March 16, 2020
Dear Raymondville parents, staff and community:
The unique challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic are causing many difficult decisions to be made. Although area counties have no known COVID-19 cases, our district will close our schools in order to safeguard the health and wellness of our students and staff, decrease the burden on the healthcare system, and protect the most vulnerable members of our community.
The Raymondville school will be closed beginning this Wednesday, March 18. This is uncharted territory for all of our district. It is difficult to predict where we will be a few days, much less two weeks. With that being said, we tentatively plan on welcoming students and staff back on April 6. We appreciate your understanding. As that date approaches, the administration will evaluate the status of the pandemic and will communicate any updates to our families.
The decision has been made with local officials about the need to practice social distancing, to limit gatherings of large groups in order to decrease the risk to our most vulnerable populations and to reduce the burden on the healthcare system. Our decision aligns with similar actions being taken to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 by school districts across the region.
Although we know that this will create hardship for many of us, we are now at the point where the closure of our school is the best decision to help limit the spread of the COVID-19 and to keep our students, families, and employees healthy. During the break, we will be performing cleaning and disinfecting above and beyond our established practices at all buildings. We will share information as it becomes available.
We appreciate your understanding, patience, and support in this matter.
Respectfully,
Dana Buschmann
Raymondville R-VII Superintendent