I hope this message finds you and all of your family safe and well. All of our work over the summer has been focused on returning our children safely to our schools at the earliest date possible. I also want to thank you for your patience this summer as many teachers, staff, and administration have worked countless hours developing a plan that provided choices for families and a safe environment for all. Right now, Governor Ducey has ordered all of our school buildings to remain closed to students until at least August 17th, 2020. To provide education to our students we will begin our online learning platform on August 5th, 2020. This new platform will be far more rigorous and will embrace accountability for both students and staff as we seek to make the best of the only option available to us right now. At the Governing Board meeting on Tuesday, June 14, we shared the first look at Cottonwood’s Connecting Community & Classrooms Return to School Plan. You can view the slides from that presentation below.Cottonwood’s model embraces recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), and the insight of Cottonwood parents, teachers, staff, and community members. Circumstances and guidance related to COVID-19 may continue to evolve throughout the coming school year, and we have built a plan flexible enough to respond to those evolutions. Cottonwood will continue to prioritize the safety of our students and staff above all. I look forward to seeing the children return to their schools and you have my commitment to making that a reality at the earliest possible date.

In Your Service,

Steve King, Superintendent