Dear Families,
To everyone's delight, I have very little to share in the way of news and updates!
Week 1 of Phase 2 has been pretty successful so far. Of course, there are (and will continue to be) a handful of adjustments and reminders to share - because we've never done this before! That said, I think we can take a breath and find our Phase 2 rhythm for a few weeks without the need to inundate you all with copious details.
It has been so sweet to see our kids return to campus! Even with their smiles covered by a mask, it is easy to see their excitement. It has been particularly touching to see children and their teachers, with established virtual relationships, finally get to meet in-person. It's almost like watching a series of heartwarming reunions.
I also want to make sure families received the
Bel Aire Specialist Update so that you're aware of the cool things happening in our virtual specialist lessons.
And finally, I'd like to thank you all, for the incredible support in helping prepare your students for a return to in-person school. It was obvious that students had reviewed the many details with their parents, and they were familiar with the new protocols. The collaborative effort in preparing our students has been a significant contributor to our successful re-entry.
I'd also like to thank the countless other folks who have supported preparing our safe campus. This includes our PTA (who put up the balloons, volunteered to help greet students in the morning, provided our teachers with goodie bags, supported our SR2S efforts, and more), our District Office staff (who continue to thoughtfully take care of an unending list of new challenges in warp speed), our Foundation (for supporting the acquisition of safety gear and the launch of their Health & Safety Initiative to support our entire community), and our incredible Maintenance & Operations team (it's not possible to list the tasks this dream team has accomplished in the last several months, but it includes a wide range of new assignments from sanitizing sanitation stations to driving OVER 500 MILES for materials like plexiglass - when it wasn't available anywhere else.)
And of course, I hope families take time to appreciate their Bel Aire Teachers, who have been tasked with redefining everything they've ever learned about their profession, to create warm classroom cultures, deliver high-quality instruction, and manage a long list of new safety protocols, while straddling virtual and in-person hybrid, split-cohort learning models. Needless to say, we have a lot of people to thank for making this unusual re-entry to in-person learning possible.
For families preparing to join us tomorrow, please continue to help your students prepare for their arrival on Thursday! You can find almost every detail
here, and be sure you've all watched the
video!
Sincerely,
Lexie Cala
