Less than 24 hours into winter break two weeks ago, my wife began exhibiting symptoms of COVID. Less than two days later, so was I. Of all the days to lose your sense of taste and smell, these days of amazing bakery goods, wonderful holiday meals and all of the scents the holidays bring to our homes, this symptom was definitely one of the most unwelcome for me! The fever, aches and chills we certainly no fun at all either, but I do feel so fortunate that the confirmed cases in our household were very manageable. We're still shaking off the final effects of the illness, but we're out of the woods and feeling blessed to be so. If your family is challenged with this virus, I wish you all a speedy and complete recovery!

Last weekend I posted a video message to our 7,000+ social media followers and stakeholders, reminding students and visitors of our protocols and masking requirements while indoors and not eating. Please remind your students to follow our protocols so we can remain in person. Also, as we return to campus, please be very careful driving in our lots and walking from the parking lots into the building. Special thank you to our grounds crew, maintenance team and custodians for doing all they can each day to get campus ready for our return too. Take your time and watch your footing. Speaking of work over the break, some work has been completed in our front entrance secure lobby / admin area and will continue over the next several weeks. As a result, we are closing the front porch for lunches. We are also closing the B Wing Lobby for lunches. I've communicated this to our kids via social media, but please remind them. The gym foyer and patio will remain open for lunch, as will student vehicles for now.

I want to express my sincere appreciation for our District Nurse, Krissa Cramer and her entire team, including Krista Gibson and Artika Ram here at AHS, who continue to keep us up to date with any and all protocol changes the state and county health officials throw our way. This team has been incredibly busy since the start of the pandemic and they continue to amaze us all with their professionalism and dedication to keeping us safe! For now, we will continue with our pre-break protocols as established for masking indoors, testing of athletes and contact tracing when exposures occur. If anything changes, we will let you know ASAP.

The end of Semester 1 is just four weeks away. Now is the time to make that final push with your students teachers to ensure a successful semester for your Eagle! Our building leadership team elected to NOT alter our bell schedule for any courses wishing to host a semester / final exam this year. That stated, we DID agree that certain departments could use specific days to do so in the final week of the semester as follows to prevent any student from having too many tests on one date the week of Jan 24 - 28: ELA (Mon / Tues), Math (Weds / Thurs), SCI (Mon / Tues), Soc Studies (Wed / Thurs) and Electives / CTE (Any Day). If you have any questions, please talk with your student's teachers.

Lastly, if your student needs extra help, we're adding support sessions in the Library each Friday! Known as Eagle Study, these support sessions will begin Friday, January 7th from 120pm to 300pm and run each Friday moving forward as long as the need is present. Eagle Study is a place for students to access academic support, homework support, test taking, and study time with tutors. Attendance will be taken and the window of support is from 1:20 - 3:00pm. Teacher, para educator and National Honor Society tutors will be available to help your student succeed at AHS. Unfortunately, at this time, there is no transportation provided - so arrangements must be made for your student to be picked up by 3p each Friday if he or she attends Eagle Study. Feel free to contact AP Nikki Anderson (nanderson@asd.wednet.edu) or teacher Marie White (mwhite@asd.wednet.edu) with any questions.

Have an amazing January,