Dear SPS Community,

I hope you have had the opportunity to spend some time with friends and family over the past few days. I write today to keep you informed of our plans for safely returning to school on Monday, January 3rd.

DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) has secured rapid antigen tests for school staff across the Commonwealth. In Sudbury, we will be making these tests available to staff so that they can test before being reunited with their students. In order to ensure that there is adequate time for staff to test and administrators to make any necessary adjustments, we will be delaying the start of school on Monday, January 3rd by 2 hours. This means that:

• There will be no AM Pre-K; Full Day Program will have a 2 hour delay.

• There will be no morning SED;

• Elementary schools will open for student arrival at 9:45 AM;

• The middle school will open for student arrival at 10:20 AM;

• Bus and van pick-up times will be 2-hours later than normal;

• Breakfast/morning snack will not be served but lunch and PM snack will be;

• Dismissal will be at the normal times and afternoon SED will be held;

As a reminder, please use this link to submit your child(ren)’s vaccination information. These submissions will only be available to the principals and the nurses. I also request that, if you have previously submitted your child’s vaccination status to the nurse, you re-submit using the link provided.

Please note that pooled testing will be conducted on Monday as well for participating staff and students. Pooled testing uses the PCR method of screening for COVID-19 and provides an additional layer of precaution.

The District is partnering closely with the Sudbury Board of Health and DESE to monitor infection rates and to align our protocols with the latest guidance. As instructed, we will be adjusting our isolation protocols immediately but are waiting on further guidance regarding quarantine protocols. As a reminder, information regarding the District’s COVID-19 protocols and statistics can be found on our website.

With wishes for a healthy and happy new year,

Brad Crozier,

Superintendent