Sunrise Middle School

Sunrise Middle School has announced a plan for bringing students back to campus this spring. We are hoping to phase in the return of students during March, adding 6th graders, then 7th graders and then 8th graders. The full plan, including all the requirements for safety, can be found here:
https://sunrisemiddle.org/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/2020/12/SUNRISE-MIDDLE-SCHOOL-REVISED-REOPENING-PLAN.pdf

The Sunrise School Board of Directors has approved the school’s Single Plan for Student Achievement for 2020-2021. This report is needed to receive federal funds. The report can be found here:
https://sunrisemiddle.org/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/2020/12/School-Plan-for-Student-Achievement-for-2020-2021.pdf

The Sunrise Middle School school board voted last night against having grades 6-8 returning to campus – at least not until after Dec. 31, at which time the issue will be reviewed again.

School board members acknowledged that the fifth grade class on campus is going well, but were concerned about a recent spike in coronavirus numbers, particularly in the school’s 95116 zip code.

Meanwhile, the school will continue to offer a robust online learning program and as many opportunities for social interaction for our students as is safe and possible. These activities include parking lot fun nights, such as the drive through haunted house this Thursday evening, and Thursday afternoon online chat time from 2-2:20 pm.

The Sunrise Middle School Board of Directors has approved the school’s Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan for 2020-2021.
This plan says how the COVID-19 crisis is affecting our school community and says what we are doing to make up for the learning loss from distance learning last spring.
The plan can be found here

The Sunrise Middle School Board of Directors will hold a public hearing on the school’s 2020-2021 Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan at 6 pm Monday, Sept. 14.

The hearing will be held via Zoom, due to COVID. The Zoom ID is 922 8470 1222 Passcode: 622381.

Please visit the school, or call 408-659-4785, if you would like to see a copy of the draft plan before staff presents it at the hearing.

Sunrise Middle School today announced an amendment to its policy for serving meals to students under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs for the 2020-2021 school year under Provision 2. All students will be served lunch and breakfast at no charge at Sunrise Middle School.
We will distribute five frozen lunches and five breakfasts to all interested families from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm every Tuesday.
For additional information please contact Yesenia Quichocho, [email protected], (408) 659-4785.

Non Discrimination Statement:
This explains what to do if you believe you have been treated unfairly.
In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, and reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, and American Sign Language) should contact the responsible State or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, which an be obtained online, at https://www.ocio.usda.gov/document/ad-3027 from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-
9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue,
SW Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442;
email: program.intake@ usda.gov.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider

Sunrise Parents, we will be handing out class Zoom schedules, computers, supplies and other information about how to start school online Aug. 12th at the following parking lot assemblies:

• Returning students entering grades 6 & 7 may come to the school parking lot @ 8 am or 6 pm Wed., Aug. 5th.
• Returning students who are entering grade 8 may come to the school parking lot @ 8 am or 6 pm Fri., Aug. 7th.

Please wear masks. If walking, we’ll have an area for you to stand, keep safe distanced, 6ft apart.
ALL new students and their parents are being called to make an appointment to come some time Mon., Aug 10th or Tuesday, Aug 11th, for your class schedule, Zoom schedule, computers, etc.
You may also call the office, 408-659-4785, to make your appointment. A parent or responsible adult needs to accompany each child.

The governor announced today that all schools in Santa Clara County must return to online learning in the Fall – until such time as our county has been off the state watch list for COVID for at least 14 days. We will be ready to return to on-campus learning as soon as it is deemed safe for our students and teachers.
In the meantime, we plan to distribute computers, student schedules, online elective offerings and other essential information to parents and students in the week before school starts August 12th. We also will hold mini-orientations for small groups of just a few people for all our new families during the week or two prior to school starting.
We realize this may be frustrating news for you, but also know that you want to keep your families safe. Please wear masks – they help a lot! Thank you, and can’t wait to see you!

Sunrise Middle held its first forgiveness and healing circle to atone for the past atrocities by white people to African Americans last night.

The circle, conducted by Hank Roberts of San Leandro-based Peacemakers, Inc., is hoped to be the first of many such circles in which whites acknowledge the harm done to blacks, as well as other ethnicities, and work to make up for them.

“SIR – Systematic Institutional Racism – is the new slave owner,” Roberts said.

Nat Bolden, a 92-year-old blues singer and former sharecropper, after telling his poignant stories, said it was the first time that white people had ever asked him for forgiveness or acknowledged how they had benefitted from the hard work of black people.

All of the white and black participants in the circle pledged to bring others to future circles and expressed hope that the idea would pick up among other local, state and national governmental entities.

Sunrise Middle School is happy to announce that if and when schools are permitted to re-open in the Fall, that we have worked out a plan which will allow every student to be on campus, safely distanced, from 8 am to 2 pm daily, with optional hour-long clubs after school.

We have done this by renting extra classrooms and by hiring extra staff to provide additional math instruction and help students with online learning after they finished getting their hours of instruction from their main teachers.

We believe this is important to ensure that your students can catch up on the instruction that was lost last spring – and also to give you some sense of normalcy in your daily lives.

We know that online learning is not nearly as effective as in-person learning, but we are prepared to return to online learning if our county health officer says that will be necessary for the first part of the school year.

Nearly all of our parents who answered our survey said they were in favor of all-day school, and we want to respond to those concerns. We do not wish to see students unsupervised at home for any longer than is necessary.

Having said this, we are still working out the details of an after school program. Due to budget cuts, we are not sure we can provide an after school program until 5 p.m., but we will use those after school dollars to help fund our program during the day so that all students can have regular school days.

We expect to hear later this summer if we will be allowed to re-open August 12 as scheduled. By that time we will also have a plan for any after school care that we are able to provide.

Meanwhile, we are happy to announce that our summer program is going very well! We are keeping our sixty students safe by maintaining six-feet distance at all times and also requiring student and staff to wear face coverings and to wash their hands frequently.

This is something that will continue in the Fall if and when we are allowed to re-open. This re-opening has been put on hold due to a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the Bay Area.

Please attend our Zoom meeting at 6 pm Wednesday, July 8, if you would like to give input or have questions to ask. Your child should be able to help you get on Zoom if you are not familiar with this online meeting program. Meeting ID: 987 7478 8067, Password: 873226.

We are looking forward to seeing you all as soon as is deemed safe. We miss you all and hope for the best for you – with your families, your jobs and your health.