Comal ISD Supt. Andrew Kim Announces New Website for Summer Activities

By Comal ISD Supt. Andrew Kim

Unless you were looking at the school calendar, you probably didn’t notice that today is the official last day of the 2019-20 school year. Typically this day is marked with hugs, high-fives, tears and laughter. It’s the one day of the year where Kool & the Gang’s 1980 hit “celebration” is played on just about every school PA system as teachers bid their students farewell for the summer.

Yet instead of celebration, we are left with an empty, unsatisfying end. I want to apologize to our students, particularly our seniors, for not being able to conclude our school year the way that we should have. More than anything, what today and the last nine weeks has shown us is that what we have truly missed are the relationships. The relationships with our students, our teachers, our parents and our staff are truly what makes our school district come alive.

That said, summer is here and it is welcomed. During a normal school year, the summer break typically offers students the opportunity to set aside things related to school to spend some time focused on summer activities. While I certainly want to encourage our students to enjoy their summer, given the nature of our last nine weeks, I also believe that the next three months will serve as a bridge leading to the next school year.

More than ever, I believe it is important that our students maintain routines that encourage a focus on academic enrichment. To that end, today we are launching our Summer Learning Opportunities (SLO) website as a student resource. The SLO website will include summer reading recommendations, suggested math activities, and other recommended academic practice tasks for your child to engage in over this summer break.

Please know that all of these activities are optional and there is no requirement to participate. Again, we want summer to be summer and to enjoy all the goodness that the long days ahead bring. However, maintaining some sort of academic routine – even if just for an hour each day – will go a long way in helping your child be prepared for the coming school year.