Message From the Director
Greetings Madrone Trail Community,
I first want to thank our 4th Grade Class and our Middle School Choir for the wonderful assembly this morning. It is just so nice these are consistently back. I can’t imagine a better way to start a Friday and end the week.
I’m sure many of you have heard that the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon Health Authority have issued new guidelines regarding masks in public schools. Starting Monday, March 14th, masks will be optional for students and faculty. I want to emphasize that, regardless of your choice; we want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable. As a faculty we understand that this may create a scenario where some may feel ostracized given that not everyone will be making the same choice. Next week, we will be working in each class to let students know that making different choices is natural and will be respected at Madrone Trail.
I understand this may make some families nervous. Studies have shown that N95 masks effectively protect the wearer. We have these to distribute if you would like one for your child. They are not the most comfortable, but they are the most effective in providing protection, especially when in the same room with those that are not wearing a mask at all.
It will be the parents’ choice whether to send their child to school with a mask and up to the child to keep their mask on all day. It puts the teacher in a very difficult place to enforce mask usage on some students and not others. Also, teachers simply don’t have the authority to enforce mask usage in their classrooms anymore. We will still have many extra masks on hand to offer students that forget, lose, or damage their mask during the day.
We have hired a new 2nd Grade TA as well as a full time Kitchen Manager. Keep an eye out for their bios in future Friday Updates. We completed the biggest hurdle today in the kitchen by having the fire alarm system and fire suppression system linked up. This was preventing clearance from the fire marshal. Our new kitchen manager has been very busy lately tying up the loose ends such as compiling a supply list, contacting vendors, and preparing a menu. There are still many details we have not figured out, but that’s why hired a full time Kitchen Manager. After we install the custom made sneeze guards, we should be good to go!! The goal right now is to have an operational kitchen by the time we come back from Spring Break. That may change as we finalize details, we'll keep you posted.
You may not recall, but we applied for the Seismic Retrofitting grant last year with CZS Engineering preparing our application. We didn’t get the grant last year, but were assured it was not a matter of if, but when. This will be almost 2 million dollars to overhaul the school. I just signed our new application after it was updated. CZS has now submitted this grant to the state. Keep your fingers crossed.
The new water fountains will be here next Friday. If I can find a plumber who can do the work over Spring Break, that would be amazing. If you know of a good licensed plumber in the community, send them my email address and I will send the installation specs for the quotes I need to collect.
Though I will never attempt large construction projects within a time limit again there is a covert one going on right now that I didn’t even notice had started. Ever since we replaced the lighting, tiled floors and the paint job in the classrooms, the smaller things began to stick out. The black rubber commercial like floor trims in the classrooms are being replaced with 5 inch wood trim. This looks so much better and goes great with the wood floors, desks, chairs, and chalk boards. The first Kindergarten room and grades 1, 2, and 3 have already been completed. Take a look next time you’re here.
I am really pleased to see the growth we have made as we are emerging from a pandemic and I am so excited about the future. Today at the assembly I was thinking how awesome it will be once we can all go inside, get breakfast and eat together before the assembly. We are getting there.
Have a great weekend. Please reach out to me next week if you have any questions or concerns regarding masking. We sincerely want everyone to feel safe.
-John Bissey
Director
