Good Morning HJUHSD Students and Parents!

Although the school year has just ended and most students are thinking about summer and not the new school year, we want to remind you all about our plans for the new school year and some changes to our daily schedule. First of all, as mentioned in previous communications, all HJUHSD Schools will begin the new school year in August in our traditional, pre-COVID model. This means that all students will attend every day, five days a week. Changes to state guidance continue to develop, and at this point, the only significant item still being discussed at the state level is the mask mandate. We are confident that this will be settled before the start of the new school year, but we cannot speak to a definitive answer just yet. To be clear, HJUHSD will not have cohorts next year and certainly not a Cohort C distance learning option for students. With that being said, we do have our own online high school, Hanford Online Charter, or Independent Study in which students/parents can choose to enroll. Contact Hanford Online at 559-583-5941 or contact your school counselor for Independent Study options.

On another note, and in compliance with Senate Bill 328, which goes into effect in 2022, the regular school day will begin at 8:30 for our schools beginning in August. A later start does mean a later release time as well, but this new start time will be standard for all high schools in California over the next year. This new start time does allow for a “Zero Hour” four days a week in which students who need help or more instructional time will be able to receive additional support and assistance with their school work. Transportation for Zero Hour will be provided. The new daily bell schedule is listed below for your reference. More information regarding schedules and information for the new school year will be communicated throughout the summer by the district and your school site. Still, we want parents to be informed about our plans for the new year as early as possible. We are excited to begin the new year with all students back every day and in every period. Have a great summer, and we look forward to having you all back and welcoming our incoming students.

Dr. Victor Rosa
Superintendent

We are sending this update to help students and parents with some decision making for the near future. This year has been challenging to say the least, but we are proud of what we have been able to accomplish with our students under the circumstances and are very pleased to be ending the school year with more classroom time and activities. The purpose of this message however, is about the new school year beginning in August. Although that may seem far away, there are some things you should know as students and parents to inform your decisions for the new year. The COVID-19 Pandemic is improving daily, but at this point, it is impossible to know with certainty what our state and county will require of us for the new school year. 

With that being said, one thing we can say with near certainty is that HJUHSD High Schools will not be offering a synchronous, distance learning option for students next year. That means we will not have a “Cohort C” that works from home while other students work at school. There are also no plans to have any distance learning days or times in the daily schedule. This means that all students who attend school will attend five days a week for the entire school day. We know this is welcomed news to most, but for some families, returning to school normally, even in August may not be desirable. For those families, we do still have options. 

HJUHSD will continue to offer our Hanford Online Charter High School and Independent Study as was the case before the pandemic, but these programs do not run synchronously to the regular high school program. In both programs students are enrolled in an online curriculum and meet with instructors weekly. If you are planning to go to Hanford Online next year or think you may meet requirements for independent study, we suggest you speak to your counselor soon or schedule an appointment with Hanford Online to register for classes. 

We look forward to continuing to serve our students this year and are very pleased to offer even more normalcy in the coming school year. Thank you and have a wonderful weekend.

Dr. Victor Rosa
Superintendent

Good Morning HJUHSD Students and Parents,

We are sending this message with some general information about graduation ceremonies for the class of 2021. On March 26th, the CA Department of Public Health released guidance for conducting commencement ceremonies. After careful review of this guidance and with our county and state COVID case rates greatly reducing, we are confident that we will be able to conduct in-person, physical graduation ceremonies in June. Although we are very excited at the prospect of providing our seniors with this important milestone, there are some challenges to having a ceremony within the parameters of the guidance. 

We will be providing much more information in the coming weeks as we continue to plan, but we do already know that, at a minimum, we are required to limit the number of attendees at each graduation ceremony far more than we normally have to. We do not yet know how many guests will be allowed per graduate, but it will very likely be no more than four and possibly fewer. We are calculating our senior class size and facilities to get a specific number. We are currently working on ways to livestream the graduation ceremony to allow those who are unable to attend in person to still be able to see the graduates. Graduates and attendees will also be required to wear masks and distance in accordance with the guidance. 

