September 29, 2021
Dear students, staff, families and community,
I am looking forward to a week in the future when my updates are only focused on student learning and the great things students are doing to accomplish their goals and engage in our learning community rather than COVID-19. Unfortunately, the Whatcom County COVID Data Dashboard indicates high transmission rates which impacts our schools. Our COVID team members as well as all staff are working diligently to keep students in school and mitigate transmission rates. Although we have had positive cases, contract tracing has shown that there have not been any transmissions in our schools. You can view our Dashboard here. One of the best mitigation strategies is to keep students home when they are not feeling well. These past couple weeks have been challenging due in part to students coming to school when they don’t feel well. I know this can be a challenge for families, but I am asking you to help us by doing the following:
- Keep students home when they have cold or flu like symptoms even if you are sure the symptoms are not COVID related
- Update your contact information to ensure your child’s school can contact you right away if your child needs to be picked up from school
We are working on availability of COVID testing at school to support families. Of course, we will never test a student without parent permission. I have heard from families that locating testing in the community has been a challenge, so we hope providing this resource will be a relief for those who choose to use this option.
I have been providing weekly updates throughout our COVID-19 experience and have received mostly positive feedback. This seems like a good time to do a check in with all of you regarding your thoughts on my communication. In order for me to best meet your needs, please complete this very brief Family Communication Survey.
We have been successfully sustaining our student activities due to our focus on health and safety with the cooperation of our students. It is great to see students active in sports and music. We are sending some FFA members to the National FFA Convention next month. Mountaineer pride is abundant!
Sincerely,
Mary Sewright, Superintendent | msewright@mtbaker.wednet.edu | 360-617-4600