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January 15 Friday Update: MLK Celebration, New Family Enrollment, COVID-19 and Schools Study Session, Inauguration
January 15, 2021
Happy Friday, WCCUSD community,
We have a busy and important week ahead. We get to celebrate, honor a hero, witness history, inform our community, and welcome new members to the WCCUSD family.
Monday, the City of El Cerrito, El Cerrito Branch NAACP, St. Peter CME Church, and the District will host the 32nd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration from 9 am to 12:30 pm. This year’s event is a car parade from the Del Norte BART station to the El Cerrito Plaza BART station. There will be a COVID-safe rally at the El Cerrito Plaza BART station, where you are encouraged to join and decorate your car. You can find more information here.
Wednesday is a historic day as we witness the Inauguration of the 46th President Joe Biden and Vice President and Bay Area Native Kamala Harris. Harris is the first woman, the first Indian-American, and the first Black-American to be Vice President.
Vice President Harris was born in Oakland and spent her childhood in Berkeley, and she will be the highest-ranking woman in our government’s history. A symbol of diversity, grace, and opportunity, Vice President Harris is an inspiration to WCCUSD’s girls of color and all of WCCUSD’s students.
To connect this history to in-class learning, WCCUSD supports schools viewing this nonpartisan event in class. We would like to provide that opportunity to WCCUSD students in our plans for distance learning.
We have asked each teacher to communicate with you:
- If they choose to view the inauguration in their weekly plans
- If adjustments will be made to Wednesday’s schedule to observe the inauguration.
We ask that if families/parents opt for their student not to participate in synchronous plans to watch the inauguration, they notify their classroom teacher so that an alternative method of connecting to the learning plans can be determined.
Also, given the recent events at our nation’s Capitol, teachers electing to synchronously watch the inauguration have been directed to immediately stop the classroom viewing if at any point it takes an unexpected turn.
Wednesday evening, we will host a Board Study Session featuring presentations from medical, public health, and education experts on COVID-19 and schools at 5:30 pm via Zoom.
The District nor the Board have made any decisions about reopening schools. Again, we have not made any decision about reopening or a return to in-person instruction. We want to inform the WCCUSD community about COVID-19 with current data, research, and best practices through the study session.
On Tuesday, new family enrollment begins online on our website at www.wccusd.net/enrollment2021-2022. The required documents for registration and the process are available online. Enrollment opens at 9 am.
Saturday kicks off the 3rd Annual education fair, a weeklong education fair for you to get to know our schools and the great people that make them go. You can find more details about the fair here.
Lastly, I want to continue to thank our team on both the educational and support side. You guys continue to do everything you can for students and families during this difficult time. Food Services has distributed close to 8 million meals in ever-changing conditions. So, thank you to the WCCUSD team.
Please continue to follow all the county public health guidelines and wear a mask. Enjoy the weekend.
In community,
Matthew Duffy
Superintendent