Greetings Sunnyland Families,

It’s hard to believe we are already moving into the second week of April. We are a month into school closures, and have kept our four priorities intact:

• Protect life, promote safety and minimize the spread of the virus.
• Provide food to the young people in our community.
• Work with community partners in supporting childcare options for our first responders, medical employees and families in greatest need.
• Develop innovative ways to support ongoing student learning.

I have been impressed by the way our Sunnyland community has rallied and kept to physical distancing and other safety recommendations to help minimize the spread of the virus. It’s so hard to do so and not feel like we are disconnecting from each other, but I am grateful that we are doing it – it seems to be making a difference! For those of you who I have seen in ‘real life’, I appreciate your grace and understanding as I back away to keep the 6 ft distance intact, or if I have been wearing a face covering which undoubtedly makes it harder to understand me – or see me. In those situations, it’s hard for me not to feel like I am being rude. Thank you for understanding.

I’m also so proud of how we have served the children in our community. In the first week of April we served 2500 meals and are anticipating serving over 3000 next week. Childcare options have been made available as well as we have partnered with several organizations in town, and even opened up two of our elementary schools to provide childcare for first responders.

Our fourth priority is developing innovative ways to support ongoing student learning. As we shift from an optional review of learning opportunities to new learning, we want every child to engage in, you will see a clearer focus in the upcoming learning menus and video messages. We have teams of teachers and leaders across the district who are prioritizing the essential standards moving forward, and we will be unified in delivering instruction and experiences for your children around those standards. As always, this is new for all of us, so we are intentionally moving slowly as we carefully plan the essential learning, we want for our children in this new learning environment, and how to develop those learnings in each of our kids. Thanks in advance for continuing to provide your thoughts and feedback as we go.

Warmly,
Amy Berreth

In these crazy and sometimes scary times it is hard to remember to stay positive. Some days it seems like a dream to be home getting stuff done that we haven’t had the time to do then in the next moment we are saddened because of the reality of life according to the world outside of the safety of our own homes. I want to pass on some strategies that I learned through the book “Positive Parenting”:

1. Give Hugs- when your kids are getting on your nerves or have succumbed to an all out meltdown in the floor, try asking him or her for a hug. If they refuse, just say, “when you are ready come find me and give me a hug”, then walk away. You might just be surprised what happens.

2. Jobs- kids love to be helpers and in a time of uncertainty it feels good to have structure in their lives (and in our lives). Create a job chart together with your child asking for their input on what jobs they would like to do to contribute to keeping your house happy and healthy. Maybe even have a job celebration at the end of each week together...just for fun!

Thanks for reading. If you need a listening ear or anything, please don’t hesitate to reach other in this time of collective struggle. I will do my best to support you. I am grieving the loss of normal life, seeing your kiddos, listening to their funny and wonderful stories, and going to work every day to my wonderful staff. My email is kari.miller@bellinghamschools.org or text/call me at 360-927-2658.

With gratitude,

Kari Miller

Starting April 6, we will provide multi-day meal boxes at all 16 of our sites (schools and neighborhood complexes) between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. only on Mondays. We have discontinued daily meals. We believe this shift in service will be more efficient for families and staff; limiting our interactions with each other means practicing better physical distancing. If you have questions or concerns, families can call 360-319-8863 o en español 360-510-9174.

Families can go to the following schools to pick up meals:

• Alderwood Elementary School
• Carl Cozier Elementary School
• Cordata Elementary School
• Geneva Elementary School
• Happy Valley Elementary School
• Parkview Elementary School
• Roosevelt Elementary School
• Wade King Elementary School
• Shuksan Middle School
• Options High School

Or the following neighborhood/apartment complexes:

• Eliza Court mobile home park
• Evergreen Apartments
• Regency Park Apartments
• Sterling Meadows Apartments
• Sudden Valley Community Center
• Villa Santa Fe Apartments

We ask families who are sick to please stay home, and we are not able to sell meals to adults.

At this time we are unable to fill requests for special dietary needs. If you have questions about carbohydrates and allergens please email susan.dejong@bellinghamschools.org and we will try to get you that information in a timely manner.

Please be flexible as plans may change based on access to food, staff and supplies; guidance from the health department; or orders from the governor to prevent COVID-19 from spreading further. This service is possible with the incredible efforts of our food services team and the generosity of Bellingham Public Schools Foundation.

If you have questions related to our meal service, please fill out this online form, click “school meals” and submit the form; someone will respond soon.

We would not be able to provide these meals without the support of our Bellingham Public Schools Foundation!

For individuals who would like to support our families experiencing food insecurity, please consider giving to the Bellingham Public Schools Foundation and Bellingham Food Bank.

We also wanted to share an update from the Bellingham Food Bank. Folks may visit once per week and may choose among all locations which they visit. They will join a car queue and, when it’s their turn, volunteers will load a pre-packed food box into their trunk or car without requiring person-to-person contact. There will be a bike and walk-up option as well. Each car may pick up for up to two families. Menstrual products, baby formula and diapers will be added to distributed items as availability allows. Please check the Food Bank’s website for more information.

Dates, Times and Locations

1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays at Shuksan Middle School

3 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays at Christ the King Church on Meridian St.

1 to 4 p.m. Thursdays at Civic Athletic Complex

or Principal Amy Berreth at Amy.berreth@bellinghamschools.org.

ptasunnyland@gmail.com

Co-President – Ann Boustead 214-564-5201, aboustead@gmail.com

Co-President - Nickie Rail 760-917-0468, nickierail@gmail.com

Treasurer - Pat Kelly 360-325-5296, patmara@mac.com

Secretary - Megan Porter 801-319-3366, megan.leigh.porter@gmail.com

Enrichment - Abby Atkins 360-389-1805, sunnylandenrichment@gmail.com

Enrichment - Cari Chan 360-201-9547, ficus.cari@gmail.com

Communications - Allison Leckie 360-527-3096, allisonbj@gmail.com

Fundraising - Brianna Robbins 360-220-4770, Briannarobbinsrealestate@gmail.com

Attendance: 7:45-3:00 - Christina.ortiz@bellinghamschools.org

School starts 8:00 am

Dismissal at 2:30 pm

Thursday, early release day dismissal at 12:45 pm