Be Positive, Be Grateful, Be Involved, Be Flexible

• I am continuing to get questions about when the school will go back to full time for students. There are two things that are keeping us from moving to full time, each day, all week education. The first is that the State Dept. of Health still has a 6ft requirement for classrooms and schools. All desks must be 6 ft apart in every classroom. Before the COVID crisis, we had space issues, especially in elementary school. If you remember, we have tried to pass three bonds in the recent past, and a primary goal of those bond elections was to fund expansion of classrooms in the elementary school. Our classroom space available will not accommodate full classrooms with the 6ft rule. Second, several of our teachers are assigned to managing our Tonasket Online Academy so that families that want a fully remote schooling option can do this. To move back to school all day, all week, for all students would mean that we would have to cancel this program. Those teachers would be needed back in the classroom. Finally, we have been in some version of hybrid learning since October for all of our students. An overwhelming majority of schools in our state only now started to bring back students to campus in any form. I am proud of how our staff has worked to maximize the opportunities for families. Still, I also realize that our efforts are not meeting all of the educational needs of students and families. We will continue to maximize our educational offerings based on the state requirements, overall health and safety concerns, and staffing availability.

• The Governor has moved us into Phase 2 as a region. For schools, the only major change is this allows us to have athletic competitions.

• I had the opportunity to testify remotely in support of two bills up for public hearing this week. The first was on Senate Joint Resolution 8204 on 55% passage for construction bonds, and the second was SB 5357 establishing and making appropriations for the capital broadband investment acceleration program.
  
  
• The school board held a work session on Wednesday. They discussed COVID planning, a school board retreat, staffing for this year and next year, and athletics. The board then met in executive session to complete the superintendent evaluation.

I was so impressed with the turnout for last night's meeting. At one point, we had 36 people on the zoom, and I felt like everyone was engaged. Minerva's presentation style and content are incredible, and I think our parents are getting a lot out of it. I know for a fact that all these families would not have been present without the dedicated work of you, Martha, Maribel, Lourdes, and Norma. Thank you for making the extra effort and going the extra mile to make sure that our families are getting this meaningful and useful information!

1. Positive COVID cases in our school community since starting school - 28
2. New members of our school community (students and/or staff) reporting as a new positive - 0
3. New Cohorts required to return to remote only learning (Contact or lack of staffing) - 0
4. New Classrooms required to return to remote only learning (Contact or lack of staffing) - 0
5. New Grade levels required to return to remote only learning (Contact or lack of staffing) - 0
6. New Schools required to return to remote only learning (Contact or lack of staffing) - 0
7. Staff with at least first vaccine - 64