By Mike Harris
Publisher

Based upon state and county recommendations regarding the Coronavirus pandemic, Rim of the World Unified School District has decided to end the school year.

“It is with a heavy heart that I make the announcement that school will be closed for the remainder of the 2019/2020 school year,” Rim Superintendent Michelle Murphy wrote to parents, guardians and students.

“The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools met with all 33 superintendents today (April 1) and, based on recommendations at the state level, decided that for public safety and the health of our students, schools will need to remain closed, opening again in August,” she added.

Rim also has decided that final grades will be based upon a student’s last recorded grades.

“Rim has adopted the grading practice during the COVID-19 pandemic to utilize a student’s third-quarter grades for students in 6th-12th, and second trimester grades for students in TK – 5th,” Todd Beal, Associate Superintendent, Personnel and Pupil Services, told The Alpine Mountaineer. “Work completed during the transition to distance learning can be used to enhance students’ grades.”

Still undecided is how Rim of the World High School seniors will receive their diplomas. The district asked Rim High parents, students and staff to respond to a survey.

“We know that this severely impacts the joy for our seniors that have worked for 13 years to get to this moment in their lives,” Murphy wrote. “Because of this, we would like seniors and their families to take a survey regarding two options to attempt to hold both a graduation ceremony and a prom when it is safe to do so. We are working on a survey for Mountain High School.”

As of Tuesday, the results coming in showed students were favoring a graduation ceremony in July and a prom sometime during the summer.

“Right now, it’s really up to state and federal guidelines about the Coronavirus,” Beal said. “If they say things are back to normal, the graduation ceremony will be back on the Rim High football field. If we still have (sequester) guidelines, we will have to figure something out.”

With school campuses being closed, Rim has asked parents and students to use the district’s distance learning programs to keep students learning.

Teachers have been using a variety of Internet platforms, including Zoon Media and Google classroom, to stay in touch with their students, Beal said.

“The feedback we’ve been getting is that our teachers have been happy to have ways to stay in touch with their students,” Beal said.