Dear Cypress Families:

Please join us for an end of the year Cypress family zoom meeting on Thursday, June 4^th at 2:30 pm.  We will be discussing our Extended School Year (ESY) plans at this meeting.   Our team is considering all of the various options to reopen the school, including opening campus with specific and stringent safety precautions in place, staggered cohorts of students at different times, and potentially doing a hybrid on-campus/distance learning model.  The decision about opening has been a challenging task for us to make a plan, as the Covid-19 situation continues to be fluid, but we hope that we are starting to turn a corner for the better.  Our Cypress Wellness Committee includes staff, administrators, family, therapists, and a UCPNB board member.  Our final decision about whether to reopen Cypress School for on-campus instruction, to continue distance learning, or a hybrid of both, will be presented at the June 4th family meeting. (Parent meeting link here).

To help us determine how to move forward, our families, teachers, aides, and therapists were given separate surveys to answer questions and determine their preferences and concerns. Nate Yates, the incoming Cypress School and Afterschool Director, has been working for weeks with the team on different safety scenarios to accommodate student, family, staff and therapist needs. All teachers, staff, and therapists are currently planning to stay with Cypress School through Extended School Year and the regular 20-21 school year.

As my last week as the Cypress School Director approaches I am reflecting and appreciating the years I have enjoyed here with you and your children. Life is full of accomplishments and hardships- the balance of what is needed to make awesome changes and survive challenging times. Beginning June 8^th and going forward for the 2020-2021 school year, I will continue with supporting the Cypress Behavior Team and Cypress School in general as a consultant. I will help us through this period of unknown and difficulties and provide supports to continue our mantra of ‘Learning Without Limits’!

Our new team as of 6/8/2020 will be, Nate Yates, Cypress School Director nyates@ucpnb.org

Joe Thompson, Assistant Director, jthompson@ucpnb.org

Deepak Timsina, Administrator, dtimsina@ucpnb.org

Mimi Schott, Finance Manager, mschott@ucpnb.org

Leah Newman, Transportation and School Coordinator, lnewman@ucpnb.org

Rebecca Wilson, Adapted Behavior Program Director, rwilson@ucpnb.org

Colleen Arnold, Educational Consultant,  c.arnoldadvocacy@gmail.com

Sarah Doherty, Behavior Consultant, sdoherty@compassllc.org

I will continue to be available through my usual email lbriggin@ucpnb.org.

With Love, 

Laura