Cape Henlopen School District to Retain Current Model of Instruction
Dear Cape Staff/Families,
As many of you are aware, yesterday Governor Carney announced additional restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of those restrictions included a recommendation that Delaware schools pause in-person learning beginning December 14 and transition to remote learning through January 8. This decision and announcement by the Governor is an effort to support schools and districts who face significant operational challenges because of their increased numbers of positive COVID-19 cases and the number of staff members that may have to quarantine with each positive case.
Quarantines are a proactive and precautionary measure that all districts must consider with each positive COVID-19 case and are determined by the Department of Public Health (DPH) based on the information gathered by the school. Typically, the better job the school is doing with following COVID-19 protocols, the fewer number of quarantines necessary.
Since the beginning of the school year, we have had 49 positive COVID-19 cases. This is out of approximately 5000 students and/or staff involved in our in-person or hybrid reopening model and equates to less than a 1% positive rate. During that same time period, and for precautionary purposes, we had to quarantine 27 staff members. That number is out of more than 1200 total staff working in our schools. It is also important to note that none of the 27 staff members who we quarantined tested positive for COVID-19.
I am extremely proud of everyone involved with our re-opening efforts and in particular, the dedication and unwavering focus on following the COVID-19 protocols established in our reopening plan. This has been a total team effort, including students, staff, and parents/families. We could not be providing in-person, hybrid, and remote instruction to our 6000 students without all members of our Cape team doing their part and, in so many cases, going above and beyond to do what is BEST for our amazing STUDENTS.
For these reasons, the Cape Henlopen School District will continue to operate under our in-person, hybrid, and remote models of instruction, the same models we have been following since the beginning of the school year. We will not be following the recommendation of the Governor to pause hybrid instruction due to significant operational concerns, because at this point, we are not experiencing them.
Please know and understand that we will pivot to 100% remote instruction if, at any time, we experience any significant operational issues, or feel that providing in-person instruction compromises the safety of our students or staff.
Thank you again for everything that all of you have done to support our reopening efforts and the Cape Henlopen School District. I often say that the success of any organization is directly related to the quality of people in the organization or community and during challenging times this becomes even more evident. In other words, each and every one of you is making a difference and allowing us to do so much more for what is most important to all of us, our STUDENTS.
Stay Safe & Healthy,
Robert S. Fulton , M.S.Ed.
Superintendent
