The Start

Today marked the start of the beginning of the school year for our staff. It is a year full of anticipated adventure, excitement, and new challenges. Our team has spent a significant amount of time preparing for this day, and it felt so good to see people back in our schools. I am really proud of the work the staff has done to learn new technology and think through new ways of working.

At the same time, I am not naïve and will acknowledge being concerned, knowing there will be challenges ahead related to COVID 19. There may be some difficult times and hard decisions to make.  However, I reminded our staff that it is important for us to keep our focus on having a positive mindset, working together, and believing the best about our students and coworkers. It will take some #horsepower, but we have the right people on our team to move forward. We are indeed in this together as a staff, a student body, and community.  

Things will be different when students arrive. We are asking all staff, students, and people who come on campus to please wear a face-covering. You will see signage up at every building to remind people to wear a face covering, practice social distancing, and "do the five."  We are also asking people to stay home if they are sick or have a fever over 100.4. It is new, it is different, and it is necessary to keep us safe, healthy, and prevent spreading COVID 19.

Our classrooms will look different. Lindsay Shaffer has her classroom set up to accommodate social distancing in a rather model format, as you can see here. The desks are well spread out, and there are containers for students to keep their individual supplies. This will help reduce the number of items students need to share and keep them well organized.  The second picture is of the one a high school classroom set up similarly.

I spent several hours out in the schools today visiting with teachers in their classrooms. I was quite encouraged by what I heard and saw.  I loved seeing how the staff is reaching out to support each other.   I saw a few notes like this in different classrooms. It reminded me of just how great our team is and how much they care for each other and our students.

Being at the High School as staff toured the building was truly a great moment. There is still work to be done, but the progress that has been made is fantastic. I am looking forward to being able to host an open house later this fall to show the great work that has been done.

                           

  

I am looking forward to having all of our students back next week. Some will be attending school on campus, and others will be participating in remote learning.  It will be a new way of approaching teaching and learning for all staff and students alike, but we are a strong learning community. I fully anticipate that we will rise up to meet the challenge of working differently.