August 6, 2020
Dear Lopez and Decatur Families,
Today at 5 pm the Lopez Island School Board will be holding a Special Board meeting. During the Special Board meeting I will be making the recommendation for the Lopez Island School District to start the school year in the virtual model. This recommendation is supported by our County Health Official, Dr. Frank James, our Risk Management Pool, and the Governor’s recommendations from yesterday.
The school staff have been working diligently over the summer on the three learning options, as directed by the state. The School Board will decide during the special board meeting which option to move forward with. Once the decision is announced by the board, the school district will put full effort into that option. We are getting this information out to families more than a month ahead of the start of school, with the intent to help families plan for the start of school year.
In the next few weeks the school district will have a Town Hall meeting to share a draft of the Safe Return to School plan and answer community questions. We know that there’s specific question around learning options for individual students and those plans will be collaboratively discussed in a few weeks with the individual families.
What we know
We know that the start of this school year will look different and we have received feedback from our community and parent survey data that have advised us, which has been helpful and encouraging. In addition to this feedback, we’ve identified areas of support for our students and families and have started conversations regarding partnerships with the community. One such area is with child care and we are in the planning stages with the Family Resource Center and Public Library. Right now, new information is coming at a quick rate and we’ll continue to keep families posted as new information comes through on a weekly basis until school starts.
In partnership,
Brian Auckland