WOH For Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020
Back to School! By Kristen Okabayashi, Hope School Principal
Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year! We are so pleased to welcome our new families to Hope, and welcome back our returning families. As I write this, I’ve seen many of you joining us for our back to school event last Friday and K-8 today, and it’s so good to see everyone back on campus! We are so excited for this school year, which we have been planning since last April.
Hope’s school theme this year is “United in Christ”, based on Galatians 3:28. With all the changes in our local and global community this spring and summer, one thing that is the same is we are all equal in the eyes of God, and that is how we should view each other. Throughout the year, we will explore this theme more.
I’ve created a short video for you to watch regarding our back to school procedures including the arrival screening, cleaning protocols, and uniform reminders, among others. Please click on the link below to view this.
This year promises to be a dynamic year of learning for all of us. With our brand new model of live streaming simultaneously with in-class learning, we expect we will need to make adjustments on the go. All of us will need to work together and show patience and grace, something our community at Hope is wonderful at doing. Time to buckle up those seatbelts and off we go!
Parent Information Packets
At the back to school event yesterday, we handed out 3 paperwork packets from the office. The first is our usual parent handbook, which includes all our normal policies and procedures for the school year. This handbook does not have any big changes from last year’s handbook.
The second item is a brand new pandemic handbook. This handbook details our specific changes in policies and procedures, as a result of opening up school in a pandemic. This is a live document and is expected to change slightly throughout the year, but this gives us a good starting point.
The third item, which was just available to hand out to K-8 families so far, is a smaller packet of information from the Department of Health related to COVID-19. These items were just published last Thursday night from the King County Department of Health as toolkits for schools. These handouts contain very helpful information about when to keep your child home from school, and protocols to follow if the school or a family has someone with symptoms or who tests positive for COVID-19. Please take some time to familiarize yourself with these documents.
Wed. 9/2: First Day of School / 8:40 AM Chapel / School Milk and NEST Hot Lunch programs begin
Wednesday-Friday 9/2 – 9/4: Kindergarten Only Noon Dismiss – ESC “XTRA” Open
Mon. 9/7: School Closed for Labor Day
School Milk – Begins Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020
We will offer school milk for students this year. Forms can be found online through K12 using your students ID & access key.
Hot Lunch Program – Begins Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020
Our NEST Hot lunch program is now available 5 days a week during our 1st trimester to all PS – 4th grade families. Lunches will also be available for those students on our Hybrid schedules Monday/Tuesdays or Thursday/Fridays. The registration form is on NEST’s website: http://www.cafestellinacatering.com/NEST-School-Lunch-Program.html orderable and payable on a month-to-month basis. You can also find monthly menus and registration information on our website here. Forms may be filled out and scan/email it back to them or send it via snail mail and feel free to contact them with questions at cafestellinacatering@gmail.com. Please note the Hope School does not register or bill for this program.
Tuesday Newsletter & Communication Envelopes
Our newsletter is sent via email every Tuesday and will also be posted to our website at www.hopeseattle.org. Please notify the school office at 206-935-8500 if you require a hard copy. Our weekly newsletter is used for general announcements, calendar date changes or reminders, Parent Involvement Program (PIP) opportunities, sports, and much more! Other communication tools we utilize are Vertical Response, which goes out via email, and SchoolMessenger, which goes out via phone. Please ensure that your information is up-to-date for your family in our K12online portal. Each kindergarten through 8th grade homeroom will also send home a bright yellow communication folder with important school forms. Please sign the outside of the envelope, remove the contents and return the folder to your child’s homeroom. Do not place forms inside this envelope; instead, attach any forms returning to the school to the outside of the envelope.
Door Access System
We use a door access system to improve the safety of our campus, however during our 1st trimester we will not be issuing parental access to this system. Please use our door bell located to the left of doors to alert the front office you need assistance. Paperwork and other items can be dropped in our drop box located to the left of our front doors. If you have questions you may contact the school office at 206-935-8500.
Yearbooks From 2019-2020
We’ve been notified from LifeTouch that our yearbooks from last year are on their way! We will update you when they arrive and our plan for distribution. Thank you for your patience.
