Dear Families:
Last Wednesday, as most students began their year remotely, we welcomed, in-person, the Class of 2030 to PreK. In just three short days, they adjusted to their unique routine of mask wearing, temperature taking upon arrival, and heading to their personal desk space. They are divided into two learning cohorts and most classes and activities are held outside, with the exception of the smoke today. We wish we could have all our students on-site and we need to continue efforts to lower the number of positive cases. Current numbers in King County are down to 77 cases per 100,000. Our goal to start bringing our K-5 students back is less than 75 cases, sustained over a two-week period. We need to see numbers below 50 per 100,000 for 6th-8th grades to begin the process. Let’s keep those numbers heading downward!
On Friday, our middle school students came together to celebrate a leadership Mass with Fr. Colin. Though safety protocols made for unusual distancing, it was so good to have the students be with one another for a short time. We all enjoyed seeing them and sharing a small part of what is typically our all-school, beginning of the year Mass.
This coming Wednesday (9/9) and Thursday (9/10) we are having our Back to School Nights. On Wednesday, we welcome the 6th – 8th grade parents to a general zoom session at 6:30pm, followed by classroom zoom sessions for 6th grade at 7:00pm, 7th grade at 7:30pm and 8th grade at 8:00pm. On Thursday night for PreK through 5th grades, there will again be a general session at 6:30pm followed by two identical sessions at 7:00pm and 7:30pm (for those having students at more than one grade level.) Homeroom teachers will send out a link to the classroom sessions for each grade. Specialists will be recording information about their programs and they will be e-mailed to you during the week.
Usually, during our onsite Back-to-School Nights, teachers leave time for questions and answers. Anyone who has experienced zoom sessions knows how hard it is to unmute, not talk over someone, and get a question asked. We will be asking parents to use the chat feature (just click on the chat button on the bottom of your screen) to enter general questions. Teachers will answer as many as they can during the sessions and all questions will be saved for teachers to answer in a follow-up e-mail to all families. This will be a new experience (as it seems everything is, nowadays) and we hope to make it as easy as possible on all.
Thank you once again for all of your efforts to help make remote learning successful! We couldn’t do this without you. The stress level is high for parents, students and teachers. Please keep the lines of communication open. We know how hard everyone is working and we will get through this with strength, prayer and guidance from God.
Have a good week.
Mary
