Thank you for your support and patience during these unprecedented times and giving our staff some space to plan and prepare for the upcoming period. Over the last couple of weeks and days, I have witnessed an outpouring of compassion, encouragement and teamwork amongst SAGA parents and SAGA staff in their efforts to combat the COVID-19 virus. As a school administration and Board, we recognize the difficulty that the current situation presents itself with regards to continued learning and childcare.
The SAGA School continues to follow mandates and guidelines issued by Governor Inslee and King County Public Health. As you know, Governor Inslee has closed all private schools in the State of Washington through April 24th. As an answer to some community members who have questioned decisions that have been made recently, I find this information helpful: "We know from pandemic research that closing schools can be effective in slowing down transmission because children are often a driver of infection. They spread it to parents, relatives and the wider community," said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
As of today, The SAGA School continues to have no reported or confirmed cases of students, families, or staff with COVID-19 or who have had direct exposure to someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
At the current time, The SAGA School building will continue to be closed to elementary and early education programs and services. We will operate on remote learning through April 24, per Governor Inslee's mandate. After March 31, 2020, however, we will review the possibility of opening the building for childcare.
We continue to be guided by specific priorities:
Safety - The health and safety of our students and staff is our #1 priority. We continue to be mindful of our obligation to protect the community as a whole.
Stability - We strive to be dependable, thoughtful, and consistent in our practice.
Next Steps?
Over the last two days, the SAGA Staff has been hard at work in preparing remote learning for our SAGA students. The guiding principles around these efforts have been to continue to foster a love for learning in our students, make materials accessible to families at various resource levels, and provide a structure for our families to follow while their children are at home. Below are guidelines for remote learning for our preschool and elementary families.
Preschool Students
Remote Learning:
On Monday morning, SAGA preschool families will receive a learning packet consisting of a lesson plan for the week, activity sheets, instructional documents for preschool-oriented projects, and links to videos of familiar and theme-based classroom songs and book readings. A new learning packet will be sent out every Monday.
Elementary Students
Remote Classroom:
Starting Monday morning at 9:00 a.m., SAGA elementary families will receive an invitation from their child's head teacher to access a remote classroom. The invitation to a "Google Hangout" will need to be accepted, so please be on the lookout for this email. Initially, the remote classroom will have limited content, but as the days progress more content will be available. The remote classroom is designed to be a daily interaction, with a daily check-in with the teacher so that attendance can be taken.
Communication:
Students and teachers will be able to communicate with one another through email, Google Hangouts, and later on in the week through Google Meet. There will be a calendar available to sign up for one-on-one meetup sessions with a teacher.
Other Resources:
The SAGA elementary team is working quickly to create logins for a remote reading library (similar to Antolin) for our students in order to assist you in getting German language books for your kids. This will replace the SAGA library resource that is usually available to our families.
Access Issues?
If your family is unable to access the online platforms or print content sent over email to assist in the remote learning process, please notify the school office as soon as possible (
[email protected]
or 206-442-2023). All cases will be evaluated individually and SAGA will do its best to resolve the issues.
Looking into the future.
SAGA will continue to reassess the situation and update plans as necessary and as recommended. This includes decisions regarding Spring Camp, continued closure of the school building, and availability of childcare.
SAGA will continue to utilize email, text alerts, the SAGA website, and the SAGA Facebook page to communicate updates.
The SAGA School would like to continue following the precautions below:
-
If your child is showing signs of illness and has possibly been exposed to a patient with COVID-19, please notify The SAGA School: 206-442-2023 /
[email protected]
-
If any member of your household is diagnosed with COVID-19 please notify The SAGA School as well: 206-442-2023 /
[email protected]
.
These measures are important to protect the health of the greater SAGA Community.
Please utilize the following resources to help your family and your student manage these unique times:
Washington State Call Center
that can answer questions about the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), how it spreads, and what to do if you have symptoms: 1-800-525-0127 and press #
Thank you for your understanding during these unprecedented times. If you have questions for the school, please email Anjanette Gonzales at
[email protected]
or the School Office at
[email protected]
.
Thank you for your mindfulness and stay well,
