Dear Families,

As we worked to develop our Return to School Plan, myself and the other superintendents in our county, have had weekly meetings with the Livingston County Health Department regarding the status of COVID-19 in our community and regarding how to bring our students back to school safely. The health department staff have been incredibly helpful and supportive during this time, and we are lucky to have such a collaborative relationship with them. To help us create a safe environment for students and staff, the Livingston County Health Department prepared several guidance documents. One of those documents is a Parent Toolkit. This toolkit provides an overview of COVID-19 and how schools and the health department will work together should there be a possible case of COVID-19 in a building. You can view the toolkit at https://bit.ly/2PLeaoW.  The last two pages of the toolkit contain information about when a student should stay home from school. We are asking all parents to review these pages and use this information to screen students daily before they leave for school. Knowing the symptoms and signs of COVID-19 and when a student should stay home from school will help reduce the risk of a positive case in our buildings.

District Phone System Outage 8/13/20

The district will be switching to a new phone system, Thursday, August 13. This will result in a planned district-wide phone system outage from 10:45 a.m. until 1 p.m. While not ideal, this is needed to complete the switch to the new system. We will post a notification on our website when the outage begins and update the information when the switch is complete, and our phone system is operational again. Once installed, the new phone system will be more reliable and provide new advanced options for staff, which will help the event of a mandated school closure. All district phone numbers will remain the same. 

Bond Work Update

During last night’s Board of Education meeting, I provided an update on the bond projects that have been occurring this summer. This update information on the current debt millage rate. You can view that update at https://bit.ly/30MBI3f. While these projects are moving along nicely and several are complete, some work will be finished after students return next week. These projects will not affect our ability to hold school or the safety of our students. However, I wanted to share this, so you are not surprised on the first day of school if you still see work occurring at our buildings.

Sincerely,

Erin J. MacGregor, Ed.S.

Superintendent

Howell Public Schools