October Update - From Al

Greetings all,

It is such a pleasure to see our students back in the building. For some, the transition back to school has been a process of relearning how to do school, so for the first several days we have been focusing on relationships and routines. Now that things have settled in, our efforts have transitioned to a greater focus on teaching and learning, which includes early assessments so that we can better address student needs.

As you know, we have had our first Covid case. Despite having processes and procedures in place, we did experience some challenges in managing the situation. First, we discovered an issue with our email notification system for Covid. Some families did not receive their close contact notification because our email went directly to spam. We learned that emails sent as blind copies often get sent to spam even if the sender is a familiar email contact, so in the future, emails will be addressed directly to recipients. Second, we learned that we over-identified students as close contact, meaning that some of the students identified as close contacts were not actually close contacts according to the health department guidelines. We apologize for any undue stress that this caused families. We are providing staff with clearer guidance on how to determine those contacts in the future. Third, two students entered the building who we identified as close contacts (and were, by definition, close contacts). The first student was sent home. We were unable to contact the family of the second student and that student remained in school for the day, and has followed up with a confirmed negative Covide test. To prevent this from happening again, we will verbally confirm with staff each morning the names of students who are to be quarantining. We are learning and will do better should the need to report another case arise. If you do have a positive case in your family, please report it to the school as soon as possible. This will assist us in getting our notifications out in a timely manner.

On another note, I’ve had concerns raised regarding safety during our pick-up time. The lines can be long, so please ask your child to watch for your vehicle to arrive. This will help to keep the line moving. Also, please pull up to the curb, to allow your child to enter the vehicle. Having a child enter the vehicle from the traffic lane could be creating a safety concern, and finally, please limit your speed to 5 mph when in the drive.

I appreciate all you do to keep our students safe!

Al