July 23, 2020
Van Buren Students, Parents, Staff and Community,
My name is Brian Blum and I am honored to be the Superintendent of the Van Buren Local School District for the 2020-21 school year. I am coming from Licking County in Central Ohio where I was the Assistant Superintendent of the Northridge Local Schools for three years. I am starting my 26th year in education and have served in many roles over those years including Director of Special Education, Assistant Superintendent, Special Education Teacher and an Elementary Principal for 19 years.
What a time we are in with the world and education. There are so many questions surrounding opening of schools with regard to Covid 19. I started down this road on Monday, July 20 meeting with Building Administrators, Director of Transportation, Director of Food Service, Teachers, Superintendents from Hancock County, Director of Integration and Innovation and the Hancock County Board of Health to start forming plans for the upcoming school year. I am currently meeting with the Board of Health and Superintendents from Hancock County two times a week.
Meetings with Van Buren staff will continue the next two weeks to formulate plans for students and their education for the 2020-21 school year. Currently we are working on four models for learning. One model is for students to be back five days a week. The second model is a hybrid model. The third model is a remote learning model and the fourth is an online option for students who would prefer to stay at home for a variety of reasons. Your input from the survey has been very helpful in conjunction with the guidelines provided by the Hancock County Board of Health to help guide the development of reopening plans. Please know plans continually change and develop based on local health department guidelines and information from the Governor.
We hope to communicate updated information in early August.
If you ever have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at school either by email at bblum@vbschools.net or by phone 419-299-3578. Your patience is appreciated as we continue to move forward.
Brian S. Blum
Superintendent
Van Buren Local Schools