We have had some families who experienced the drive-through graduation last year, express that they prefer we do the drive-through again this year. This will be the process for our Alternative Education Schools and those school administrators are planning for a drive-through format on Tuesday, June 1st. However, for our three comprehensive campuses, we will not be offering a drive-through option and will focus on an in-person ceremony at Neighbor Bowl.

We also know that announcing a physical graduation will spark questions about other senior events like Prom, Sober Grad, Grad Night, etc. At this point, we do not have a means within guidance to hold a prom and Grad Nights are not being held by theme parks. However, Sober Grad is in the works and as we continue to explore, other events like Scholarship Night, Senior Sunset, etc. may be able to occur. We want you to know that we are doing all we can within the guidelines to make these things happen for our Seniors. 

The current schedule for graduation ceremonies is as follows:

We will continue to provide updates in coming weeks, but we wanted our Senior students and parents to be aware of our current plan. Thank you and have a great weekend. 

In our continued efforts to best serve our students and abide by COVID-19 Public Health guidance and safety protocols, we are pleased to announce the next step in returning to normal for our HJUHSD students and staff. Our county and state COVID-19 rates continue to improve, and our percentage of vaccinated community members continues to grow. Our staff has had the opportunity to be vaccinated, and we are pleased to hear that many of our students aged sixteen and over are beginning to be vaccinated as well. The vaccine is much more readily available, and people, including students aged sixteen and over, are encouraged to reach out to their healthcare providers to schedule an appointment. 

With all of this encouraging news, we have now seen athletics return and more students out and about. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the CA Department of Public Health (CDPH) have also revised schools’ distancing guidance. This new information means that we can now increase the number of students on campus at one time. So, beginning Tuesday, April 6, 2021, we will be blending Cohorts A & B into one AB In-Person Cohort that will attend four days a week. Cohort C students will continue to remain on Distance Learning and log-in to their classes from home while AB Students work at school. This message will have several clarifying components and processes, so we encourage you to read carefully. The schedule below represents a typical week, but keep in mind that the Monday after Easter is a holiday, so the first week of their return will look a little different in that students will come to school Tuesday-Friday with no Wednesday DL day.

Here are some crucial components of this change to keep in mind:

There is now a physical attendance requirement being added to the AB In-Person Cohort. If a student in AB misses eight days of physically attending class in person, the student will be moved to Cohort C Distance Learning for the remainder of this school year. 

What happens if I login from home and do my class from there like I have sometimes been doing?

1. You will get credit for attending class and doing your work just like now, but that day will be counted as a day toward the eight days you can physically miss before being moved to Cohort C. 
2. Those eight days are not consecutive, meaning you only have eight days for the rest of the year.
3. An excused absence due to having to quarantine for COVID, bereavement, or doctor’s appointment with a note will not count against the eight days.
4. Full-day absences along with accumulated period absences will count toward the eight days. This means you cannot miss most of the day and go to the periods you choose only. 

What if I can’t, don’t want to, or don’t feel comfortable with coming back four days?
Your parent/guardian can contact the school and move you to Cohort C Distance Learning. 

I’m in Cohort C. Can I come back to school and join the AB In-Person Cohort?

Students in Cohort C have had the opportunity all year to move to Cohorts A or B. With this change and to ensure that we adhere to the required guidelines for distancing and class size, we cannot automatically move any Cohort C students to in-person. Beginning April 6, students and parents who can show an academic or social-emotional need to return to in-person learning will have the opportunity to request the process to begin. At this point, all students who are currently in Cohort C will remain there. The process will include:

1. On or after April 6, 2021, a parent can contact the school and request their student to join the AB In-Person Cohort.
2. The student will be required to sit out for two weeks and show a negative COVID-19 PCR test within 48 hours of the scheduled return date ending the two-week sit out.
3. The student must show academic or social-emotional need to return in person.
4. The student’s schedule must be evaluated to ensure room in all seven periods within the class size and distancing guidance. If there is not, they may have to wait until other students exit or other arrangements can be made. 

