October 30, 2020
Dear U Prep Families,
Following Tuesday’s announcement by Denver Public Schools we wanted to provide you with an update from U Prep and our decision making tied to in-person schooling.
U Prep will continue to offer an In-Person and Remote option for all scholars in K-5th grade. If you are currently a family sending your child to in-person school across any of our grade levels please continue to do so next week and up until the Thanksgiving holiday break. We will continue to offer both fully In-Person and fully remote learning unless one of the following 3 scenarios occurs:
- The City and County of Denver is moved to ‘Stay at Home’ orders
- Local Health officials in conjunction with Denver Public Schools recommend the move to remote learning for K-5th grade
- A University Prep school meets the guidelines for any one of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) criteria for school closure
In the event that any one of these situations were to occur we will communicate with you directly in a timely fashion.
While we continue to see an up-tick in cases of COVID-19 in the Denver area, the clear message coming from local health officials is that schools are not the source of the problem in Denver. They remain incredibly safe spaces for children and adults as a result of all the health and safety guardrails that are in place.
Further, we continue to learn that elementary aged students:
- Have disproportionally low rates of infection
-and-
- Are poor transmitters of the virus
Our decision to remain open for those families who choose to send their children to school is directly tied to the data and science tied to the recommendations of our local health officials. Ultimately, we believe you should have this choice so long as health officials believe it is safe for our doors to remain open.
As we proceed forward with the school year, there are a few additional decisions we want to be sure you are aware of as they relate to your experience from now through 3rd quarter.
- University Prep will be fully remote across all grades, K – 5, between Thanksgiving and Winter break – 11/30/20 – 12/17/20
- It is critical that our staff and all of you can be with your families during the holiday window without worry of bringing community spread into our school buildings. Many of you and our teachers travel for the holidays and we want to folks to feel safe to do so.
- We will use the week of January 4th as a planning week for the second half of our year
- During this week, there will be virtual parent/teacher conferences with 100% of our families (more details to come)
- All families will have an opportunity to decide on In-Person or Remote learning for 3rd quarter by Wednesday, January 6th (a survey will be available to you on Monday, January 4th)
- For any family that does not make a selection we will place you in our remote learning option
- Our 3rd quarter will start on Monday, January 11th with all of our In-Person and remote learning fully up and running
We understand that the stress and anxiety created by this ever-changing environment that is school in 2020-21 can be challenging. We are working diligently to make sure that despite the difficulties involved, our scholars continue to receive the highest quality education that we can provide. And, we can’t thank you enough for your consistent engagement and effort as a partner in that high quality education.
We continue to implement all the necessary health and safety guardrails to keep your scholars, your family and our staff as safe as possible, and will always keep you updated as any new information arises.
With eternal gratitude,
David Singer
Executive Director
