March 30, 2020
Dear members of the 2020 senior class,
The year 2020 brought forth the beginning of a new decade and a new school semester that you Mission CISD Seniors had been waiting with great expectations. Even during the first semester of the school year, you began to make plans for all the upcoming spring activities such as prom, powder puff, senior sunset, awards assembly, and most important graduation.
Typically, it has been observed that during the spring semester high school seniors may experience what some researchers call “Senioritis,” which interrupts normal activities because of anticipation or anxiety of having made the right choice in career pathways or simply wondering what lies ahead. However, your Senior Year was not interrupted by “Senioritis” but by the Coronavirus!
As the events of recent weeks have been unfolding and the impacts of the Coronavirus/ COVID-19 pandemic reached our district, I know it has impacted virtually every aspect of our lives. We have all struggled to make sense of the ever-changing statistics and directives.
Unfortunately, this is also impacting your senior year which I know is supposed to be filled with different types of memory making events than what we are currently facing. This is truly unchartered territory for every school and district in the state.
Here in Mission CISD, your principals and teachers have been working very hard to meet the needs of all our students and to keep some sort of instruction moving forward as required by the state. Please know that this does not mean that the big events of your senior year are being ignored. We know how important those events are to you and your friends and family, as they are for every senior before you.
We understand your desire for answers to many questions as well as for dates and timelines. Due to the uncertainty of governmental directives and the course of the pandemic, it is not possible to honestly set timelines and final plans for your end of year events just yet.
Your Mission CISD Board of Trustees, administration, campus principals and staff are committed to do their very best to make things happen in some form or fashion when it becomes realistic and safe to do so.
However, this is a time of opportunity and for you to reinvent and innovate High School Senior activities. So, I challenge you to brainstorm and begin to think how else can we still celebrate senior activities using the resources available. Please submit your suggestions to your Senior Class Officers and Campus Principal. I can’t wait to hear about your creative ideas!
Still, we ask for your patience. We also ask that you try to support each other and your families as you continue to focus on your studies as teachers begin to roll out online instruction. Your principals will continue to inform you of changes and developments. It is my hope and desire to safely re-open our Mission CISD Schools before the end of the school year.
Be safe and do what is important to keep yourselves and your families healthy.
Sincerely,
Dr. Carol G. Perez
Superintendent of Schools