Of course all existing COVID-19 Safety practices and protocols remain in place including facial coverings being required at school at all times, social distancing, cleaning and hygiene protocols, and contact tracing. 

We look forward to seeing more students, more often in a couple of weeks. 

Although we have begun a new year and new semester at HJUHSD, COVID-19 continues to have a major impact on academics, extra-curricular activities, and athletics. Since this all began for us in March of 2020, we have been forced to make difficult decisions in line with limited and ever-changing guidance. Although we feel we have addressed the situation well and always with our students best interest first, we recognize that the ongoing nature of uncertainty is difficult for our students, parents, and staff. We are now faced with even more major decisions regarding athletics.

No superintendent or any other administrator wants to be the first to make a definitive decision on athletics, and to be honest, neither do I. However, as a district we have focused on communication and transparency, so I feel compelled to be as honest as possible with our students and families who continue to wonder what is going to happen to their athletic season or seasons. To that end, I want to provide some details as to the guidance that was provided to us as a district from the CA Department of Public Health (CDPH) and I have also linked some General CIF Guideline Documents and some Detailed CIF (All Sport) Guidelines from the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF).

The CDPH Guidance dictates when each sport can begin based in the CA COVID-19 Colored Tier System. In addition, the Regional Stay at Home Order was added after this athletic guidance was released which means that no athletic competitions can take place until ICU bed availability increases above 15% and the order is lifted for our region. At the writing of this document, our region has been at 0% for four weeks and we remain in a Stay at Home Order. The Stay at Home order supersedes the Colored Tier System.

My hope is that by seeing this mandated guidance, students, parents, and coaches will get a better understanding as to the reality of their sport actually having a competitive season or not. At the end of the document, we will provide some of our own analysis as to whether each sport is likely to have competition. This is our analysis as a district and not from any other agency. That also means that it is not set in stone, but our best guess based on what we know right now.

Our district has decided to resume and continue athletic conditioning beginning Tuesday January 19th, regardless of whether a sport ends up having competition or not. This is allowed within the guidance and allows student athletes to remain active and enjoy the sport they love.

Thank you for your continued support of our district and for being partners in this difficult time. I also hope that everyone understands that this is not what any of us want, but rather what we are required to do.

Dr. Victor Rosa
HJUHSD Superintendent

Good afternoon HJUHSD students and we hope you had a good and restful Winter Break. School starts next Monday the 11th and whether you are in Cohorts A, B, or C, there are some important items you need to remember as you prepare to return. Frist of all, just like before the break, facial coverings and social distancing remain a requirement and priority the entire time you are on campus. You have all done an awesome job with this, so we just ask that you continue. For those of you who are moving from the Distance Learning Cohort C to A or B, please familiarize yourself with the rules and schedule for return. You can find our plan, schedules, safety guidelines, and procedures at www.hjuhsd.org. Below is a calendar that takes you through February. Remember, when we have a Monday holiday, the weekly cohort schedule changes a bit and we have three Monday holidays coming up in the next two months. The calendar is also attached so you can print it. We cannot wait to see you back at school next Monday the 11th. Don't forget to be at school or logged in on time on Monday morning!

Good morning HJUHSD students and parents! We are sending this message to help clarify that our high schools will remain open next week for finals in the Plan B, Cohort Model we have been using the past six weeks. Although many local districts that mainly serve elementary students have opted to go to all Distance Learning next week, we do not intend to do so. The circumstances that led to the decisions of those districts which serve elementary age students are not the same for us, so we will continue to safely serve our students on campus as we have been.

On a similar note, we want all of our students and parents to know that Plan B will continue in the same Cohort A, B, and C model next semester. If you are already in Cohort A or B, there is nothing you need to do. If you are in Cohort C and plan to move to in-person instruction to start next semester, you need to reach out to your school to be formally moved to either Cohort A or B. Your school site may also be sending out a similar message with specific instructions on this process. Please remember that if you do not plan to make any changes, there is no need to call as your schedule will remain the same. 

