Parent Update – Wed. Jan. 6th

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you and your family had a restful break and wish you all a happy new year. We thank all of our families for their effort with at home learning this week. You are probably aware that social media and formal news networks were accessed by Minister LaGrange and Premier Kenney early this week to announce plans for a return to school for all students on January 11th. This is the anticipated date of return communicated when the Alberta government announced restrictions at the end of November.  Affirmation of this return date was communicated via a Tweet from Minister LaGrange and a post by the Premier on Facebook at the following link. https://fb.watch/2QmSm-8nza/

We are preparing to welcome students on Monday January 11^th. Students that are registered in at home classes previously will continue learning in this manner. There will be Division information regarding the pivot point later this week. We ask that all students returning to class next week be prepared in the following manner:

• Please return with all of your required learning materials and any school technology that was borrowed during this time
• Please remember to bring your masks and be prepared to follow our previous protocols. We know that for many of our students, they are out of practice with these daily routines.
• Thank you for completing the self assessment tool for symptoms and international travel prior to sending your children to school. https://gp.lethsd.ab.ca/home/news/post/ahs-self-assessment-tool

Please be aware of the following information items for parents this week:

• Pivot Point - As mentioned earlier, there will be Division information sent out this week regarding the next pivot point dates and details.
• Division School Boundary Review  - A school boundary review presentation to the public is scheduled for January 12 at 6:30 pm. A link to the presentation will be made available on the Division website (see link below) and there will be a feedback loop available from January 13 – January 28^th.

School attendance boundaries - recommendations for change | Lethbridge School Division (lethsd.ab.ca)

• Division Town Hall Meeting - The Division will be hosting its annual Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday, February 2, 2021 from 6.30 – 8.30 pm.  The Town Hall will be a virtual event through a Division Town Hall website and Microsoft Teams. The purpose of the meeting is to seek feedback to assist the Board of Trustees and Division in planning for the future. The question that the Trustees are seeking feedback on is as follows: “In response to COVID-19, changes were made to school organization and instructional delivery. Are there changes that impacted students in a positive way that should continue and be built on?” We require If you wish to participate, please email me at darryl.christiansen@lethsd.ab.ca .
• Parent Teacher Interviews – We will be conducting our next round of Interviews on Thurs Jan. 28 (4-8PM) and Friday Jan. 29 (8:20AM-12:20PM). We will be doing so through Microsoft Teams or phone calls and you will still utilize the same program to request an interview as the fall. We will send out the link to sign up for an interview time on Friday Jan. 15^th along with more details.
• School Council – Our next meeting is Monday Jan. 18^th at 7PM via Zoom. If you were part of our November meeting, you will automatically receive an invite by Thursday Jan, 14^th. If you are not on this list and would like an invite, please email Jennifer.wilson@lethsd.ab.ca

Sincerely,

Darryl Christiansen