Superintendent’s Update to Ukiah Unified Families - May 1, 2020

Remote Learning

Elementary school staff will be reaching out to families soon with specific details about our third round of remote learning, which will begin on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. Monday, May 11, 2020, will be a staff workday to prepare for the next round of remote learning. Students will receive three weeks of work. 


Secondary school staff will also be reaching out to update families about their plans for the next round of remote learning. For secondary students who are completing paper copies of assignments, schools will communicate with you about the work dropoff and pickup plan. You should hear from each school no later than Friday, May 8, 2020. 


There will be no issuance of new assignments after May 29th.  Schools will be in touch with you closer to the end of the year to share their final week of school plans.  If you have any questions, please call your student’s school office, or call our Remote Learning Hotline at 707-472-5003.


Secondary school progress reports have been mailed, and you should receive them next week. In collaboration with school leaders and staff, we have created the Secondary Temporary Grading Policy to support our secondary students and staff during remote learning. The grading policy details the process in which grades will be assigned at the secondary level for the Spring Semester for high schools and 4th Quarter for middle schools for the 2019-20 school year. Superintendent Kubin emailed out a link to a video explaining the overall grading policy to our students and what to expect on this current progress report. Feel free to ask your students to view this video.


We have issued Mobile Hotspots to secondary students and Special Education students who do not have internet access readily available at home for remote learning. For Secondary students and special education students, please reach out to your student’s school for more information.


Anyone wishing to purchase Chromebook insurance has until May 6, 2020. $24 will insure a UUSD Chromebook for the rest of the year. Follow this link to sign up.


Governor Newsom’s Statement - April 28, 2020

This week, the Governor made a statement regarding starting the 2020-21 school year beginning at the end of July. I want to let you know our start date for the 2020-21 school year has not changed and remains August 13, 2020. School calendars are complicated items that require a great deal of planning and coordination. District start and end dates are local decisions that take into account many complexities, and they’re subject to negotiations.


Graduations and Promotions

We continue to discuss our ability to hold graduation and promotion ceremonies in person with social distancing. We have a tradition in Ukiah that puts our students at the center of planning graduation and promotion activities. Ukiah High School’s graduation committee has already met and is brainstorming different scenarios. Until the Governor lifts his ban on large group gatherings, we will be unable to provide an in-person graduation or promotion even if we can guarantee social distancing. We are hoping this will change in the next few weeks because our goal is to give our students an in-person graduation, even if it is through social distancing, and even if it means that we hold a graduation ceremony at a later time.  We will communicate more information as soon as we can. I know the uncertainty is difficult!


2019-20 Parent Survey

Your feedback is incredibly important to us. On Wednesday, you should have received an invitation to participate in our annual parent survey. As you take the survey, please give your responses based on the time that students were physically at school. If you did not get the parent survey, please contact your child’s school. We appreciate your input!


Aeries Parent Portal

If you have not received recent communications from me, or want to receive them differently, please log in to the UUSD Aeries Parent Portal and update your contact information. Please make sure and sign up for email. If you need help, please contact your student’s school.


I will be communicating with our families weekly during remote learning. Thank you so much for all you do to support your children, please stay safe and healthy!