Superintendent's Message September 25, 2020

Good evening students, staff, families and community,

I hope this email finds you and those you care about doing well. We are happy to report we have completed week one of a gradual student return to the building. A lot of learning has occurred for all involved, and it will continue to inform our process as we bring additional students to the buildings. 

PHASE-IN UPDATE:

The next step in our phase-in plan will be to bring our Kindergarten students, as well as  some of our language learners, to the buildings on the A/B Hybrid schedule, beginning Monday, October 12, 2020. This date remains open to adjustment should we receive any updated guidance from health authorities, or experience an increase in cases in our county.

Once we bring this first group of students in on hybrid learning,  we will begin considering the return of a few grade levels at a time, moving forward in 2-3 week increments. Those increments will be based on the current conditions in Whatcom County and our ability to adequately staff those grade levels.

DO NOT COME IF YOU ARE SICK: 

One of the most important things you need to know about a return to school during this time is that we are asking students and staff not to come to the building if they are sick, or feeling ill. Please review the symptoms and your student(s) health daily, before they head off to the bus stop or get in the car to come to school.  If your student is ill, please contact the school office as you would in previous years to report their absence from school. These steps are critical in a successful return to in-person learning, and provide reassurance to all involved that anyone coming in the building is symptom free and feeling okay.

DAILY WELLNESS SCREENINGS:

In preparation for hybrid learning, we want to make sure that everyone is aware of the daily screening expectations. Please talk with your student(s) about this and begin planning and preparing for when their grade level(s) will return to the building. We have created a short presentation to review the steps of the wellness screening process, which can be viewed on our YouTube Channel and other social media, as well as on the 2020-2021 School Year page of our website. If you have questions or concerns please contact the campus your student attends. One thing we have learned in this first week is that the building entry process runs much smoother when families have completed the health attestations prior to arrival. We want to do everything we can to assist in making this happen.


We want to thank all of our families for the work they are doing to support their student(s) in remote learning. Please make sure you are remaining in contact with your student(s) classroom teacher(s). We are excited to be moving forward with welcoming additional students to our buildings throughout the Fall.We hope many of you will join us on Thursday at 6:00 P.M. for our next community question and answer session on Zoom. The link to the meeting will be posted on our website the morning of the meeting. 

It is a great night to be a Borderite, and, as always, a great night to be your superintendent. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Christopher Granger

Every Student. Every Day. In a New Way!