Dear Families:
Last Friday we had the chance to celebrate Halloween, Covid style. I continue to be amazed at the creativity and flexibility of our students, staff and parents to honor our typical traditions while dealing with such unusual circumstances. Things almost felt a bit normal as students in PreK-2 rounded the block in a costume parade. 3rd, 4th and 5th graders held distanced “parties” on the playground and the middle school had zoom activities. It was exciting and energizing to see the delight in the eyes of our students as they got to be with one another and to leave the thought of the virus behind for at least a short amount of time.
I have received a few questions about the rising numbers of Covid cases throughout King Co. and what this means for continuing with in-person school for PreK – 2nd grades. We are at “pause and hold” status meaning we can keep these grades in person but not allow any others to return until we see a downward trend and numbers go below 75/100,000. Unless the governor issues a “stay at home” order again, we should be fine continuing our current status.
Thank you for attending our Parent-Teacher conferences last week. Though it is a demanding time for teachers, especially when they had to do all of them on zoom, they appreciate the opportunity to partner with you in the education of our students. It is truly a blessing to work in a school where parents are so committed to their children. A silver-lining to Covid is that many parents expressed appreciation for having the opportunity to conference via zoom. It gave them flexibility to log-on at times when they may not have been able to get into the school building. We may try to keep options for doing remote conferences, as well as in-person, next year.
Just a reminder that next Monday, November 9th, we do not have school for our observance of Veterans Day. Originally, we had planned to have an all-school Mass to honor and remember veterans on Wednesday, November 11th and have a long weekend previous to that. Since we cannot have school Masses at this time, we will still have no school on November 9th and remember our veterans and their service to our country through classroom based activities on November 11th.
Have a great week!
Mary
