Good morning Buffalo Rubbing Stone families,
I'm hearing from teachers that although they would prefer being at school with our students, they are very impressed with how much the students have progressed in their ability to learn online. They are navigating Google Meets and Google Classroom well. Often times students are helping their classmates with tech issues, just one more example of working together as a learning community. The pandemic has necessitated new ways of learning. Our students are learning to be flexible thinkers and to make changes quickly, to solve problems in new ways, to work together, and to keep themselves and each other safe. They are resilient. As they build new skills and use those skills to persevere and succeed, their confidence grows. Increasing persistence and confidence is part of our School Development Plan (SDP). Over the next week of online learning, I encourage you to step back and observe what your child(ren) are able to do in an online environment. Then think back to March 2020 when in-school classes were cancelled. Wow!! We have all learned so much. While I don't think any of us expected we would be managing the pandemic this long and while I certainly hope we are nearing its end, I think it's important to honour our accomplishments and determine what parts of this experience need to be maintained. I'm looking forward to building a new post-pandemic normal!
The variety of online learning tools available to our students is a big advantage. I know I've said it before, it bears repeating; thank you to the BRS School Council and the BRS Parent Association for supporting learning enhancements including Mathletics and Raz Kids. These online tools are expensive. We depend on parent fundraising to pay for them. As these are annual subscriptions, they are avaible in the summer as well.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Budget and Fees Survey. We will share the results at the BRS School Council Meeting on Thursday, May 27. Thank you also to the people who have completed the BRS School Development Plan Survey; it will be open until next Thursday and its results will similarly be shared at the May School Council Meeting. I deeply appreciate the opportunity to discuss ideas at our School Council and Parent Association meetings. The surveys give all parents an opportunity to participate in the dialogue. Following our conversation at the last meeting, the BRSSC has invited our CBE Trustee Althea Adams to join us on May 27. If you have specific questions or issues you would like her to address, please email them to me before Thursday, May 20. We hope you will join us on Microsoft Teams at 6:30 pm.
Finally, at BRS we try to recognize events people in our community cherish. We have been privileged to share in the joy of Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, Lunar New Year, Easter, and now we wish our community Eid Mubarak as many celebrate Eid Al-Fitr.
Please continue reporting cases of COVID-19 to me. Your information is used in confidence and helps us keep our community safe. We miss you and we are hopeful that in-person learning will resume on Tuesday, May 25.
Take good care,
Allison E.G. Bobenic, Principal
