Dear Mountain Vista High School Parents,

I am writing as a follow-up to the information families are currently receiving about our situation at Vista.  First, please know how sorry I am about the current state of affairs. I am additionally sorry that the impact of addressing COVID-19 related issues now involves our entire school.  We continue to learn as we go in terms of best practices to help families understand all that is going on. The letter you have likely just received is from Tri-County Health in collaboration with the DCSD Health and Wellness Department, District Leadership and MVHS. The State and Tri-County Health continue to follow a policy that airs on the side of extreme caution with student and staff safety in mind.  There are legal and confidentiality aspects to these communications which do take precedence over people's desire to know specifics.  Please know that if there were any urgent safety or direct health risks involved, the communication to individual families would look and feel much different.  It is important to note that there are distinct differences between quarantine and isolation. The current procedure’s being implemented by state and local health agencies require that any staff member and all students that were in a room with someone who tests positive for Covid-19 must be quarantined despite the fact that they may not have had what they consider direct contact with the positive person.

  
In accordance with that policy, we are working with four positive COVID situations that have led to more than 24 staff members and more than 250 students being quarantined.  This has made the delivery of effective and consistent instruction difficult based on the number of teachers, students and support staff out of the building.  In addition, with similar situations occurring district wide, we do not have enough substitute teachers in the district to fill all of the vacancies we are experiencing.  This two week period of remote learning will allow all of our teachers to remotely work with all students in their classes.  It will also provide time to clear all current quarantine situations, have our building recleaned and disinfected and assure that additional students and staff are not exposed.

  
Starting tomorrow, we will follow our regular schedule virtually.  Tuesday will be a B Cohort day and all students on B Cohort will access their live class following the regular bell schedule, through Canvas, Google Meets and/or Zoom.  A Cohort students will follow their regular remote day process and then join live instruction as scheduled on Wednesday.  Our Friday schedule will remain as it has been.  We will continue to update as we move into the week.  Our teachers' preparation using Canvas and the foundation with their kids was with this possibility in mind so we are hopeful that we can effectively transition to the next two weeks of learning while staying safe and healthy.  
Please read the letter from DCSD Health, Prevention and Wellness carefully and direct questions to the resources provided. Our teachers will update specific practices to remotely access classes as we get into the remote schedule.  I am truly sorry about this delay to our in-person schedule.  
Michael Weaver
Principal