Summer Update from SET High

2 views

Skip to first unread message

prin...@sethigh.org

unread,

Aug 4, 2021, 3:07:27 PM8/4/21

to set-w...@sethigh.org

Dear Students, Parents, and Guardians,

First, let me welcome our new families to SET! We are excited to have so many dedicated families and students joining our family and we are looking forward to actually being able to meet all of you during in-person school this year! All of the emails that I send throughout the school year always start with bullet points that will give you a quick overview of school news. Some of those bullet points will include additional detail further on in the email. The school calendar, located on our website (or here) will always be your main source for timely information about what is happening at SET. Please bookmark the calendar, or even better, add it to your own calendar using the Google Calendar link or the iCal links on that page.

Here are the bulleted items that will be discussed in this email:

COVID-19 Delta variant implications for next school year
Students have the option to replace last year's grades with Pass/No Pass
Board Meeting on Wed, Aug 11 at 4:30 PM (Zoom link)
Orientation will be virtual this year on 8/26 at 4:00 PM
Mesa College classes start on 8/23 (see important dates here)
Opportunity for our students: San Diego Youth Commission
New families should have received an email inviting them to connect to CoreCompetency

COVID-19 Delta variant implications for next school year

The uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 continues. I'm always hesitant to make predictions about how things will look too far into the future since COVID-19 news seems to change daily, but since we are only a month out from the first day of school, I need to give you my best guess at how things will look. For those of you who listened to the new parent orientation meeting recorded in June (link is here), nothing substantive has changed other than perhaps a little extra caution. For example, we had originally thought that we could go back to an in-person Orientation this year, but we have decided not to have gatherings in our Den and not mix students and families on campus. Other than that, though, we hope to have as normal a year as possible. As always, we will be following the recommendations of the CDC and will continue to modify our policies throughout the year as new guidelines emerge. The following are the important notes that you should consider:

Vaccines

Non-vaccinated students will need to quarantine for 10 days anytime there is a COVID-19 exposure on campus. As long as the student remains asymptomatic, these students may now do what is called a "modified quarantine" which allows them to remain on campus as long as they are tested 2x per week. A student who is in "modified quarantine" is not allowed to participate in extracurricular activities. Note that the "modified quarantine" for students is 10 days. For adults, quarantines are still 14 days
We do not anticipate that school will ever close for vaccinated students (unless a new variant emerges for which the current vaccines are not effective).
Vaccines are not required but are highly recommended because of the potential of lost days of in-person instruction for the unvaccinated. My guess is that the "modified quarantine" will be the first thing to change if the COVID-19 situation gets worse, and our unvaccinated students may wind up missing a lot of in-person school as a result.
Proof of vaccination status will be needed for us to do effective contact tracing.
- You can decline to provide proof if you wish, but we will have to assume that the student is not vaccinated and they will therefore be required to quarantine for 10 days if there is a COVID-19 exposure on campus.

Virtual School Options

We will continue to provide virtual school options (at-home) for any students who are medically excused from school (a note from a physician is required).
Students will have 10 flex days/year (5/half-year) that they can use to connect to class virtually from home, but the parents will need to e-sign an independent study contract by midnight the night before.
Students who need to quarantine for 10 days have the option to connect to class virtually. If we are the ones mandating the quarantine, no doctor's note will be required.
Students who are symptomatic and need to be at home will connect to class virtually unless they are too sick to do so.
We will return to the traditional school day with 5 full classes occurring between 8 AM and 3 PM, so the long days will be much tougher on the virtual students who will be sitting in front of screens for the full day. This is why we are putting limits on the number of virtual days for the majority of our students.

In-school Conditions

All students and staff will be required to wear a mask at all times while inside the SET High building.
Masks do not need to be worn when outside.
Students and staff will be tested at school for COVID-19 periodically (we will not know the exact timing until closer to the start of school).
We will have outdoor options (patio and park) for lunch, and students will be encouraged to not congregate in the Den. The mask-optional conditions outside should be enough of a carrot to have most students eat outside.

Students have the option to replace last year's grades with Pass/No Pass

Assembly Bill 104 allows parents to opt for changes in students' letter grades to pass/no pass. The form for pass/no pass requests is available on the California Department of Education (CDE) website. The CDE website also has a current list of institutions of higher education that will accept a transcript with a pass/no pass grade. Some postsecondary institutions, including those in other states, may not accept a pass/no pass grade for admissions. If you have questions about a specific institution’s policy, we recommend you reach out directly to them. Other options offered with the assembly bill include allowing students to retake their grade level and allowing high school juniors and seniors to ask for exemption from certain graduation requirements. While these options won’t be appropriate for every child, they may provide an opportunity for some students to catch up.

Note that at SET High we replaced all F grades with a grade of NG (No Grade) for the last semester of the 19/20 school year. We have decided to do the same for the entire 2020/21 school year as well. The student will still not receive credit for the class, but the grade of NG will not adversely affect their GPA. We will do a mass grade change to replace the grade of F with the grade of NG prior to the start of the school year.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you would like any grades that are a C or higher to be replaced with a P. We are happy to discuss the pros and cons with you if you would like to talk to us before filling out the form. Note that new SET High students will need to make this request to the prior school. We cannot change grades that were submitted by an alternate institution.

Board Meeting on Wed, Aug 11 at 4:30 PM (Zoom link)

All of our board meetings are open to the public. We look forward to having you attend. The board agenda and details about the meeting will be post 72 hours in advance on our website. All board agendas can always be found here.

Orientation will be virtual this year on 8/26 at 4:00 PM

As stated earlier, we will not be having an in-person Orientation so that we can limit the interactions between our students and other families. Our strategy for handling COVID-19 has always been to limit the number of close contacts between individuals in our community. A virtual Orientation is a safer and still adequate replacement for what we need to accomplish on this day. We will provide more details and a Zoom link as we get closer to the day.

Mesa College classes start on 8/23 (see important dates here)

For those students (Juniors and Seniors only) who are already signed up for Mesa College classes (or who plan to take Mesa classes -- you better get on this!), Mesa College has its own schedule. You start sooner and will be done with your semester before winter break.

Please pay attention to the other important dates contained in that link. In particular, September 3 is the last date that you can drop the class without losing your eligibility to take future classes in the San Diego Community College District. That is their rule and there is nothing we can do about it if you accidentally miss that deadline.

Opportunity for our students: San Diego Youth Commission

I would love to see some of our students serve on the San Diego Youth Commission. They do not make the application process obvious. Perhaps that is their way of making sure that only the truly interested and truly dedicated apply. Be one of those!

New families should have received an email inviting them to connect to CoreCompetency

CoreCompetency is your one-stop shop to see everything important about your child's progress through high school. You will want to connect to it and bookmark the link. If you ever forget the address, there is a link to it on our Parent Portal on http://sethigh.org If you prefer to go to it directly, the easiest URL to type in and to remember is https://cc.sethigh.org.

The first time that you connect, please find the email invitation in your inbox (it might be in Spam) instead of trying to create an account yourself. That will be the easiest path to getting connected. Students should not create accounts for themselves because they will automatically be able to connect once they have a sethigh.org email address. Those email addresses will be issued at the start of the school year.

Thanks, everyone! We are excited about the potential of this school year and look forward to having a full campus soon. We will be communicating more in a few weeks when our teachers return and we have more to report as we make final preparations for the new year. Enjoy your final days of break!