Dear Rangers,
Last night the School Board approved our reopening plan for the 2020-2021 school year. I acknowledge that there have been many stories about school reopening in the national press, and even in our state, we see a wide swath of ideas about the best way to provide education to our children. The reopening plan on our website details our thinking on how the children in the Quilcene School District will best be served while keeping them and our staff and community as safe as we can.
The Reopening Team consisted of parents, community members, students, teachers, para-educators, technology and transportation staff, and administration. Together, with advice from OSPI, the Department of Labor and Industries, State and Jefferson County Department of Health, we have put together a flexible, adaptive plan which will bring our youngest and most vulnerable learners in as soon as possible, and our more experienced students in as COVID conditions in our region improve.
Each week I meet with Dr. Tom Locke, the Jefferson County Health Officer to discuss COVID-19, the spread of the virus in Jefferson as well as Clallam and Kitsap Counties. From those conversations as well as the number of cases in our three related counties over the past two weeks I make the determination of which step of the reopening process we will be on for the following week. That information will be sent to parents via our website, Facebook, ClassDojo, and Google Classroom. No matter the reopening step we are in, we will depend on you, the parents of our students to help keep kids and communities safe and virus free.
I ask that each day you check your children for symptoms of COVID-19, and attest that your child does not display any signs of illness. Attestation forms will be sent home with your children in the first days of school - please complete and sign one form for each child, each day. When your child arrives at school as they go into class our staff will again check each child’s temperature. If there is any indication of illness or symptoms of COVID, the student will be isolated from other students and the parents contacted to pick up their child to be tested at one of the available COVID testing centers. See our reopening plan for more information on when a student has symptoms at school or contracts the virus.
Our facilities staff has been working over the summer to replace our drinking fountains with touchless water bottle filling stations, sinks, and toilets with automatic, touchless controls, move classrooms, and set up our spaces for socially distanced learning. In addition, we are finishing an exercise track that runs around our athletic fields to provide more outdoor learning opportunities for our students.
Our teachers, meanwhile, have been engaging in professional development to increase their knowledge of distance learning and working with students when the year will be partially in person, and partially learning from home. I am excited about the passion that our teachers have for learning about this new reality of education, and their willingness to embrace a new way of learning and teaching to be able to better support their students.
Every Monday evening Mr. Moss and I host a town-hall-style meeting. During that meeting, we provide updates, information, and give space for parents and community members to ask questions or engage us on issues or concerns they might have. In addition, I encourage you to reach out to us, your child’s teacher, or the office - we can set up a meeting, a phone call, or email. We are committed to ensuring you have all of the information you need to help support your child’s learning.
We would like to hear from you! We need you to fill out this survey to help us understand how many children will be attending school in person when we are in steps 2, 3, 4, or 5. Please complete the survey in the next two days.
Stay tuned, reach out to us any time, and show your Ranger pride!