Dear SBMS Families,
Our hearts and thoughts are with our families and our entire community who have been so tragically impacted by this natural disaster. While the storm has passed, the unimaginable ramifications of this disaster have yet to be fully revealed and understood.
Many members of our community have lost their home and/or are still trying to evacuate flood damaged areas and attempting to account for and reconnect with their families and friends. While we are all relieved to hear that our 9th grade student Lauren and her mother, Kim, have been rescued, we still don't have any reliable information about status of Lauren's father, Dave, and whether any of the conflicting reports about alum brother, Jack, have been substantiated. We continue to hope and pray for the best news for them and for the dozens of other residents that remaining missing.
SBMS Staff have spent the last 24 hours tracking the status of all of our families, and we can report with some degree of reliability that all of our current students have been accounted for.
With the guidance of emergency officials and counselors, SBMS Faculty and Staff met today to assess how we can best serve our families and begin the process of recovery and healing.
With the challenges of evacuation, displacement, and trauma that many of our families are facing, in addition to the freeway closures affecting our Summerland and Carpinteria families,
SBMS will resume classes on Tuesday, January 16 when our entire community can be together again.
As is the Middle School way, we will host an
optional Sunrise Gathering on Friday, January 12, 7 - 9 am, at Leadbetter Beach with breakfast, coffee, and fun activities provided. All are invited to convene, come together, and share stories, and we will officially circle up at 7:30 am with a ceremonial dip of the toe in the ocean. Afterwards, breakfast and coffee will provided by Gourmet Gurus PA Tremblay, Scott Sanderfer and 9th grade leaders. Please just bring a mug (breakfast and coffee are on us!). We will also host a Sunrise Gathering in Carpinteria so our families east of the Hwy 101 closure may be together.
In addition to Friday's Sunrise Gathering, our Parent Association and Deans are coordinating grade-level activities for our students for tomorrow, Thursday, January 11 and after 10 am on Friday, January 12. Please look for tomorrow's Scoop which will contain more details on Thursday and Friday activities.
We greatly appreciate the outpouring of concern and support within our community, and look forward to seeing many of you on Friday. We will see you all next week when we start school on Tuesday with a special program and curriculum designed by our staff and counselors to address the needs of our students and the process of recovery.
With love and gratitude,
Brian & the SBMS Faculty
