River Runner Weekly Parent/Guardian Update – Jan. 2

Good afternoon River Runner families, and a ‘Happy New Year’ to you and your loved ones. I sincerely hope that you were able to enjoy this past holiday season, and spend some quality time with those closest to you in this wild world.
In addition to passing on a warm River Runner welcome to 2022, I thought it best to touch base regarding the upcoming school week. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate school life in an ever-changing pandemic. Throughout this tumultuous period in our lives I have been reminded of the importance of living each day to the absolute fullest. However, I have also become very accustomed to dealing with, and thus adapting to, sudden changes in our daily lives. The recently announced delay in the restart of our school year is just but one example of the fluid nature of our lives at the moment.
As you are now undoubtedly aware, the restart for school has been delayed to January 10. The purpose for this delay is to allow schools to plan and prepare for the sustained safety of our staff, students and families as we deal with the recent spike in COVID cases throughout our province and across the globe. Our schools will essentially be closed to most of our students, aside from the children of health care workers and others classified under the ‘essential service’ category. Please pay close attention to the recent SD62 emails, as both the reasoning and logistics related to these decisions are outlined in detail. Essentially the PHO is asking for students to remain home, if at all possible, whilst educators utilize the time between January 4-7 to plan and prepare for continued safety and a potentially tenuous near future.
As always we will get through this current challenge if we continue to work together. Although the current landscape remains stressful and often frustrating, I thank you for your ongoing flexibility, patience and cooperation as we move forward in the 21/22 school year.
If you do require your child to attend school for the upcoming 4 days, or if you have any questions whatsoever, please reach out to me directly.
Please enjoy the remainder of your Sunday.
Gord