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Dear Parents,
A COVID Farewell:  We don’t think anyone ever imagined ending a school year the way it is happening right now!  We are both here at the school, feeling like we are living in two parallel worlds: on the one hand, things seem quite normal as teachers have been in the school wrapping things up this week.  Classrooms are being prepared for the summer, the year-end paperwork still needs to be finished, and we are focused on preparing for the fall.  On the other hand, however, it is COVID time; this means we are trying to wrap things up without the physical presence of our community, we couldn’t finish things off the way we wanted to, and we are planning for multiple different re-entry scenarios.  We know we have a great staff who did an amazing job of finding ways to teach remotely and to maintain the relationships that are so crucial to our work as educators.  Next year, we fully expect to see this continue.
Right now, a great deal of our work is ensuring that we are prepared for the enhanced cleaning protocols that will be in place when students come back to school, which means that carpets and soft furnishing that cannot be easily disinfected are being stored away and only the most essential materials are out in classrooms.  We know this will be important regardless of what scenario is implemented in the fall.  There will be many other steps, but this is a first one for now.
The Alberta Government has promised more information about how they envision students returning in September, and the CBE has committed to providing parents with more information throughout the summer.  We will also be sending out Updates as we make school-level decisions for Altadore about how we will be implementing both CBE and Alberta government guidelines.
Our Heartfelt Thank You!  This has been a unique year and the importance of what you do for us as individual parents, as a group of parents, and through School Council has never been more clear.  We have never had to work in such close partnership as we have during Ongoing Learning and we appreciate all the work you do for your children more than ever!  On behalf of all the staff – THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
For those of you who are moving on to new schools, wherever they are, we wish you the best of luck.  Please keep in touch and let us know who things how things are going for you and your family.  For those who are staying – we are looking forward to all kinds of adventures next year.
Tentative Plans:  We have outlined some tentative plans for next year below so that you can have an idea of our current thinking.  Please be aware that these plans represent our thinking right now and they could easily changed with different enrolment or due to pandemic considerations.
Kelly Christopher, Principal
Meagan Lundgren, Assistant Principal
 
 
 
Staff Changes
 
We have two staff members who will not be returning next year.  We would like to say thank you to both of them as they have made important contributions to our school.  They will be dearly missed by students, staff and parents!
·         Britney Franck – (Grade 1/2 Teacher) will be teaching Grade 1 at Marlborough School next year.
·         Kaela Teitge – (Grade 1/2 Teacher) will be on maternity leave for the entire 2020-2021 school year.  Mitch Groarke will be returning to Altadore to replace Kaela during that time.
 
Altadore School Organization (2020-2021) Tentative*
If you have been regularly reading our updates, you know we have been watching the number of students registered for next year very carefully and have been considering different classroom configurations for next year.  In order to keep our class sizes small and balanced, we are tentatively planning to have multi-aged classes from grades 1-6.  It is possible this could change when we get back to school if our numbers change before classes start.  If we stay with this school organization, the plan looks as follows:
                Kindergarten:    2 morning classes and 1 afternoon class of about 18 students each
                Grade 1/2:           4 classes of about 24 students each
                Grade 3/4:           5 classes of about 24 students each
                Grade 5/6:           4 classes of about 24 students each
 
Altadore School Staff (2020-2021) Tentative*
Principal:              Kelly Christopher
Asst. Principal:   Meagan Lundgren
Admin. Asst.:     Darcia Pullan
Lead Lunch:        Tori Wychick
Lunchroom:        Rob Bruce, Junko Matsuzaki, Ken Pullan, Sarah Sumner
Library Asst.:      Anita Watson
Facilities:              Jerry Dizon
Kindergarten:    Aimee Jackson, Andrea Lenz, Meagan Lundgren
Grade 1/2:           Nara Duthie, Sarah Ketcheson, Ali Watson, Teresa Watson
Grade 3/4:           Brigitte Almadi, Melanie Hutton, Christa Meherali, Rob Mitchelson, Jill Wrightson
Grade 5/6:           Mitch Groarke, Beth Mackenzie, Jenny Miller, Allison Predika
Music:                   Mack Fraser
 
Back to School Information
 
The current plan is for students to return to school on Tuesday, September 1, 2020.  The government will provide more information about what that will look like on or before August 1.
 
School will start at 8:30 in the morning and dismissal will be at 3:20 Monday to Thursday.  The Friday dismissal time will remain at 12:15.  Kindergarten students will begin with a staggered entry and have their first day of school on Tuesday, September 1 or Wednesday, September 2 at 8:30 for morning classes, or 12:27 for the afternoon class.  More information will be coming to those families shortly.
 
All classroom teachers will be emailing families at the end of August to let them know who their teacher will be and where to meet on the first day of school.  If you have not heard from the school by 1:00 on August 31st, you are welcome to call the school office to find out about class placement.
 
Fees and Supplies
 
All families will be charged a School Supply Fee in September ($40 for Grades 1-6 and $20 for Kindergarten). More information about this fee as well as noon supervision fees will be sent home once school starts.  All students are required to bring on the first day is a backpack, an extra pair of shoes to wear indoors, a water bottle, as well as a bagged lunch/recess snack.
 
Office Hours
 
The school office will close on Tuesday, June 30 at noon and will reopen on Monday, August 24.  If you require any information in the meantime, you are welcome to email Kelly Christopher at kdchristophe@cbe.ab.ca.
 
Please have a safe, happy, and relaxing summer!​