Dear Skamania School Families,
Happy New Year, and welcome back! I hope you had an enjoyable winter break, and have recovered from all of the snow.
As you know, we had a delayed start back to school due to snow and ice, so we will be making up these days. Four of the five days will be made up using Snow Make Up days identified on our School Year Calendar (Feb. 18, March 11, April 1 and May 27). The fifth day, and any additional days we may have will either be added on to the end of the school year or we may be able to request an emergency waiver. I’ll keep you updated as I know more.
Health & Safety
In the last few weeks, we have seen a dramatic increase of COVID cases around the world and locally due to the Omicron variant, with many districts seeing a sharp increase in staff and student absences. Fortunately our school has not seen high absences among students or staff since returning from vacation. I appreciate the safety measures that everyone is taking at home and school. It is making a difference. My primary goal is to safely keep our school open and to continue in-person learning for all of our students.
The CDC and our state DOH have recently adopted new guidelines regarding shortened quarantine periods. I’ve attached a summary of the update for your reference. Please stay home if you or your child are sick or are considered a close contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID. You may schedule a free covid test at the school, if necessary, by following this link.
Please also remember that masks are required at all times while inside the school building for all students, staff, and visitors to the school.
Thank You
I want to share how much I appreciate Dr. Lewis’ willingness to cover as superintendent during my medical leave last month. We will be continuing our partnership with Dr. Lewis for ongoing support of staff and students, and he will be on site most Thursdays and Fridays. You can continue to reach out to Dr. Lewis at his Skamania email address, jlewis@skamania.k12.wa.us if you have questions.
I also wanted to share how thankful I am for each of our staff as we have worked together to overcome a challenging fall. A special thanks to Nicole and Heather who were awesome at covering the office. And we are so glad to welcome back Amber, at least part time – we have missed her!
Back to School Reminders
As we all get back to our own work routines from the holidays, we also need to be helping our children get back into their school rhythms after their long break. Here are some helpful resources.
- Our School Year Calendar is on the website – our next no school day/holiday will be Monday, January 17. Note the snow days on the calendar that we will now need to make up.
- The Student Handbook is also available on the website
Make sure you re-familiarize yourself with our inclement weather information page, and confirm that the school office has the most up to date emergency contact information on file so you receive all of our emergency notifications regarding school closures or delays. Please also confirm that the office has the correct emergency release information on file so that we know who is authorized to pick up your child if we cannot get a hold of you in an emergency.
Again, I am so thankful for each and every one of you in our Skamania family! I hope you are staying warm, safe, and healthy as we kick off 2022.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ralph Pruitt, Superintendent/Principal