#TeamMCPSS,

Welcome to the 2021-2022 school year at Mobile County Public Schools. We did not plan to start our school year with such uncertainty, but here it is upon us. COVID-19 is proving to be a persistent virus. However, as #TeamMCPSS, we must be resilient by remaining persistent and continuing to press forward.

My theme for the year is "Start Strong. Stay Strong. Finish Strong."

Teachers, employees, parents, students: MCPSS needs YOUR help.

•  Please wear a mask to school. Top doctors and nurses from the Mobile County Health Department, USA Health, Mobile Infirmary and Spring Hill Medical Center addressed our board members last week, telling us that masks remain one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, our school board, at my recommendation, voted to require masks. No matter how you feel personally about masks, we are wearing them to protect our most precious resource, our children. Please support us on this.

•  If you are sick, stay home.

•  Please practice social distancing, in school and away from school.

•  Please wash your hands regularly and use hand sanitizer.

MCPSS is implementing layered strategies to protect our students and employees:

•  We will continually clean and disinfect our campuses.

•  We have hired nurses to work in all of our schools.

•  We will be conducting contact tracing so we can identify and notify anyone who has been potentially exposed to COVID-19, and quarantine to stop the spread.

We will continue to work with local health agencies to provide opportunities for our community to be vaccinated.

Most importantly, I am asking each of you to stay positive this year. COVID-19 is not new to us. We learned many things last year that we will take into the new year, and we learned some things that we have since changed.

What has not changed is our unwavering support of our children, and our desire to protect them and to prepare them academically, socially and emotionally for our ever-changing world.

Together, as #TeamMCPSS, we will Start Strong. Stay Strong. Finish Strong.