your child and for DSST schools.  You may have heard from your School Director already, and if not you will today.  But I wanted to take a moment to reiterate my thanks for your patience and courage.  

Last night Governor Polis announced that  all in-person school learning is suspended through April 17. This means that DSST schools will not reconvene as planned on April 6th. We know you likely have many good questions, and we are working to have a more robust update for you as soon as possible.  We will make informed decisions based on the directives of the city, state, and federal government and will communicate with you as soon as we know more. The DSST Team is currently working hard on what the next phase of the 19-20 school year might look like, including post April 6th and post April 17th.  Once we have a solidified strategy, we will be communicating that out to all of you. Thank you for bearing with us as we navigate these uncharted waters and truly unprecedented times. 

In addition to the news from Gov. Polis, here are a few more updates: 

Internet access: In order to help us understand our learning options in these uncertain times, we would like to make sure your student’s computers are ready. To assist us with this, can you please ask your student to turn on their student computer, connect it to the internet and leave it on overnight.  This can happen either tonight (Thursday) or tomorrow night (Friday). If you do not have internet access or are having trouble connecting please click here from your phone. We want to do everything we can to help your family access the internet for the coming months.

Optional AP Academic Resources were shared with AP students this week- we hope these resources will support our students in high stakes classes and help them move forward as much as possible while school is out.  

No matter what grade your child is in, we have compiled good optional resources for students to continue to access during this Extended Spring Break.  Please encourage your child to do so. 

Optional Academic Resources page includes K-12 content to keep students curious.

Other Resources 

We will continue to update these resources so that you can stay updated. 

• COVID-19 site includes the latest updates from our network
• Family & Community Resource page includes food, mental health, and internet resources, and much more!  

State Testing 

You may have already heard that the CDE announced all state testing was “paused” for this year. The College Board has also announced that SAT exams scheduled for May have been canceled. We have not heard an update on AP exams, but their website promises an announcement on March 20.  We will continue to provide updates on what you and your students need to know about any future cancellations and postponements of testing. 

I sincerely hope all of you are doing ok during these unsettling times. Please know that I am thinking of all of you every day, and am sending you my very best.

Take care,

Bill