Be Positive, Be Grateful, Be Involved, Be Flexible

~ Jon Gordon

After the completion of the installation of the HVAC system, the PUD through their energy efficiency program had a study done of the buildings. The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has approved the energy efficiency report for the Elementary and Middle/High Tonasket School District HVAC capital levy project. The maximum incentive that may be paid is based on the total project kWh savings. The final incentive amount is then determined by funding availability that the PUD receives from the BPA. We received word that 100% of the incentive will be paid to the Tonasket School District in the following amounts. What exciting news to receive. Thanks to the community for the support of the capital projects levy along with grant funding, this project has been possible. The PUD will highlight district projects on their website, Facebook, and in the local newspapers after Thanksgiving.

Elementary: $12,409.48

Middle/High: $21,723.74

On Wednesday morning, our high school parking lot was a site for the county public health department to provide free COVID drive-through testing. They will be doing this again next month as well. This was a PCR test, which is more reliable than the quick result tests. Testing helps the DOH to understand how widespread the virus is in our community. Community testing like this helps combat this pandemic so I’d like to encourage all staff, their families, and community members to be tested when the opportunity arises again. It’s important to remember that schools don’t keep schools open, communities do.

Supt’s On - A Virtual Community Connection with the Superintendent

The next virtual meeting will be December 2nd at 5:30 PM for the English session and 6:30 for the Spanish session. They are held the first Wednesday of the month. All Tonasket community members, whether parents of students in the districts or not are invited to attend these virtual conversations. I will be sharing information on the new Sex Ed law with the community at the December meeting.

Each week HS principal Trisha Roach sends out Character Dares to students and staff and asks them to practice it throughout the week. This week’s Character Dare was Patience. The Dares suggest things to try during the week that would exercise the traits they are focusing on for the week i.e. “merging” let at least one person go in front of you, whether walking, driving, in line, etc. At the end of the week, she asks students and staff to reflect and to share their thoughts and how they took part in the Character Dares. Character Strong is a program that focuses on school culture and SEL (social emotional learning).

We have been staffing a health aid position for several weeks as a sub in order to give our nursing staff the extra help we need for managing the increased duties with COVID. The district will be hiring this position for the rest of the year. It should be posted today. I am also working with Family Health Centers to see if there are resources there to help fund this position for a longer period of time.

I met last week with the PSE for a labor management meeting and this week with the TEA. These meetings are for the purpose of maintaining on-going communications between the unions and the district. It’s beneficial for both the district and the unions to hold these monthly meetings to discuss issues as they come up throughout the year so they can be resolved cooperatively.

• Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) has updated the guidance regarding athletics for this school year. On November 17, 2020, the WIAA executive board amended the current season schedule for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year, opting to delay the start of WIAA Season 2 to February 1 and shorten each WIAA Season to seven weeks in length.
  Schools will only be allowed to participate if the school is open to in-person learning and has a county caseload under 25 per 100,000 residents for two weeks. November 17, 2020, Updated Guidelines: PE needs to go back to wearing masks for all activities based on our new guidance from the state. Click below for the full Tonasket Reopening Planning, Phases, & Protocols.

• A reminder to all staff that the SEBB Open Enrollment for Benefits will end on Monday, November 23, 2020. If you need to make any changes you will need to get them in by the end of the day Monday.

1. Positive COVID cases in our school community since starting school - 7

2. Members of our school community (students and/or staff) reporting as a new positive - 2

3. Cohorts required to return home and return to remote only learning - 0

4. Classrooms required to shut down and return to remote only learning - 0

5. Grade levels required to shut down and return to remote only learning - 0

6. Schools required to shut down and return to remote only learning - 0