March 18, 2020
Good evening Douglas County community,
I hope you have been able to enjoy this Spring Break and spend some quality time with your families.
In an effort to take further action to address the public health threat of COVID-19, earlier today, Governor Polis signed an
executive order suspending in-person learning in public and private schools across the state from March 23 to April 17.
The Douglas County School District will be following this executive order, meaning our buildings will remain closed through Friday, April 17. This includes Before and After Care (BASE), preschool programs, and facility rentals. As we announced last week, we will be transitioning to remote learning starting next week.
Monday, March 23, will be a teacher planning day and there will be no student assignments on that day. Following that, teachers will be in touch with students remotely, each day, with assignments. We understand that having students at home can create additional stress, especially for working parents (whether you are working at home or in an office setting). Please know that our intent is to ensure that our students continue with learning during this closure. Remote learning is not meant to create additional hardships for our families. Students will be able to complete their assignments each day at a time that is convenient for your family. There is not an expectation that students will be online for a full school day.
If your family does not have access to a learning device such as a laptop, Chromebook, iPad, etc., or does not have high-speed internet service in your home, please know there are resources available. You may complete this
online technology assessment survey to let us know what your technology needs are.
Beginning the week of March 23, DCSD’s Nutrition Services department will be providing grab and go lunches to anyone, under the age of 18. Please visit the
COVID-19 Family Resources page of our website for more information about this program, as well as other programs in our amazing community.
Moving to remote learning is unchartered territory for our school district and our educators. But I know I can count on each of you to partner with us in this journey. We ask that you provide our teachers with some patience and grace as they make this transition. I’ve heard from many educators who already miss their students terribly, and this abrupt shift to remote learning is hard on all of us. But together, I know we can do this, and navigate these unfamiliar waters as one community; one family for each of our 68,000 students.
For the remainder of this Spring Break week, I hope you and your family can find time to relax and recharge, stay healthy. We will continue to provide updates as they become available.
Thank you for your partnership!
Thomas S. Tucker, Ph.D.
Superintendent
Douglas County School District
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