April 1st, 2020
Dear Pirate Family,
As you all know by now, we will not be returning to school on Monday, April 6th or for the remainder of the school year. For the seniors of WCHS 2020, I sincerely apologize to you. I cannot begin to tell you how much that I hurt for you not being able to experience the things that seniors before you have experienced. We will do everything possible to have a WCHS Prom and hold a graduation ceremony for you sometime this summer. I cannot tell you that it will be a traditional graduation ceremony, but we will do something to acknowledge and honor your accomplishments during high school. Just be patient and know that we will do our best to give you a prom and graduation. Based on guidance from the ALSDE in the Local Education Continuity Plan, seniors who were on track to graduate at the end of the third nine weeks have completed their school work at WCHS. You are now considered a graduate of Winfield City High School. If you were behind on some credits, we will do everything that we can do to make sure that you make up the work that you need to graduate. If you have distance learning classes or classes at Bevill or another college, you will need to complete their assignments to get credit for their classes.
We will start our blended learning on Monday, April 6th for our students who have skills they need to complete before being promoted to the next grade level. Let me assure our parents that if your child was on track to be promoted at the end of the third nine week’s grading period, nothing he/she does from this point forward will keep that from happening. If your child was behind in his/her grades and needed help for promotion, the things that we ask him/her to do now will be the necessary skills and standards that he/she needs in order to be successful. Everything that we do during this last nine weeks will be geared to making sure students have the tools to be successful in the next grade. If your child was way behind in his/her grades during the first semester and third nine week’s grades, there may not be enough time for us to catch your child up, so he/she may need to be retained for his/her own benefit. Just know that whatever work we send home for your child to do over the remaining nine weeks will be for his/her benefit. We will not send home “busy” work for you child to do. We will be sending skills and standards that will only help him/her as he/she moves forward.
This is an unprecedented time in our country. We have never seen anything like this in our lives, but we will do the best job that we can to make sure that we are here for you and your child(ren) during this time. Our offices will be open during this time and the hours of operation will be posted on our Website, along with other news that you may be interested in. We will do our best to send out information to you through our social media sites, text messages and phone calls that you will need. We have some very helpful links on our site to help your child continue to learn at home. Please contact us if you have any needs or concerns that we can assist you with. Our email addresses are all located under Staff pages on our website, or follow the hyperlinks included in this letter.
Please stay safe and follow the mandates put forth by the Alabama Department of Public Health during this pandemic. The more closely we follow their rules and use social distancing rules, the quicker that we will be able to resume a more normal lifestyle. Our lifestyles may never be the same ones that we knew four weeks ago, but whatever comes our way, we will adjust to it and prayerfully be stronger because of it. I ask God to bless each one of you and your families during this time. Please do not hesitate to contact my office if we can be of assistance to you during this time.
May God Bless You,
Chris Cook, Superintendent