Bullock Creek Parents and Staff:
Good morning! Last Friday I communicated with you about our fall return to learning plan and would like to provide you with opportunity to view a draft of our plans. On our district website we have posted the Governor’s Return to School Road Map, a copy of the MI Safe Schools frequently asked questions, Executive Order 2020-142 and our draft of the return to learning plan. This is only a draft as we wish for our community to review this from July 24th-July 30th and have opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. We will be holding a Special Board of Education meeting on August 3rd for our Board to consider approval of our district plan. As you review this plan, realize that it covers details for the district but does not address specifics of any one particular building. Once our plan is approved by our Board of Education and the Midland County ESA, each building will assemble a team to work out the finite details for their particular building. I am hopeful as you review these details that you recognize that groups of very hard working and dedicated individuals have collaborated to create a meaningful and safe learning experience for each of our students and employees given the required expectations. We believe we are as prepared as we can be to support your child while providing a quality learning experience.

We will be offering our previously announced learning opportunities to families. I will offer a very brief description of each here:

1. Face-to-face – This is most similar to traditional school. However, we will be implementing an extensive list of safety protocols with our face-to-face plan. This will mean students are in school five days each week with a teacher teaching them each day. Our plan outlines the robust protocols we have for sanitation, screening, gathering size, PPE, transportation, and athletics. Our teachers and students will be prepared to shift to remote learning if our region moves to levels 1-3 or during a time when the district or a portion of the district must close due to quarantine.

2. Online – This learning model is for students who will benefit from being completely educated at a distance. We are offering this to parents and families as an option, and in this case, the student will not attend school physically. We will be working with our online learning provider Edgenuity to provide the daily instruction. One of our talented district teachers will be assigned to connect with each student at least once per week to answer questions, check social emotional health, and assist our online students with remaining connected to their school.

If you are concerned about getting your kids back into a traditional school day setting, please know we are doing all that we can to safely and effectively make that possible again. Our approach continues to be balanced and we love to support our kids and families. We also recognize that you may not yet be comfortable with returning your child back to face-to-face learning. For those of you that are not, I have included with this message a link to a sign up form for our 100% online program. If interested, please complete this form by Sunday, August 9th. This will allow us time to transition your child’s schedule to online learning in preparation for the coming school year. Please remember that as stated in my letter last week, if transitioning to or from online learning, students will only be able to transition at designated times and those times are consistent with our semesters.

If you have questions as you review the district plan, the Governor’s Roadmap to Return, or the online learning sign up form, please do not hesitate to contact me, or your child’s principal. We look forward to seeing you all again soon. Thank you for your flexibility, input and support during this unprecedented time.

Sincerely,
Shawn J. Hale
Superintendent

Sign up form for 100% online-only instruction:: https://forms.gle/b3TmqdCkR1KdwrYZ6

Please see attached files