Dear Monticello CSD Community Members,
Earlier this morning, we had to switch our schools to remote instruction due to excessive staff absences in our transportation department. This morning, we had three (3) staff members call out, which brought our total absences in transportation to 15. Nine (9) of these staff members are out due to COVID-19 related reasons.
We are sorry for the disruption this late switch may have caused. We have been working diligently to mitigate staffing shortages throughout the district. Specifically, in the transportation department, we have redesigned bus runs and assigned any transportation employee with a commercial driver’s license (CDL) as a temporary driver. Despite these measures, we simply did not have enough drivers this morning to carry out today’s runs.
We continue to recruit additional transportation department employees, including drivers, monitors and substitutes. Our driver positions offer paid training and are wonderful opportunities for anyone seeking a rewarding job with a flexible schedule. If you, or someone you know, is interested in working with us, please visit our employment webpage for a listing of our available positions in all departments.
We hope that this schedule change is for today (January 21), only. As I write this letter on Friday afternoon, our plan is to resume in-person instruction in all our schools on Monday, January 24. Should that plan change, we will communicate it out to our families via our SchoolMessenger notification system and our website.
Please know that our families and staff are always the first to be notified once a decision regarding any schedule changes is made. While some social media groups are dedicated to sharing and predicting school delays and closures, please know that the most accurate way to receive important and accurate information is directly from our district.
I wish you all a safe and relaxing weekend, and hope to see you back on Monday, January 24.
Stay well.
With Monti Pride,
Matthew T. Evans, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools