Dear Dragon Families,

We hope that everyone is ready for a relaxing Spring Break. As we prepare to go on break, we are also responding to the continued threat that the Coronavirus brings to our schools. We hope that everyone saw the letter from our Superintendent, Dr. Kizner, linked below. As stated in his letter, the school division is canceling all gatherings and events that plan to have more than one hundred people in attendance. We wanted to communicate with you how this is affecting the ABES schedule and school-specific events.

• All field trips scheduled after Spring Break are canceled. We are working with the division finance department to get refunds to parents as soon as we can. More information will be coming home after Spring Break.

• The Fine Arts Festival on March 28th and 29th, where our 3rd graders and our Chorus were scheduled to perform, has been canceled.

• The D.A.R.E. Basketball Game has been canceled.

• Our SOL Night on March 31st will no longer be held at school, but we are preparing a digital presentation to be shared with our third through fifth-grade families. When this is prepared we will let you know. We need your support and as we prepare for our end of year assessments.

• The Focus Festival is canceled, however, we plan on displaying our students’ work in our library in May.

• The April 9th Spring Art Show and Chorus Concert have been canceled. We are working at this time to find a way to virtually share this event! Our art teacher, Mrs. Butler has prepared over 1,000 pieces of artwork ensuring all our students have a piece of work displayed. We will be in touch soon with details.

• Middle School Visits for our 5th graders have been postponed at this time.

• PTO events such as Candy Bar Bingo and Spirit Nights at local restaurants have been canceled.

• Before and After school clubs to include tutoring will continue at this time. If this changes, we will alert you.

We are also putting into place processes to help ensure we are all staying healthy. Students are being asked to wash hands for at least 20 seconds and to do so before touching their faces. This means washing their hands before eating and after sharing items such as computers with other students. The custodial staff is planning to complete a thorough cleaning process over Spring Break and will continue to do so throughout the remainder of the school year.

The safety of our students is our main priority. Please refer to the letter linked above to access the CDC website and the link on how to talk to children about the virus.

Thank you for your continued support and patience as we navigate this continuously changing situation.