Previous letter from Elementary Education.  

As Mr. Narducci has been hired as the Interim Superintendent for the 2021-2022 school year, I will be assuming direction over our elementary school operations for the year ahead.  In doing so, I want to extend a warm welcome to all our new families to Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) as well as those returning for the new school year.  I assure you that your experience with Chandler Unified Schools will be both positive and productive for you and your registered child(ren).

To say that 2020-2021 was an unusual school year would be an understatement, and yet with challenges brought on from COVID-19 and the frequent changes that occurred over the course of the year, our schools and families stepped up to provide support and consistency to all our students as we worked to ensure a strong instructional focus for each child.  Moving into the 2021-2022 school year, I commit to you that our staff will continue their focus on instructional excellence coupled with strong community and family relationships as we work to provide each child the personalized learning they deserve.

We will continue to monitor our district and county metrics, with respect to COVID-19 data.  Using the CUSD re-opening plans for 2021-2022 as our guidance, we will ensure that safety and appropriate mitigation remains strong in our schools.  These plans do include considerations for when the data may require a change in mitigation strategy.   In the event of such changes, all CUSD families will be promptly notified.  With that said, we will be opening our schools with modified mitigation strategies in place including the following below:

• Face coverings will be optional for students and staff
• Large group gathering will be conducted outside when and where feasible
• Social distancing in our classrooms and lunch will be at 3 feet when and where feasible
• Parent visits may occur at the approval of the administrator but limited to non-student areas only. Parent meetings may be held in person or a virtual option will be made available.
• All contact-tracing and student quarantine guidelines will continue the current practice
• District staff and student exclusion guidelines (when sick students and staff should stay home) will remain with current practice.
• Please reach out to your child’s school for site specific protocols/strategies

Recognizing that many students may have experienced “unfinished learning” over the course of this last school year, our Curriculum & Instruction and Assessment Teams have developed and strengthened the protocols for our teachers to better identify these gaps and target the direct intervention required.  With the implementation of our DIBELS 8 Screener to identify potential literacy gaps followed by our CORE Diagnostic assessment designed to specifically target the skill(s) missing, our teachers will be equipped with strong tools to better identify and meet student literacy needs.  Your child’s teacher will be sharing with you, at the first scheduled conference, the specific results from both the DIBELS Screener and Diagnostic (if appropriate).  Our elementary teams are excited to have a well sequenced structure of support in place to best meet the needs of each student individually. 

In closing, let me extend once again a warm welcome to all our CUSD families, both new and returning.  We know you have a choice in the educational decisions, and we are both grateful and humbled at your choosing of CUSD to provide the strong instructional outcomes for your children.  Should you have questions or concerns, we ask that you reach out to your school administration first to address them.  If we can be of assistance or help in anyway, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 480-812-7610. We wish your child a successful 2021–2022 school year!

Sincerely,

Leo Schlueter

Director for Elementary Education