- Dr. Maria Montessori

"Nourish beginnings, let us nourish beginnings."- Muriel Rukeyser

Dear EPMS families.

A warm welcome to our new and returning families. We are thrilled to be back together again for a new school year at such a special place. We are excited to join back in community with all of you. The Eagle Peak community opens its arms to our new additions as well as our returning families!

For 22 years Eagle Peak has been a school of choice for families seeking a public Montessori education. In a time of so much uncertainty, we are grateful for the stability our faculty provides for our students and that the school provides for the community of families.

We would like to thank the Covid Advisory Group who worked with our Executive Director this summer to give us guidance on how to move forward in this second year in which we are experiencing the pandemic while back in person.

As the Board, it is our responsibility, but also our goal, to provide a safe, peaceful, and consistent environment so that our students can concentrate on the educational experiences they will have and so that the teachers can concentrate on preparing the environment for those experiences. If you would like to learn what makes our school tick and how we can all help EPMS continue to serve this amazing community, we meet at 6:30pm the third Tuesday of each month. Upcoming agendas, meeting location and past meeting minutes can be found on the home page of the EPMS website.

Warmest regards and welcome from,

The EPMS Board of Directors

Dear EPMS Families,

Eagle Peak Montessori Staff is so excited to welcome you back for the 2022-2023 school year!!

We are looking forward to bringing back so many of our activities, so many of our traditions. Most of all we are looking forward at being here on campus focusing on the work for our students who are truly what everything we do each day is about. We know how eager the students are to be back together and we look forward to partnering with parents in providing an enriched, mindful, peaceful, and respectful learning environment for each and every one of them this year. They are the reason Eagle Peak Montessori was created and the reason we continue each day.

One of the above quotes, "Nourish beginnings, let us nourish beginnings" is the perfect thought heading into the new year. One way in which the staff and I will lead an effort in this direction is that in our community we will practice starting all encounters with positive intent and continuing with respect and kindness. This has also been incorporated into the Parent Involvement Agreement. This is a practice that is the foundation of any supportive community, such as the one we have created at Eagle Peak Montessori. This phrase represents the values that all of our expectations are founded upon.

In this newsletter you will find the schedule and information on Orientation Night. Registration information will be sent out next week (the week of the 8th).

Also in this newsletter is an update on all of our protocols for the upcoming year. You will see some changes and some constants. The board has worked tirelessly over the summer to create a plan which moves us all forward in working through the pandemic circumstances in which we have found ourselves.

I was fortunate to be informed by and work with a small group, who has hands on experience with the covid-19 virus to help us work through these protocols for the board to consider. We had a physician who works with county public health, a nurse-practitioner in private practice, a public health expert, and teachers on this committee to share their knowledge, expertise, and resources for a thoroughly considered recommendation to the board. These protocols were then presented to the school's legal counsel and then brought forth to the board. The board voted anonymously to approve all of the protocols found in this newsletter.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have.

Looking forward to working in partnership with you,

Michelle Hammons

Executive Director

Orientation Nights

Lower Elementary Monday: August 15, 2022

5:30pm-6:30pm Meet the Leadership of Eagle Peak Montessori School

Location: Little Theater Northgate High School (Suggestion to park at

Northgate and walk the path back to Eagle Peak after the meeting.

6:30pm-7:30pm

• New Families (1st, 2nd,3rd) Classroom Orientation. You will have your classroom assignment distributed at the Meet the Leadership Event
• Returning Families: Meet the PTLG, CCC, and CFEP

7:30pm-8:30pm

• Returning Families: Classroom Orientation
• New Families: Meet the PTLG, CCC, and CFEP

Upper Elementary/ Adolescent Program Tuesday, August 16, 2022

5:30pm-6:30pm

• Meet the Leadership of Eagle Peak Montessori School
• Location: Little Theater Northgate High School (Suggestion to park at Northgate and walk the path back to Eagle Peak after the meeting.

6:30pm-7:30pm

• 4th and 7th grade parents: Classroom Orientation. You will have your classroom assignment distributed at the Meet the Leadership Event
• 5th, 6th, and 8th grade parents: Meet the PTLG, CCC, and CFEP

7:30pm-8:30pm

• 5th, 6th, and 8th grade parents: Classroom Orientation
• 4th and 7th grade parents: Meet the PTLG, CCC, and CFEP

Procedures for Participating in Schoolwide Meetings/Events

1. Adults will be required to wear a mask when attending all meetings such as but not limited to Back to School Orientation, Parent Teacher Leadership Group on campus meetings, Board of Directors, Community Foundation for Eagle Peak, school sponsored field trips(including while using all modes of transportation included in the trip) and other type EPMS community meetings, while inside the meeting space regardless of whether the meeting takes place on the physical campus of Eagle Peak Montessori or if it is indoors but off campus. Events sponsored by the CFEP which is a separate 501(C)3 organization are left to the discretion of that organization if they do not take place on the EPMS campus.

2. Adults will be required to wear a mask when on campus volunteering with students during the school day, both indoors and outdoors.

3. Adults will be required to wear a mask when attending any after school hours educational on-campus events: Historical Halloween, Science Fair, Trading Post/Cultural Fair, Senior Project, Graduation, and other experiences that are part of the academic program.

4. Adults will be required to wear a mask when adults are in classrooms, in the office or other indoor space on campus they will be masked.

5. Individuals may be unmasked when they pick up their children on campus when they will be on campus less than 10 minutes. However, if they are engaging in conversation with staff whether indoors or outdoors, both participants will be masked.