As always, please visit www.hjuhsd.org for up to date information about our reopening and safety protocols.

Attention HJUHSD Students, Parents, and Staff

You may have heard about the Governor’s announcement today that the majority of California, including Kings County, will be going on a “Stay at Home Order” for a three week time period. We want to let all of you know that this order does not include schools that are open for in-person instruction like HJUHSD schools already are. We do not have a specific date in which the order goes into effect, but schools will remain open. Please refer to our website and COVID-19 Dashboard for daily updates on district positivity rates, but our schools continue to have a very low number of cases and remain a safe option for students. We hope this helps to clarify the Governor’s message and anything you may be hearing on the news or social media. 

Thank you!

Victor Rosa

Good morning HJUHSD Students and Parents.

As we have communicated in the past few weeks, HJUHSD schools have been on a path to reopen on November 9, 2020. Based on our county numbers and how well we are doing in both positivity rate and case rate, we now know that this date will be our official start date for our Plan B Hybrid Model. In this model students are being divided into two cohorts. These cohorts are being divided by alphabet in order to ensure classes are as evenly split as possible. The only consideration that will be made will be for confirmed siblings who do not share the same last name. No other considerations will be taken when it comes to cohorts. Cohorts will be communicated by sites in the coming week. (Earl F. Johnson and Community Day School are cohorting their students slightly differently to meet the needs of those smaller schools.) 

Cohort A will physically attend classes on Mondays and Tuesdays while Cohort B works from home.

Cohort B will physically attend classes on Thursdays and Fridays while Cohort A works from home. 

All students work from home on Wednesdays.

*A copy of the actual Bell Schedule is included below

Our staff has chosen to follow a Synchronous Instructional Model which means that students at school and students at home will log in to Google Classroom and Google Meets simultaneously to receive instruction, complete assignments, see demonstrations, etc. This allows for us to meet distancing guidelines at school, but still maintain instruction for all students which in essence means more instructional time. Teachers will be sharing their specific expectations with students in the following two weeks as we prepare for student return. We will continue to monitor our instructional model weekly and evaluate in December if there will be any significant changes for the second semester. 

Although there has been some confusion, we want our students and parents to know that we have listened to your concerns and suggestions and have therefore made some adjustments to the Distance Learning Model. If you are one of the parents who completed the request for Distance Learning survey, you will be hearing from your site counselors and administration team next week about your options. Rest assured that regardless of how you filled out the survey, either choosing to go to APEX or if you changed your mind and do not want APEX, you will be receiving a message from your counselors to clarify what your options are including whether you want to move to Hanford Online, Independent Study, or stay in your current classes. Please keep in mind that students who have requested to remain in Distance Learning, but are not attending regularly or performing well from a grade perspective, will not be allowed to continue in regular Distance Learning. Those students are also being contacted to clarify what their options may be. Again, all of these calls begin next week. 

We also want all students and parents to know that we are taking all precautions necessary to ensure a safe return. Please review all of our safety protocols in our HJUHSD Reopening Plan located on our district website. We have worked closely with our health department to ensure best practices. Here are just a few items in place for your safety.

• Facial coverings required
• Small, cohorted classes to allow for distancing
• Sanitizer and cleaning supplies readily available in all spaces
• Fogging machines
• Daily screeners completed by all students at home prior to attending
• Contact Tracing Protocols
• Regular testing available and accessible at multiple locations in Hanford 

Again, please review our reopening plan to review the details on these procedures. 

Our regular bus routes are being provided to students to come to school on their cohort days. 

Please continue to listen and watch for communication from the district and school site in the coming weeks as there will be a lot of information coming your way about returning to school. We cannot wait to see you all back again!

Below you will find a graphic providing clarification on when school can reopen. If you are having trouble seeing the graphic we also have it attached as a PDF. Remember, you can find our school reopening plan on our website here.

