Manhattan Schools Letter

On behalf of Manhattan public schools, i would like to welcome students, staff, parents and the greater Manhattan community to the 2020-2021 school year. It’s here! Our first day of school is Wednesday, August 26. A districtwide open house is schedualed for Tusday, August 25. We are excited to open school safely for all of our students and staff. We also recognize that there are those who will be unable to attend school in person. Through our online remote learning platform, students will be able to attend classes, engage in learning, and make connections with their teachers and peers. Manhattan Public School’s back to school plan promotes a safe and healthy setting for learning, teaching and working. The wellbeing of our students and staff is our number one priority. The District is offering a full in-person learning platform and a full online learning platform. While our goal is for all students to attend classes on-site five days a week, our plan makes accommodations for those families with medical, health, and/or safety concerns related to COVID-19. We invite readers to check out our back to school plan in its entirety. You will find the link to the final 2020-2021 back to school plan on the Manhattan Public Schools website (https://www. rollontigers.org/). For full in person learning, a student’s schedule will be similar to how in-person learning looked before the pandemic. Students are in classrooms as usual. Health and safety measures, such as hand washing, physical distancing, face covering where physical distancing is not possible, and cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces, will be followed. For full online learning, students will receive live synchronous instruction. Students will see and hear the same instruction as the in-person students. The goal for students who need full online learning is to provide an educational experience that is as close as possible to attending inperson learning. Manhattan Public School’s plan is to implement a system where students can ask questions and engage in class discussions. This scenario requires parent/adult supervision and coordination to ensure that all remote students are participating in required classes and learning opportunities. Manhattan Public schools would like to thank students, staff, parents, and the greater Manhattan community for their patience this summer. We would also like to thank students, staff, parents, community stakeholders, the Gallatin County-City Health Department (GCCHD), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Office of Public Instruction (OPI), the School Administrators of Montana (SAM), the Montana School Boards Association (MTSBA), and the Montana High School Association (MHSA) for guiding us through the process of safely reopening school. Collectively, we understand the importance of students returning to school. Academic learning is important, but perhaps most important is the mental health and social-emotional well-being of our students. There are challenges ahead of us that, together, we will overcome. In Manhatten, our core values of respect, integrity, community, work ethic, and citizenship are strong. We will face the challenges together to safely create opportunities for our students. We are looking forward to a successful 2020-2021 school year.

Sincerely, Brian K. Ayers, Superintendent