Education

The 2019-2020 school year has been one for the record books. With the sudden statewide closure because of COVID-19, the Sedro-Woolley School District community banded together to make sure our students could continue learning, albeit from a distance. Teachers learned new platforms and continued connecting with their students through various online platforms. For those families who didn’t have access to technology, paper packets were distributed and collected at both the schools and at meal sites. Our food service employees served more than 1,800 meals each week starting in late March, dealing with supply constraints and reduced staffing le els. Our bus drivers worked with food service and school building staff to distribute food and paper packets. Even more importantly, they were able to connect, at a distance, with students on a daily basis with a smile and kind words as they handed off the meals.

There are many unknowns that may be answered by the time this article is published, such as whether or not we’ll be able to host a late graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020. We may know whether or not we’ll be back in the classroom in the fall of 2020. Our students had so many important trips and events postponed or canceled completely. This school year was heartbreaking for many. But at the same time, we’ve seen amazing things happening in our communities. We’ve seen Friday night lights turned on with our police and fi e departments turning on their lights to honor our seniors. We’ve seen schools posting positive messages in their street-facing windows as a way to remind students they are loved, valued and tremendously missed by all of us. We’ve seen students turning in amazing art projects they worked on at home. And we’ve heard of students really delving into helping their families with chores around their homes.

As we look forward to the 2020-2021 school year, there are many unknowns. But, there are also key priorities and focus areas that will help guide us in this continuous learning process. Our highest priorities have been and will continue to be to ensure the physical, emotional, and academic safety for our students, staff, and families. Our focus areas have been and will also continue to be on compassion, communication, and common sense as we have students and their families embrace new ways of learning while also working to ensure basic needs are met.

We also want to express our sincere appreciation to our community for their overwhelming approval of the capital levy that

Education: Sedro-Woolley community is key to student success

will allow us to repair roofs and boilers, along with other urgent maintenance items. We will continue to use this money wisely so that our buildings can keep serving our students for many years into the future. We also hope these funds will help kickstart our local economy by providing jobs to those skilled laborers who will be doing the work.

School information

The Sedro-Woolley School District is 395 square miles and serves approximately 4,500 students being at 11 sites. The district strict serves the communities of Sedro-Woolley, Lyman, Samish, Hamilton, Big Lake and Clear Lake.

Transportation: If your student will be riding the bus please call the transportation office at 360-855-3504 befo e the start of the school year to confirm bus outes and pick-up/drop-off times and locations.

If you have questions about the free and/or reduced lunch price application please call the food services department at 360- 855-3515.

Follow the district on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ SedroWoolleySchoolDistrict/ and check www.swsd.k12. wa.us for more information.