We have a full month of the 2021-22 school year under our belts and I must say that all of our students, staff and families are doing an amazing job working together to make this year a success. Back to School Nights are underway at all our schools as they welcome families to their respective events. If your child’s school has not yet held their Back to School Night, I urge you to tune in as this is a great opportunity to meet your child’s teacher(s), preview what they have been learning and virtually visit each classroom.

Every school year, our families are required to complete Registration for each student prior to the first day of school; however, in light of the current circumstances we are in, we have provided a grace period for our families. At this point there are many who have still not completed this process and I want to take a moment to share why this is so crucial for both our families and staff. The yearly Registration allows families the ability to verify and update primary contacts in case of any emergency and provide essential health information as well as other details that our schools are required to collect each year in an effort to keep our students healthy and safe. If you have not completed Registration for your child, you should have received an email from the district and your child’s school with directions on how to complete this process in the past weeks. I strongly urge you to please complete this vital process as soon as possible.

Last week, the Los Angeles Unified School District made the decision to make vaccinations mandatory for all eligible students. While we are following the Governor’s orders as it relates to staff districtwide providing proof of vaccination or being COVID tested weekly, as it relates to students, this has not yet been a discussion point within Downey Unified at this time. However, we continue to encourage our families with eligible aged students to get vaccinated, and our recommendation for those who are eligible to get vaccinated will continue in the future. Should this change, our district will update our families as we have done so in the past.

I want to close on a positive note by sharing some very exciting districtwide news. I am proud to share that at the beginning of September, five of our elementary schools were selected as Apple Distinguished Schools! This international designation was awarded to Gauldin, Imperial, Lewis, Old River and Rio San Gabriel elementary schools. There are 546 schools in the entire world, 31 in California, that hold the designation of Apple Distinguished School. The fact that we have five schools within our one district alone selected for this global designation is an enormous accomplishment. If you missed the article that was published in last week’s Downey Patriot highlighting this designation, make sure to visit their website or the Downey Unified’s website (www.DUSD.net) to read more about it. During each schools’ three-year designation as an Apple Distinguished School, each is expected to continuously improve and grow their integration of technology into curriculum. Our remaining eight elementary schools will continue their technology efforts toward the Apple Distinguished School recognition over the next two years.

As we continue into the month of September, a friendly reminder that September 15 to October 15 marks National Hispanic American Heritage Month and the fourth Friday of September marks Native American Day. Schools across our district will be recognizing in a variety of ways, so make sure to follow your child’s school or Downey Unified on social media to see the exciting things happening on our campuses.

Sincerely,

D. Mark Morris, Board of Education President