Hello Kirtland Families, The number of positive COVID-19 cases continues to increase in our area, including the city of Kirtland. I have been in communication almost daily with health officials and our fire chief Tony Hutton. They have been able to keep me up to date on the real time numbers of positive COVID-19 cases. With this information, along with the recent increase in student, staff and family positive cases, I believe we need to change our learning modality to decrease the number of students in our classrooms to help prevent further spread and quarantines. By reducing the number of students, we will be able to move them more than six feet apart to lessen the number of quarantines/close contacts. We currently have five staff in quarantine and 26 students. I have also been notified by several other families that someone is being tested in their household so these numbers could increase. Kirtland Elementary School On Wednesday, Kirtland Elementary School will start their hybrid model of learning in which students attend school every day for half of the school day. KES will be recommunicating if your child will attend in the morning 8:45-11:45 a.m. or in the afternoon 12:45-3:45 p.m. Kirtland High School Kirtland High School will continue with online learning for Tuesday and Wednesday this week and will transition to the hybrid model (attending in person two days a week) on Thursday, November 12. Kirtland Middle School Kirtland Middle School has had very few cases of students affected to date. They will continue in their current model Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week and will transition to the hybrid on Thursday, November 12 as well. Your building principals will be sending out more detailed information soon. Information on pickup and dropoff times for bussing can be found in Infinite Campus on Tuesday. For directions on how to find this information in Infinite Campus, use the following link: Directions in IC Lunch at KMS and KHS will be offered as usual. There will be the same Wednesday pickup for remote students. It will also be available for ALL KES students. Parents that want lunch/breakfast for the week, must complete this form (https://forms.gle/viYDe2rxaxRkaMRLA) weekly by Tuesday morning at 9:00 am(starting tomorrow). Pickup of these meals will be on Wednesday at 12:30-1:30 pm in front of the KHS entrance. I have also received some questions on what we will be doing after Thanksgiving break. There is concern about families traveling and being in close contact with other people. Local superintendents have been in discussion with the health department to discuss this situation. As we get closer to Thanksgiving, we will look at the COVID-19 numbers and make a decision with the health department. We will be hosting town hall meetings tonight (11-9-20) to answer any questions you may have. See Mr. VanArnhem's email for those links.
Please do not hesitate to contact me at chad.vanarnhem@kirtlandschools.org or your building principal with questions. Take care, Chad VanArnhem, Superintendent |