Colorado schools to remain closed rest of year

In a conference call with Gov. Jared Polis Tuesday morning, April 21, Colorado school superintendents learned that all schools will remain closed for in-person instruction for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.

Holyoke Superintendent Kyle Stumpf said that guidelines for this directive were to be sent out by Wednesday, April 22. He planned to work with the local building principals Wednesday to determine a strategy for posting informaton on social media and for sending letters to parents to clarify procedures.

He said they will continue to focus on electronic or modified learning for the remainder of the current school year in Holyoke School District.

In the meantime, a way to honor the Class of 2020 has been in constant consideration as the year-end schedule has unfolded in an unprecedented way.

An informational webinar with high school seniors and their parents was held Monday evening, at which time some graduation plans were discussed.

While a specific date was not chosen, Stumpf said they talked about three different dates to be considered for a graduation.

The dates are the originally scheduled May 17, as well as June 21 or July 19. The district will continue to monitor the stay-at-home and crowd size directives before determining when graduation will be held.

On May 17, some type of activity will be conducted to recognize and honor the seniors. Stumpf said that a number of ideas have been tossed around, but they want to ensure that they’re following the gathering guidelines.

Spring activities canceled

Colorado High School Activities Association Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green announced Tuesday morning, April 21, that the 2020 spring season is canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Around the nation, more than 30 other state associations have made the difficult decision to cancel their spring season. We hoped that Colorado medical and health data would provide reassurances that we could go in a different direction,” Blanford-Green said before announcing the season’s cancellation.