Be Positive

Be Grateful

Be Involved

• The rules for schools from our State Governor and Dept. of Health are that all staff, students, and visitors wear a mask when in the buildings. Case rates are very high in our community and this is one of the many mitigation measures that we will have in place to minimize COVID spread in our community. We had no confirmed transmission in school last year, and we are striving for the same goal this year.
  
  
• We had a great All Staff Day on Wednesday. We met outside for new staff introductions, a welcome message, and an activity that reinforced how we need to all work together in order to fulfill our mission and goals. Staff then moved to their departments and buildings for training and meetings. We also held a BBQ lunch for all staff - a big thanks to our kitchen staff, Matt Deebach, Brian Ellis, and the DO staff for all of their help in making this BBQ a success!

Office staff will be following the information below for sending kids home:

Send student/staff home if they show 1 of the following

• Fever (100.4°F) or chills
• Cough (A staff member or student with known allergies or asthma might not need to go home)
• Shortness of breath
• Recent loss of taste or smell

Send student/staff home if they show 2 or more of the following

• Fatigue, unusual
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• Sore throat
• Congestion
• Runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea (3 or more watery stools in 24 hours)
  
  

Any unvaccinated person who has been exposed to a Positive COVID infectious person must quarantine/test per DOH guidelines.

The only way to keep schools/sports open is to…

STAY HOME WHEN YOU ARE SICK AND FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES

Instruct family/staff to contact their healthcare provider or Okanogan County Public Health to inquire about being tested.

Your school nurse, Jill Wehmeyer, can assist with decision-making. Our building secretaries and our health room aide, Debby Green, can help you work through the rules on when to send students or staff home.

• We have a lot of new staff in our organization this year, and I so appreciate all that is being done to make sure they feel like a part of our team from day one! Changing jobs can be an extremely stressful endeavor. Let's continue to make this transition the best one possible.
  
  
• To inspire a positive culture and build a feeling of team spirit within our district, the administrators and I are encouraging all staff to wear their team t-shirts on Monday, the first day of classes for students, and on the last school day of the year in June. We’d also like to encourage staff to show team spirit and establish every Friday as a team t-shirt day. School spirit looks like teamwork that brings the entire staff of the district together, no matter your role. Remember we can’t be fully successful without you!

• Last Tuesday, we held the first Supt’s On of the school year. I will continue these meetings again this year. We are going to put the English and Spanish meetings on different nights to avoid some confusion on when to attend. This week's sessions had strong attendance and we spent most of the time discussing masking and the new COVID vaccine mandate for educational staff.
  
  
• The next Supt’s On will be held on October 6 from 6 - 7 PM for the English session. The Spanish session will be held on October 7 from 6 - 7 PM. The staff Supt’s On will be held on the first early release day of the month, for October, it is October 13 from 3:30 - 4:40 PM. These are informal, virtual conversations to give staff, families, and community members the opportunity to visit with the superintendent. Those attending will be able to have conversations about the important issues involving the Tonasket schools.