RoadRunner Review: First Week of School
Principal’s Message:
I feel a sense of cautious positivity and trepidation all mixed in with the usual feelings that the start of the school year elicits when considering how to set the tone for the 2020-2021 school year. This convergence of conflicting feelings is something that I know is not limited to my experience. I know that our learners feel this whether they can articulate it or not. I know our staff and our families feel it.
What is “IT” exactly? I think it boils down to the ‘unknown’. The interesting thing about the unknown is that it really is always our reality. However, a global pandemic and a country grappling with racial tensions brings it to the forefront of our consciousness and we are fully cognizant of how little we actually control in our futures.
I feel incredibly undone as a leader in this current climate, wanting fervently to “do the right thing,” support our learners, families, staff in the best way I can and feeling frequently like it is too heavy.
Being on a campus that looks to Christ as our guide, this point in history is an opportunity and a calling to lean heavily on his guidance and leadership. I have had to remind myself of this frequently and am constantly having to brush aside my “what-ifs” and relax into Christ’s promises and the security that only He can provide.
This year is going to require that process from all of us. A little bit of letting go, a lot of faith, and a lot of support and encouragement for our learners, our teachers, and our families. What a beautiful thing community is—I think perhaps our reliance on God and each other is the tone we need to set for ourselves this year…
Announcements:
Since we are attempting so many new e-learning opportunities this year it is vital that we receive frequent feedback from our families on the areas we can improve. We would love feedback from each and every one of our families. Please take a few minutes to fill out the following “First Week of School” survey.
We will not be starting hot lunch this month. It is our hope that we will be able to launch our hot lunch program by the end of this month. We have had a few delays in our remodel, but are currently on track for the end of the month.
Reminder that we will be having our first online Zoom “Enrichment” Friday on September 11 at 9:00 am. Your child will receive a Zoom code for Enrichment Friday in Seesaw/Google Classroom
Covid-19:
We will be posting any updates pertaining to Covid-19 on our website and noting them in our newsletter as well. Few things we would like our community to consider:
We ask that you take the time to talk to your child about the importance of wearing a mask and physically distancing while they are at school. We have seen students doing their part and loving the time when we have mask breaks to help them manage the difficulties of wearing a mask for long periods of time. We understand the rhetoric happening outside of our school can be fairly charged and difficult for students to navigate within school.
We are choosing to approach it on campus as a difficult thing that might take some “getting used to”—but we are not inclined to be dismissive of the mandates, undercut or speak ill of our Lane County public health officials that are navigating a very difficult situation or suggest to students that we are following these rules, but that the rules in are mindless or problematic.
We understand that our approach might significantly differ from how many families are choosing to approach this and we wholeheartedly support your right to approach it as you choose. However, it is very helpful, for our staff, if our families can support our work by making the distinction between “what we do at home” and “what we do at school.”
Thank You for doing your part in helping make our “in-person” experience a better one for all.
