Good Afternoon Parents, Guardians, Staff, and Students:
We are nearing the end of the school year. I know this has been a challenging time for everyone. Our teachers and staff have worked hard to provide some semblance of sanity and education over the past several weeks since March. It has been a difficult task, not only for teachers, but for parents and students as well. Although I know the educational opportunities were not nearly as robust and rigorous as our students deserve, our teachers made valiant attempts to help ensure your child’s education did not regress, while maintaining equitable opportunities for all of our students. This was also a time when we had to lean more on parents to help us engage students with the work that needed to be done. As I stated, this hasn’t been perfect, but everyone persevered and we will finish another school year. Already we are planning ways in which we can provide extra interventions and assistance to our students when they return in the fall to help make sure that they are all caught up as quickly as possible. Our goal is that everyone will be on track to have the knowledge needed to successfully move forward.

After Friday, May 15, there will be no more assignments required. Some high school students may need to complete semester exams that week or finish turning in any late assignments they may have. We will be asking parents who borrowed Chromebooks to return them beginning on May 18th. Those parents will be receiving information about that by tomorrow afternoon. Report cards will be mailed to parents the week of the 25th.

It had been our intention to offer Summer School again this year. However, with the current restrictions and anticipated restrictions through the month of July, we have made the decision to cancel Summer School for all students. I do not feel that continuing Summer School in the Distance Education method is an optimal use of anyone’s time. Instead, we are creating plans for additional interventions, after-school programs, and other innovative ideas to help our students who may need additional help when we return in the fall. Again, not the most ideal method to do this, but we must work within the requirements as set forth by the Governor and Public Education Department as we move forward.

Finally, after a great deal of thought and consideration, the Board of Education has approved a plan for a graduation ceremony for our seniors. We had first thought to hold a graduation when the Governor’s stay at home orders had been completely lifted and we were able to congregate again. However, upon review of some of the latest reopening plans from the Governor’s Office, that could be months away. Therefore, we have decided upon a Drive-In Graduation to be held on May 23rd at 10:00 a.m. at the high school Ram Athletic Center parking lot. Later today, parents and graduates will receive more information about how this will be accomplished. Although graduates, parents, and guests must remain in their cars during the ceremony, when it is time to distribute diplomas, our graduates will be able to leave their vehicles, with social distancing in mind, and walk across a stage to receive their diplomas. Parents, along with their household family and graduate will have reserved parking to the west of the RAC. Others will be able to park in the band practice area of the parking lot with entrance from Amazon Street to the north of the RAC. The entire graduation will be broadcast on FM channel 95.3 so that everyone can hear everything that is happening while seated in their cars. The graduation ceremonies will also be live streamed on the PMSD website. Following the graduation, senior families and guests will be dismissed in an orderly manner and can participate in a Senior Graduation Parade that will travel from the high school to ENMU and conclude on South Ave. 0. Please see that attached map for the parade route. Even though this is not the end of the year we anticipated and not the graduation we expected, it will be unique to the graduating class of 2020. Hopefully, this will be the only class in PMSD history that will have a unique graduation experience such as this. Because of its uniqueness, we believe it should be memorialized with a special graduation ceremony for this deserving group of graduates. Please be looking for more information next week as we conclude this 2019-2020 school year.
With Best Regards,
Johnnie S. Cain
Superintendent