John Scarffe, Gilpin County. During the Gilpin County School District, RE-1, Board of Education online meeting on April 21, 2020, District Superintendent David MacKenzie said schools will be closed through the rest of the Spring 2020 school. The Governor announced yesterday that schools will be closed until the end of the school year. 

At 8:30 a.m. on April 21, the Governor met with state school superintendents, and the state is moving forward with social distancing that will stay in place in June and July, with no gatherings of 10 or more and wearing a mask in the public. School workers are essential and will wear masks and adhere to the executive’s order.

In discussion about June and July, they will probably cancel sports camps and don’t know how they can have a camp wearing masks and staying six feet away. “We just need to keep a frame that we don’t know how the pandemic will progress. Right now, everyone is planning to return to school in August, but we will also be prepared for remote learning,” MacKenzie said.

Regarding graduation for 2020 seniors, Principal Alexis Donaldson reported that staff has worked really hard and did a Google forum with a questionnaire. They got feedback and put it into one document. 

“What we have learned through instruction through technology will help us move forward.” They will deliver caps and gowns in the gym on Monday, April 27, and feature a senior a day on Facebook. 

The current recommendation on this Thursday’s email is to hold graduation on August 1 with social distancing and December 19 as a backup. 

(Originally published in the April 23, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)