Cordata Chronicles
January 2022
From the Principals
Welcome back from winter break Cordata! We hope all our families had a wonderful vacation from school. It’s already been an interesting start to the month of January as snow and cold weather has carried over into the new year. We hope that over the next weeks we’ll see some warming with less late starts and snow days! Nevertheless, we're happy to be back at school!
This month we celebrate the life and leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On Monday, January 17th we recognize his contributions to our country with a holiday from school. Throughout the month classrooms will be engaged with a variety of learning and projects that help students to learn more about this inspirational leader and how the work of the civil rights movement is still alive today and as important as ever.
On Monday, January 31st we will have a non-student day that marks the end of the semester and middle of the school year. This means that there will be no school for students on that day. During this time window, teachers will be completing report cards as they prepare to send them out to families.
Over the past few months a group of family/parent leaders at Cordata have been meeting to launch a family leadership team. We meet on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm on Zoom. Now that we've had some great planning conversations we're ready to begin formalizing a plan for this team. We would welcome additional members to our group and will be seeking additional input from families in the coming months as we determine an official name, develop a mission statement and establish funding and leadership plans. If you would like to learn more, please reach out to one of the following people: Craig Baldwin (craig.baldwin@bellinghamschools.org), Cristina Manterola - Family Liaison (cristina.manterola@bellinghamschools.org), or Cordata Parents: Mercedes Montonini (mmontonini@gmail.com), Jade Woods (jadewilliamwoods@gmail.com) or Shaun Sowell (907-347- 2145). Please know that everyone is welcome at our meetings, you do not need specific qualifications and there is no cost!
Finally, you may be aware that Bellingham Public Schools had scheduled a vaccination clinic at Cordata on Thursday, January 6th. Due to this becoming a snow day we are currently rescheduling this vaccination clinic at Cordata. We’ll send out an update as soon as we are able to determine that new date. If you are interested in vaccinations for your child, please don’t hesitate to visit the Bellingham Public Schools website (https://bellinghamschools.org) for a variety of helpful information related to this topic.
Happy New Year Cordata Elementary School and welcome back!
Dr. Craig Baldwin - Principal
Ms. Eva Chazo - Assistant Principal
Meet our Awesome Cordata Office Staff!
Julie Goodwin and Sherry Hjelseth are our awesome front office staff. Julie has worked with children for ten years, and Sherry seventeen but has been with Bellingham Public Schools for three months. We are so lucky to have them up front and center. They both love so much about our school, but for both of them it’s the people! They really enjoy the friendliness of our students and staff. Julie’s interests are plants, animals and the outdoors. Sherry enjoys reading, walking her dog Rosie, and eating! Both want to travel more in the future once things have opened back up and it is safe. Julie took a cruise to the Caribbean over Winter break to soak up some sunshine. Something unique about Julie is that she is twin. Something unique about Sherry is that she has purple hair. We are so grateful that they are part of our Cordata family. Be sure to say hi to Julie and Sherry when you are in our office.
Cordata Elementary Student Pick Up Safety Reminders
As we transition back to school after our winter break, we would like to provide some reminders about student pick-up in the afternoons. One important reason for our procedures is that we have many students and families arriving or departing campus during a small window of time each day. To support a safer departure with this traffic flow the following procedures are in place. If you have questions about any of these guidelines, please do not hesitate to contact the Cordata Elementary School Office @ 360-676-6461. Thank you to every community member for your contribution to a safe school environment each school day!
Pick Up Procedures for Cordata Elementary
Please use the designated “drop off/pick up” lane along the right curb to drop off or pick up your child. This is a pick up only lane from 2:00-3:00pm M-F. If you do use this lane, please load/unload promptly and reenter traffic. Please DO NOT exit your car or park during pick-up, unless there is a unique safety reason for doing this.
Please remind your child to ALWAYS use sidewalks and crosswalks, especially if they are crossing a street during pick up times.
During pick-up time please do not exit your car, especially on Aldrich Road to walk and pick up your child. This slows traffic flow and creates unsafe loading situations. No students should be loading in cars on Aldrich Rd. even if they are with a parent/guardian.
As you exit Cordata in the afternoon, turning right on Aldrich is the safest option. Left turns across traffic are extremely unsafe as there is oncoming traffic and poor visibility. Keep in mind that if you go right on Aldrich, you can take another right on Horton Rd. and it will bring you to Cordata Parkway, which leads back to Bakerview Rd. where many of our Cordata families live.
Most importantly! Please be kind and patient with one another! We’re all here for the kids!
As a community we depend on each member to do their part to make our school a safe place for children. Please help us by following these procedures and spread the word to others who may be unaware of these safety guidelines.
Thank you Cordata!
Dr. Craig Baldwin- Principal
Ms. Eva Chazo – Assistant Principal
Promise Tomorrow Initiative
The Promise Tomorrow Initiative is back! This is project–based learning at its best. Students will work in teams on projects that envision creative solutions to transition to a better world. Their projects will take multi-disciplinary approaches to innovate technologies, designs, or plans that forge connections in their communities to create positive change. Student collaborative groups will work across grades, meet weekly online, and be supported by a volunteer and supervised by the coordinator.
Program registration is January 3-19. To learn more or to register please go to https://bellinghamschools.org/program/promise-tomorrow/