We want to start by telling you that this initial week of school went wonderfully. It was so nice to have the sound of kids back in the building. Our teachers were as excited as we were.

Carline is off to a great start as well. We appreciate our community's willingness to help us maintain safety for staff and students and cooperation with the city's requests and expectations. The city appreciates our carline not backing up the frontage road, and CRPD has commented on our excellent procedures. They have expressed their appreciation for not idling on Perry Street. We especially appreciate everyone's patience yesterday during the Tornado Warning and subsequent back-ups.

We are aware that there is a lot going in our world in regards to Covid-19, the Delta Variant, masks, vaccines, and a multitude of physical/mental/emotional health issues that can be very divisive. We are taking all things into consideration and using our heads and our hearts to work toward what is best for our staff, students, and community.

Finally, we would like to encourage our community to support each other – let’s try to understand from where each other is coming. This is not a simple or straightforward issue. We have heard heart-wrenching stories from families on both sides of this issue – from parents concerned about a medically vulnerable child to parents navigating terrifying anxiety and depression in their child. We have a well-educated community full of good people on both sides of this issue who are all trying to protect their children. We know some of you do not agree with this decision and we respect your dissent. However, please know that we are making decisions in good faith keeping the physical and emotional well-being of our kids at the forefront and honoring the rights of each parent to make decisions for their own child. After the respectful and civil statements during our public comments portion of our board meeting, we are confident in our school's commitment to be the epitome of civility and mutual regard.