Dear Summit Schools families,

As we start the process of repair in our Cedar Rapids community, we’d like to say thank you for your continued patience and support. The work by our families, our faculty, and our staff in the aftermath of the August 10th storm has been inspiring.

As you know, our facilities sustained significant damage from the storm. Power and connectivity/internet access at this time have yet to be restored. The contracted work on the inside of the building is anticipated to conclude by the end of this week. While this is good news, work is still to be done with our HVAC, roof, fencing, and tree removal. Summit remains closed until further notice.

Members of Summit’s Board of Trustees and Administration have collaborated to discuss a postponement to our start date for the 2020-2021 school year. The two dates being considered for a new start date are August 31 and September 8. We have submitted a request to the Department of Education for this delay, and are awaiting approval. We will provide families with a school start date update on or before August 24.

A delayed start date will allow for the following:

  • Health & Safety: As detailed in our Return to Learn plans, the health and safety of our students/faculty/staff remains paramount. A delayed start will help to ensure that these significant measures can be fully implemented prior to opening our building.
  • Systems: A delayed start will also allow for the testing of our many systems our school and families rely on to optimally function (communication, HVAC, building security, food service equipment, etc.)
  • Teacher Preparation: By moving the start date, this will enable teachers to have adequate additional preparation and professional development time prior to starting a school year that was already going to function a bit differently.

As you can imagine, the stress and challenge of reopening our school has been considerable. Unfortunately there are some things that are simply out of our control and we will need to be continually flexible as we work with the Department of Education, Linn County Public Health, and our contractors to determine when it is safe to open our doors. I plan to provide an additional update later this week.

Sincerely,
Paul Pressler
Head of Schools/Principal