Bonny Slope Community,

We are approaching an anniversary of a sorts. Next month, it will have been a year since our lives and school were impacted so heavily by COVID. We recall hearing the announcement that our schools would be closed a week prior to Spring Break, with an anticipated return date of early April. We were saying goodbye to our students, reminding them that we’ll be together once again in a few weeks. It's amazing how quickly a year has gone.

The other memory that we have for the last day was the incredible generosity of our community. We sent out a School Messenger asking for donations for our own families in need. Within two hours, the conference room was literally filled, floor and tabletop, of donations that immediately started pouring in. Our food pantry shelves bulged with food. In times of need, our community has always rallied around each other to get through this tunnel together.

Now, we may be seeing glimmers of light at the end of this tunnel. One tool that was critical for us to help us plan for this next phase was the Hybrid/CDL survey to indicate your plans for the rest of the year. Last Thursday, we reached out to our community to remind them to finish the survey (deadline was extended to today). In calling families, we heard so many stories, both of hope and concern, about our future as we move into hybrid. In one particular phone call, the parent profusely apologized for not filling out the survey. I responded that it felt a little bit like I was a playing “teacher” and reminding our parents that they needed to do their homework. We laughed, and the parent reflected how she was just talking to her high school son for not completing his homework and here she was doing the same thing!

Just a note: our survey closes today. If you didn’t fill it out by today, your choice will be registered as continuing in CDL.

Once our numbers are finalized, we will start to be able to engage in planning for our return. We know there is anxiety about possible teacher switches once we move into hybrid. That makes sense because a hallmark of our work in elementary schools is the student-teacher relationship. We can promise you that we will do everything we can to preserve our classrooms. We also know that switching teachers is unavoidable, whether you selected CDL or Hybrid, We want to thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

The other thing you can count on is our continued communication with you. As soon as information is decided and “released” to us to communicate, we will. In some cases, Beaverton School District prefers to send out communication to everyone themselves. In other cases, they will ask the school administrators to share. In our impromptu “Principal Chat” we hosted a couple weeks ago, we had about 90 people attend, and many more that watched our video after it was posted. Be on the lookout for future invitations for these events to keep you in the “know” for our future plans.

Looking back to the day when our conference room filled with donated food, we basked in the glow of our supportive community during this challenging time. Not only providing food, but you were asked for so much more this past year. You were asked to make your homes into a classroom. You did. You were asked to provide support for your children’s learning daily. You did. You were asked to select a hybrid/CDL option without knowing if your student’s teacher would change. You did. We have had to rely on our community and all of you in ways that a year ago would have been unimaginable.

Together, we did hard things … and together we can do hard things. Thank you for everything that you have done to support us, your teachers, and your students to make this school year meaningful to your students.

Jim Hiller and Janet Maza

Thank you

Beaverton School District Business Office.

Parents if you are not sure how to do this, please follow these steps.

a. Beaverton School District Website

b. Families > Apps for parents/Guardians > Online Payment System Login

c. Chose Students name

d. Click on Red View button above Shop

This will give you a breakdown of the fees & fines that are due. Fines for Library Books which you plan to return will be removed when the book is checked back in.

Here is the February K-5 Newsletter from Cedar Mill and Bethany Community Libraries. Check out our Parent Information Series coming up, including a workshop on Supporting Dual Language Learners, and a monthly parenting group focused on Positive Parenting with Megan Barella, and more. We hope this free, online series will support and inspire parents in our community!

We feature new booklists this month, such as Black Excellence: Nonfiction for Kids and Families, Picture books for Lunar New Year, Fantastic Fiction by Black Authors, Meditation and Mindfulness titles for kids and more!

Happy Reading!