Update on Hybrid plan, 3/19 Virtual Only day

[prin...@sethigh.org]

Dear Students, Parents, and Guardians,

• Hybrid News: Last week's case count has not been updated yet, so no news on Full Hybrid, yet
• Friday, March 19th is a Virtual-Only day
• This Thursday (3/4) is a minimum day (pick-up at 12:00)
• Graduation Plans (current thinking)
• Asian Pacific Student Alliance High School event at SDSU (3/5 and 3/6)

Hybrid News

The website that we use to determine our adjusted case count (based on student zip codes) has not been updated yet so we do not have any new information on the likely timeline for Full Hybrid.  The county-wide numbers came in at 15 and we usually track a little lower than the county, so it is possible that we will be open to Full Hybrid on Monday, 3/8, but I cannot know for certain until last week's and this week's numbers come in.  Please continue to be patient.  In case you want to see the raw data that we look at, you can see it here:  https://covid-19.sdcoe.net/Health-Practices/Case-Rates-by-ZIP-Code/14-Day-Case-Rate  When you see the date switch from 2/14 to 2/21, I'll be able to re-calculate the new SET adjusted case rate.

Friday, March 19th is a Virtual-Only day

The good news is that most of our staff will be receiving their second vaccine on Thu, March 18th.  The bad news is that Friday, March 19th was supposed to be our Finals day and we cannot risk having a large portion of our staff calling in sick on finals day.  Hopefully our staff does not get too sick from the second vaccine, but in case they do, we have decided to hold finals on the Wednesday and Thursday of that week (3/17 and 3/18) and turn the Friday (3/19) into a fun virtual-only half-day.  This will give families an extra travel day in case you have figured out a way to travel over Spring Break and will also let our staff sleep in if they need to.  Thank you for your understanding.

Graduation Plans (current thinking)

Our graduation for this year was supposed to be on Friday, June 11th down in Balboa Park at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.  However, the Balboa Park staff are not confident that gatherings will be allowed by June so we need to focus more heavily on our plans B, C and D.  Plan B would be at our local park (Cabrillo Park), but that would presumably have the same restrictions as Balboa Park.  Plan C is on our cul-de-sac in front of school, and Plan D would be a graduates-only event inside the school.  The most likely option will be Plan C, on our cul-de-sac.  In order for us to keep all options open for as long as possible, we need the families to be OK with being flexible with a Friday, June 11th or a Saturday, June 12th graduation (both would be at 9:00 AM).  As soon as a family needs to have a guaranteed day for graduation, we will need to lock in that day and that will limit our options.  Plans A and B can only happen on Friday, June 11th because that is when we have Spreckels reserved and that would be when we have the best chance of not competing with baseball and soccer at Cabrillo Park.  Plan C can only happen on Saturday because the construction crews that are working on our neighbor's building can only stop work on a Saturday.  Plan D can happen on either the Friday or Saturday, but that is the least desirable option because we would not be able to accomodate families.  If we have to lock in a day right now, we would have to choose Saturday and then rule out Plans A and B.

So, Senior parents, let us know the latest possible date that you would have to lock in graduation.  If you are completely flexible and just happy that there will be a graduation, there is no need to respond at all.  For traveling grandparents, it would be best for them to come in a day early so that they could handle a Friday or Saturday graduation.  I do know, though, that some parents do not have flexibility with their work schedules and will need to choose to either have Friday or Saturday off as we get closer to that date.  If you can be flexible, please try to do the best you can to make the decision at the last minute.

Regardless of where we have the physical graduation ceremony, there will be a Hybrid option for graduation to make sure that we do not exclude those families who cannot attend in person.  We will have TVs and live streaming to make sure that the Hybrid participants feel as much a part of the ceremony as possible.

Asian Pacific Student Alliance High School event at SDSU (3/5 and 3/6)  

One of our former students is part of the Asian Pacific Student Alliance at SDSU and he has invited our students to an outreach event geared towards High School students.  Even if you are not of Pacific Asian heritage, these kinds of events are a great way to connect to college students and to learn about what college life is like.  One of the secrets that I learned while in college is that events like these are usually very lightly attended but are a great way to get free food (not this time since it is virtual) and to meet interesting people.  The students usually put a lot of time into planning the events and then are super excited when someone actually shows up.  Most people think that they are unique in being nervous about feeling out of place. The reality is that the majority of people will psych themselves into not attending, so those who are brave enough reap all of the benefits.  So, learn how to be brave, make this club's day, and have some fun!

More info can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P-K4dL77qagFnzeiLN2o7jILZ6YKAKXd/view?usp=sharing

 

Thanks everyone.

Dr. McCurdy