Dear Families,
We are excited to welcome our students back to the classroom; full time, every student, every day! What an incredible year and a half it has been. So much goes into planning for a new school year, but this year is unique. While we are entering our third school year of this pandemic, we have much to celebrate.
As we look ahead to this new year, we have an opportunity of a lifetime to reignite our students’ passion for learning, reimagine learning opportunities, refocus on raising student emotional and academic achievement, and restore a sense of normalcy in the lives of our students and staff. We will continue to embrace the lessons learned during COVID, we will strive to implement robust learning experiences for all of our students.
We have also learned that the mitigation strategies we put in place work! Masking, social distancing, on-site testing options for families and staff, quality air flow, and best practices for cleaning and disinfecting. While we may have been on campus and working over these past few weeks, we know our students will be coming off of a summer relatively mask-free. As a result, our staff have focused on taking full advantage of our beautiful fall weather and will be prioritizing intentionality in outdoor mask breaks. We know how important this is for our students and staff alike.
Over this next school year, we look forward to continuing our quest to provide your child with everything he or she needs to become empathetic, caring, and resilient to whatever life throws at them. Whether your child is attending school for the first time, or continuing with us, you’ll find caring and dedicated educators and staff who are skilled in knowing your child’s needs and working tirelessly to bring out his or her potential.
In honor of our student's first day back, we would love for you to share your child’s first day of school photo with us! You can send their photo to communityrelations@cersd.org and when posting on social media tag your post with #StrongerTogether. By sharing your picture, you are granting us permission to put together a video montage celebrating our CERSD students on our new website that will be launching later this month.
I wanted to close with a few reminders:
Attached here is our helpful COVID safety flow chart. Please use this as a reference for you and your family. I also wanted to take a moment and acknowledge that tomorrow morning will be a busy time re-establishing routines and making sure your child has everything they need as they head out the door. As we all get back into the routine of attending school five days a week, please take a few minutes to talk to your children about being aware of their surroundings en route to school, regardless if they are on wheels or by foot. Click here to view safety tips from the National Safety Council. If your students are going to be staying home alone after school, take a moment and review your rules and expectations. For more ideas on how students can stay home alone safely, click here to read more tips from the American Red Cross.
In closing, I would be remiss If I did not take this opportunity to extend my own personal gratitude to all of you. Your words, encouragement, and personal connections have truly been the hope that our staff and students have needed to get this year off to a successful start. While words are insufficient to fully convey my gratitude and appreciation to you; our students, families, employees, Board of Directors, and community partners, THANK YOU for your continued support of The Cle Elum-Roslyn School District.
Michelle Kuss-Cybula
