Letter from the Superintendent

Dear Parents and Guardians of the Hollandale School District (HSD), 

I hope this letter finds you and your family well and hope you are managing the challenging times we are currently living in. As you know, information about the COVID-19 pandemic changes daily and it impacts our lives greatly. One of the recent announcements from Governor Tate Reeves is that students will not be returning to school for the remainder of the school year. 

While we do not have all of the answers yet and recognize that there will be some bumps in the road, our staff are working hard to address potential challenges. While we already have online support for students in place, we know equity is a major concern to show that our kids have adequate access to instruction. We faced many challenges initially trying to create ways to engage our students in distance learning online; therefore, we created standards-based learning packets for every child in the district Pre-K through 12th grade. 

The goal for distance learning in the Hollandale School District is to prevent learning loss and preserve the learning that has been delivered up to this point. Also, we want to use technology to promote the social bonds and interactions that we need on a daily basis. While phone calls are a great way to communicate, face to face interaction is important for a number of reasons but most importantly, students and teachers will have a scheduled time to reconnect relationships.

During this time of social distancing, we want to ensure that each of our students continue to have access to high-quality curriculum and assignments. We plan to deliver instruction through a virtual learning environment, and we need your support to ensure the success of our efforts! Please take a moment to review our plan below and talk with your child about the importance of continuing their education during this time.

In the upcoming days, principals, classroom teachers, counselors, and staff in the HSD will be contacting families to check in with them. Please note that phone calls may appear as “Blocked Call,” “Unknown” or something similar. Please answer, it might be us calling! At this time, we will be doing a number of things:

• Asking if students have received their instructional packets;
• Ensuring that students have the necessary logins and passwords to connect with HSD resources
• Ensuring that families are aware of the two learning methods HSD is offering

Parents, the health and safety of our students and staff is always our number one priority. We are working hard to develop a plan to provide and support distance learning for our students.  Thank you for reviewing our plan and please be on the lookout for more updates!

Sincerely,

Mario Willis – Digital Signature

Dr. Mario Willis

Superintendent

Hollandale School District