This is our 11th week of the 2020-2021 school year. It remains our goal to provide the most current information possible.
We still remain cautiously optimistic that we can continue our positive trends. Still, we need everyone to do their part by doing daily health screeners, keeping sick children home, and following the 3 W's: wear a mask, wash your hands, and watch your distance.
It is important to keep things in perspective; we want all of our county to succeed with our efforts against COVID-19. Right now, all of our Saginaw County school district neighbors are either partially or fully closed to face-to-face instruction. It feels like it may only be a matter of time for us, but please know we will do everything we can to safely keep our face-to-face options available for our students and families.
We can currently report that we have had one student and three staff members this week that have tested positive for COVID-19. Fortunately, these employees did not have close contact with other students or staff when we conducted our contact tracing. Our one elementary classroom that had face-to-face instruction suspended at K.C. Ling is now back to school, but we now have another K.C. Ling classroom that is quarantined due to close contact. However, there are still three dozen or more students on quarantine, plus this additional new classroom, and some staff members due to close contact.
This week we were not able to provide busing to students and families that ride bus #27. Although this was not directly related to COVID-19, it was part of the trickle-down effect from other COVID-19 situations.
We continue to follow our return to learn plan and guidance from the health department, the department of education, and other oversight that has been provided.
Please continue to encourage your child to utilize our free breakfast and lunch program for all; it makes your morning easier knowing that breakfast and lunch are already taken care of.
Please rest assured if there are any concerns specific to you or your children that either a building principal or myself will contact you directly.
Our goal is to be back in school five days a week; at this time, we continue to review our format and will continue remote Friday on November 6th and 13th.
If you should have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at 989.642.5282.
All the best,
Don Killingbeck, Supt.
The following are lessons learned from this week.
- You don't need permission to be socially awkward.
- Data continues to be important in the decision-making process.
- Close contact really is the big issue when navigating these situations.