A Message From Linda Storli

It’s been almost three months now since we embarked upon this journey into physical distancing and on-line learning. These are unexpected and unwelcome changes that have stretched our school community to the limit. Please accept my thanks for your patience and resilience throughout.
What we have accomplished is pretty amazing. I only wish the public knew how many hundreds of extra hours the district has willingly put into the work needed to provide for our students. I am not asking for thanks, but rather an understanding of how hard the leadership, administration, teachers and support staff have worked to make these past months, though not optimum, a success. Grades, graduations (two per school) have been successfully completed. Now we look to the future. What will the fall semester look like? How can we keep kids and staff safe and yet give students what they need? We have created a group of staff, parents and teachers to create several paths to opening our schools. There had to be several paths because of the changing nature of this crisis. This group has been at work for many weeks. We will follow the law. We will look to Los Angeles County Office of Education for guidelines. We will follow the laws and guidelines of the state. The big issue here is that everything keeps changing.
As a teacher for so many years I know that teachers’ hearts are broken because they are not with their students; mine would be. The students need to be in school. And yet, with all we know now, things are not safe. Maybe the virus for the young is not as dire as we once thought but what if a student brings it home to grandma or their compromised neighbor? Can and should we take that chance
The horrible murder of George Floyd has brought us to another crisis. Parents, teachers, ministers have done a lot to help erase some of the hate that came from former generations. Unfortunately, not enough has really gone away. I use every racial slur or put down I hear as a teaching moment, in the classroom and the mall. I changed kids minds and made them think their own thoughts. I say this with all respect, my dad was raised in the south and he was taught horrible things. Some of our students are taught horrible raciest things. It is up to us as a society to speak up against this cancer in our country. Saying that I am proud of the peaceful protests that have taken place in Santa Clarita. I find no use for using a noble cause as an excuse for more violence.