By DR. DEREK ARROWOOD
Hamilton Heights Superintendent
Update #43 from Dr. Derek Arrowood, Superintendent, Hamilton Heights School Corporation
I have never been more excited to close out a year and start a new one as I have this year. Last year brought with it much challenge and adversity. Our staff and community stepped up to those challenges with resilience, optimism, and the ability to turn adversity into opportunity. I am certain this will continue in 2021 as we look for brighter days and the vision of normalcy ahead.
It was great to welcome our high school students and staff back to the newly renovated high school building this week. The temporary semester shift in buildings allowed us to finish the projects at the high school in four months instead of two years. I commend Dori Hochstedler (Project Vision) and Kristin McCarty (Business Manager) for their leadership and efforts to ensure the project stayed on track and wrapped up by the end of 2020. I appreciate the flexibility and cooperation of our students, staff and parents for their part in making this possible.
Despite the pandemic around us, we have been able to keep students learning online and in-person. We have worked to keep our buildings open and students in school because we know that our schools continue to be one of the safest places for students and staff. I can attest that school-based transmission remains comparatively low and student-to-staff transmission in classrooms appears to be low or nonexistent. The data continues to reinforce the same safety protocols we have emphasized since August – wear a mask, watch your distance, and wash your hands as effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19.
As 2020 drew to a close, our local health partners advised us to be prepared for the possibility for things to get worse at the start of the year due to a potential influx of cases following the holiday season. We opted to implement a hybrid schedule, beginning this week, at the middle and high schools (grades 5-12) to allow our students and staff to be in school consistently. It would also help to avoid our having to go virtual for extended periods of time, like we had to do at the high school for four out of the last nine weeks of the first semester. We believe this format will help create some sense of normalcy by allowing students to be in the building, and is a necessity in this current climate for student success and in preparing students for their future.
As of today, over half of Indiana’s 92 counties are designated as red (high community spread) status on the ISDH website, and for the first time, this includes Hamilton County. To read the ISDH’s Pre-12 Recommendations Based on Level of Community Spread guidelines, click here. This will not impact our hybrid schedule at the middle and high schools or daily schedule at the elementary school.
This school year has reminded us that we never know what the future may hold and we must be ready to adjust accordingly. As we look ahead to the second half of the school year, we remain committed to delivering all students with the highest-quality education possible and the necessary resources to prepare them for a successful future.
I just want to take this opportunity to wish everyone peace, kindness and good health in the year ahead. Let’s remember the past by learning from our challenges and turn toward 2021 with hope and commitment toward a better tomorrow.
#WeAreHuskies