All LVUSD schools will be closed to students on March 16 and 17 as district admin, faculty and staff prepare for the possibility of an extended closure due to COVID-19.

According to an email sent to LVUSD faculty and parents from Superintendent Dr. Dan Stepenosky, schools will use Monday and Tuesday to ensure faculty is adequately prepared, and all technology is up and running.

“While it is my hope that we will not need to close our school facilities for an extended period of time, the reality is we need to be prepared for it,” said Stepenosky.

Stepenosky’s email also announced the suspension of all district field trips activities, concerts, performances, conferences and gatherings through March 27, as well as all athletic events will be canceled through Friday, March 20.

In the event of an extended closure, CHS plans to use a style of online schooling that the district refers to as “Social Distancing Learning.” CHS teachers will use Google Meets, Google Classroom and Google Docs to assign work and teach students at home. Throughout the week, AP Computer Science and Robotics teacher, Michael Yeung, has been training faculty members on how to use these programs. 

“It’s been a whirlwind trying to teach people how to learn Google Meets and all the other online applications and having to figure out how to communicate this to everyone. It’s been a rough couple of days,” said Yeung. “I have confidence that all the teachers are able to have persistence and grit and be able to overcome these obstacles and be able to teach their classrooms online. The policies are there to keep us safe so I am confident that the district will keep us safe.” 

Because school will continue, the district avoids adding extra school days onto the year. According to a district-wide email from Stepenosky, “classes will be conducted through a combination of online meetings held according to a student’s existing class schedule and activities related to subject matter for each class to be completed on a daily basis.” Teachers will give instruction, monitor the online classes and upload documents and assignments. Students “attend” these digital classes online as they would on a regular day.