Have a great weekend!

Updated Message from the Superintendent (Seniors & Senior Parents - 5/4/20 - En Espaniol 

***Gradation Plan Update***

After careful consideration, we have decided to allow two cars per graduate, if needed, to make things easier for families. However, this will mean that in order for the processional to take place in a timely fashion, only the graduate will be allowed to walk up to receive their diploma and take their graduation photo. Family members cannot be in the graduate photo which also makes the photo more consistent with traditional graduation. The total number of guests between the two vehicles, including the graduate, is still nine. It is the responsibility of the attendees to ensure both cars enter the processional together. No accommodations will be made in the line if both vehicles are not together. Any student who chooses not to participate in the graduation processional will have their diploma mailed to their home. Again, more detailed instructions and specific guidance for your school will be coming from your principal.

Dear HJUHSD Seniors and Senior parents. Now that we are less than 30 days away from our first school graduation, we are forced to make some final decisions as to what graduation will look like. As you all know from our previous communications, we have already invested in and started our graduation videos for each school and delivered our Senior Yard Signs to all seniors. We did these things to be ready for whatever may come, but have always maintained hope that they would be in addition to a physical graduation as social distancing guidelines eased. We are now faced with the harsh reality that despite our hopes, a traditional graduation as we have known for years, is not going to happen. We also know that despite best intentions, suggestions, and plans for a postponed graduation later in the summer or fall, that this idea is also not realistic. The released state stages for reopening CA, has an event like graduation in Stage 4. The governor explained last week that the state will not even enter Stage 3 for months, which means that Stage 4 could be well into very late fall or winter. As leaders of this school district, and as educators who care deeply about our seniors, we simply cannot continue to postpone and possibly re-cancel a graduation for our seniors. We do not feel that is a good response for them or for our community. 

Therefore, we plan to do the best we can within these circumstances for our graduates. In addition to the video and yard signs, we want to provide seniors with an opportunity to wear their caps and gowns, participate in a voluntary “graduation procession” of sorts, get their names read out on the loudspeaker, and get that important picture receiving their diploma. We have planned, and believe we can do this in a drive-through fashion that meets compliance and honors our students as well as possible. We know this is not the perfect situation, but it can and will be special and memorable for our kids and families. Although more details will be coming from your site principals in the weeks to come, we want to just provide a glimpse at what graduation week will look like. The chart below should help explain what we have planned. For all of the drive-through graduation processions, GSP Studios will provide professional photography and will give details for purchasing photos. Again, we will share more details soon, and thank you for your understanding and support during this time!

Message from the Superintendent - 4/24/20 - En Espaniol 

Good morning HJUHSD Students and Parents. In this update, we plan to focus on Distance Learning and what this work means in regard to both impact on grades and your education. As you all know, we began formal Distance Learning after spring break and most students have been logging into their Google Classrooms to complete work and communicate with their teachers as they have been instructed to do. We, as a district and educators, have worked hard to provide these Distance Learning opportunities and believe all students should be completing this work for the following reasons:

1. It is critical that all students, whether they are seniors or not, continue to learn the content they would otherwise be missing if not for Distance Learning. Next year will begin for all students and we don’t want anyone to be behind in their content knowledge to start the new year at one of our schools or at college.
   
   
2. This is a great way to maintain some sense of normalcy and routine for students, which is very important during this time. Not to mention it allows for positive communication and collaboration with other students and teachers.
   
   
3. The work done during these six weeks of Distance Learning can only improve a student’s grade, so all students should be working hard to get their grades as high as possible. We will explain this a bit more below. 
   
   
4. Teachers have worked really hard to make Distance Learning happen and they want to hear from their students and support them in every way possible because that is what they do best. Teachers have virtual office hours posted which are a great way for students to get help and any of their questions answered.

