The following letter was sent to school staff, students and parents on Friday, June 19.
Dear EGCSD Community:
As the district “closes out” what has certainly been an extraordinary school year, beneath all of the challenges and stressors of the last four months, our educational community shined brighter than ever! Our students have shown resilience as they have met the challenges inherent in remote learning and persisted despite the increased social isolation from their friends, their extracurricular activities and our staff. We should pause to thank our students for the wonderful way they’ve responded to these circumstances.
Our parents and families have adjusted their lives to support their children’s continued education at home while balancing work obligations, time, health and financial stressors. I wish to thank each and every family for making this situation work as best as possible for your kids.
There are no words to express how proud I am of our teachers, staff and administrators! Remarkable comes to mind. Our staff responded to our call to shift gears quickly and responsibly to provide services to the children and community in a completely different form than we were accustomed to; from remote teaching and learning, to food and nutritional services to social, emotional and community support. I have often told our staff that the most important responsibility we have as educators is to be role models for the children.
Overwhelmingly, we set an example of love, responsiveness and service to others that I hope provides life lessons for our students and gives us confidence that no task is too difficult when we care. The expressions of joy and excitement among our students, families and staff at our recent end of the year moving up celebrations provides the proof that EG is one special community for kids!
The role of leadership is to believe you can do great things even in times of fear and uncertainty. Our Board of Education is represented by such leadership. This week, through its school budget vote and board election, our community overwhelmingly endorsed our board’s vision and plans to ensure we continue to provide high quality, innovative, safe and affordable education to our children even during uncertain financial times. I wish to thank our Board of Education for the optimism and courage they’ve demonstrated throughout this year and particularly for the oversight they’ve maintained during the last few months. Their emphasis on quality and caring stretches us to be the best that we can be at all times.
With all that remains uncertain right now, I know one thing is sure! Each and every one of you deserves a restful summer and time to recharge with the hope that with time and careful planning some normalcy will return to us soon. Take care of yourselves and each other.
With Gratitude,
Jeffrey P. Simons
Superintendent of Schools