On Tuesday May 26, 2020 the Sweetwater Union High School District Board of Trustees held their weekly public virtual meeting live streamed on Youtube. In this meeting, the Board revealed to the public the plans concerning the upcoming school year. Additionally, they outlined what the 2020-2021 school year may look like amidst the current global pandemic. 

In the traditional message given at the beginning of the meeting by Superintendent Karen Janney, Ed.D, it was mentioned that four work groups, made up of students, staff and parents, are collaborating to plan for the upcoming school year.

“The guiding principles these work groups focus on are to plan for a reinvented sense of normal operations on the first day of classes, whenever that is,” Janney said. “[We] work to ensure the health, safety and well being of students and staff in the community in every decision we make.”

Janney, along with other Superintendents in the Southbay, recently met with teachers’ labor union representatives to discuss the start of the upcoming calendar school year. During their meeting, the elementary school districts established that they wanted to start later in the year, forcing the SUHSD to accommodate. 

“We agreed to a date that meets our elementary feeder districts with a calendar that is later than we would normally start but not too late to impact when the first semester ends for our students,” Janney said. “That date being proposed to our board tonight is August 3, 2020, two weeks after our normal start date of July 20.”

Along with this expected move away from an earlier start, the Superintendent also left the public with new information regarding where schools will be when August 3 approaches. 

“It’s not likely we are going to open up brick and mortar on August 3 unless all restrictions were lifted by the governor and health officials,” Janney said.