In regard to grading and how Distance Learning affects grades, HJUHSD has taken the following approach which we feel is the best option for students in the long term and meets compliance with state guidelines for education during the COVID-19 Pandemic, specifically the “Hold Harmless” rule for students. The simple definition for Hold Harmless is that student grades should not and cannot be negatively affected due to the school closure for the Pandemic. The same guidelines also require that schools provide Distance Learning options. What we have done to ensure that no student grade is “harmed” in the process is this:

1. Student grades at the twelve week progress report (the report card mailed out April 22nd) which is the student’s total grade from January 13th - March 13th when the closure happened, have been recorded and documented.
   
   
2. No work/assignments/enrichment during the three week closure (March 16th - April 13th) count toward the twelve week grading period. That time is treated like an extended spring break and therefore does not harm the grade in any way.
   
   
3. Student work during Distance Learning is then added to the grade book like any other semester to begin calculating the 18 week or semester, total grade. During this time students will see their grades either improve or decrease in Illuminate based on their participation and work on Distance Learning.
   
   
4. At the end of the semester, final grades are then calculated based on the total amount of work since January 13^th with Distance Learning included.
   
   
5. Teachers and administrators will then compare the twelve-week progress report grades and the semester final grades to determine which one is the better/higher grade. Students will then be given the higher of the two grades as their final semester grade.
   
   
6. In this way, no student’s grade can be harmed by the closure and Distance Learning, but it can be improved by doing the distance learning work.

Site principals will soon be sending out instructions for seniors to pick up caps and gowns and Senior Yard Signs. Seniors will also receive instructions for submitting video clips for the graduation video, so please keep an eye out for those updates.  

We will have more to come on next week’s update, but we hope this clarifies the grading policy. If you have questions please feel free to call your school site.

Message from the Superintendent - 4/3/20 - En Espaniol 

Good morning HJUHSD students, parents, and families. As many of you have heard, a lot has changed in California’s educational response to the COVID-19 this week. Both the governor and the State Superintendent of Public Education recommended schools close to the public and go to Distance Learning for the remainder of the school year. In our last student and parent update, we shared a timeline with you that is available on our website at www.hjuhsd.org. That timeline included Plan B which would have allowed for students to return to campus and regular school on May 4th. Although that was our goal and hope, it is now obvious that Plan B will remain in place for the remainder of the year. This means campuses will remain closed and all students will be completing the rest of the school year remotely on Distance Learning.

Students will communicate with their teachers, counselors, and other staff virtually while completing their work via Google Classroom. Again, this distance learning model will be from April 14th through the last day of school on June 5th.  As we stated before, our students all have Chromebooks and use Google Classroom at school in many of their classes. For them, this will not be much of a learning curve and we know they will adapt quickly and do well with this format. Teachers are working very hard right now to ensure that distance learning options will be ready to meet the needs of our students and that they can be successful. It is very important that students complete these Distance Learning assignments in order to improve their semester grades as they now will not have another opportunity to do so in regular school.

Although we will have many more details to come in upcoming updates and direct communication through Google Classroom from teachers, we want to just clear up a couple more items that campus closure through the end of the year will affect. 

1. All school activities, events, athletics, practices  etc. are now cancelled through the end of the school year including prom, awards night, Grad Night, etc. Details of how to receive refunds for these events, if you have already paid, will be sent out and on the website after spring break. 
   
   
2. Graduation - We have contracted with an excellent videographer who will be putting together a graduation video that will feature each graduate and memories from the year. We will be sending out a form that allows graduates to submit short videos which will be used for the graduation video. It will then be aired on graduation day. We are doing the video regardless and have already started that process. However, if state and local officials have lifted social distancing guidelines by the time of graduation, we will still have a regular graduation or something as close to it as possible! Students, please expect that link and information to upload videos sometime after spring break. 

We know that this is very difficult information to hear and accept and we want you to know that we are all as pained by these decisions as you are. End of the year events are what we all look forward to as graduates, families, educators, and community leaders. We are sorry for these circumstances and we will continue to do the best we can for our students and stakeholders under this current reality. We will adjust accordingly and always with our student’s best interest at heart.