Dear Canton Families,

Earlier today you received an important letter from me, other members of the Central Office and the Principals. In that letter, we described to you our role in leading the school district on behalf of every single student during a time of great complexity. Issues of race and police relations have once again been brought to the forefront and these issues cannot be ignored. Dialogue and conversation are some of our best tools at our disposal, especially when it comes to discussing these issues with children. 

We want to once again reiterate that our teachers, counselors and staff have made themselves available to assist parents in speaking to their children about these issues.

With that said, we must also continue to be diligent when it comes to dealing with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that is still upon us and the impacts it will continue to have on our district. I continue to be so proud and amazed at all that we have accomplished so far during this difficult phase of the school year. Yes, these are unprecedented times and it has taken immense efforts from every student, every parent/guardian, every faculty member, every staff member and every administrator in the district to get where we are right now. 

There is still a lot of work to be done as we near the end of this school year. We are looking forward to different and joyous celebrations for students, like 5th and 8th graders celebrating their transitions, seniors graduating and other end-of-the-year traditions. 

I would like to take this opportunity to provide our school community with an update and let you know where things currently stand with regard to the summer and fall. 

We received notice on May 14 about the creation of a statewide working group tasked with providing guidelines to school districts. The group started off with 27 members and now has 47 members, which represents the complexity of the issue. New guidelines from the working group are expected in the coming days and weeks and will address summer programming, followed by reopening, hopefully in the fall.

While we await information from our state leaders, we remain in constant communication with our local leaders including the School Committee, Board of Health and Board of Selectmen. We are working closely with public safety and health leaders at the local level to ensure all safety guidelines and measures are being taken.

Planning for Summer 

We have been planning extensively for any summer programs that are able to be implemented and will be ready to act when a formal announcement has been made by the state about summer activities. Thus far, our planning for summer programming has been focused around a wide variety of topics including, for example, Special Education Programs (i.e., ESY), summer preschool, camps and discussions around the potential opening of Canton Academy.

Planning for Fall 

Like summer programming, decisions about the reopening of school will be based on any orders from Governor Charlie Baker’s Office and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Additionally, we are in the process of addressing the key items that we believe we will need to quickly enact once we hear about the Governor’s and the Commissioner of Education's plans for the fall/reopening. We are focusing our pre-planning for next school year on a vast number of issues, organized around these larger categories, including: school operations, transportation, whole child supports, school personnel, academics and technology.

Feedback from Stakeholders

As we begin to move forward, reflection, communication and community coordination will be critical. We know that schools benefit from the many perspectives of stakeholders. We are committed to sharing information, ideas and plans for further input and feedback and are working on the proper mechanisms for this. 

We thank everyone in advance for their patience and understanding, and your unwavering commitment to the success of the Canton Public Schools. 

Sincerely,

Jennifer Fischer-Mueller, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools