Dear UT High School Students and Families,

Many families in Texas and beyond experienced hardships as a result of the recent winter storms, which included extended power outages, water outages, food shortages, roads that were impassable for multiple days, and damage to homes such as flooding when pipes burst. As a result of the challenges for students and staff, The University of Texas at Austin and UTHS were closed from February 15-23. While our UTHS online courses remained accessible to students, many of our students may not have been able to log in to complete assignments for multiple days due to power and Internet outages. We are extending the spring semester by four days which includes an extension of final deadlines for course assignments and final exams. As a result of this extension to the spring semester, the summer session will start four days later and be shortened by four days. We believe these calendar changes are best to support students' overall success. We will make any necessary adjustments to the course pacing guides to support students in completing their assignments by the new deadlines. When we send the first six weeks progress checks in the next couple of weeks, those will account for the adjusted calendar deadlines. As always, students have the flexibility to complete assignments and exams early if that is their personal goal. The UTHS calendar changes are listed below and the revised 2020-21 calendar is posted on our website at https://utexas.box.com/v/uths-calendar.

2020-21 Revised Calendar

• Spring Semester End Date: June 1 
• Spring Semester Final Exam Deadline: May 25 
• Spring Semester Final Re-Exam Deadline: June 7 
• Summer School Start Date: June 7 

In addition, the state of Texas requested that all school districts share the Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool (iSTAT) with families to make sure all Texans are reporting their damage to the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM). Reporting the damages to TDEM will assist officials across the state to gain an understanding of damages that occurred during the recent winter weather. Submitting the state survey is optional.

We hope your family is recovering from the terrible winter storm experience and that any lingering issues are resolved quickly for you. We look forward to brighter months ahead for all of us.

Sincerely,

Beth Cooper, Ed.D., Superintendent

UT High School

The University of Texas at Austin