Letter from the Principal

Thank you all for your grace, kind support, great suggestions, and communicating clear expectations in each situation. Each comment is read and acted upon immediately with either an “ATTA WAY” or a solution with an email response as soon as possible. 

I am confident all of the hard work that transpired over the summer to make CDL possible is going to be worth the implementation efforts ensuring learning gains for all students  and a very different learning experience from spring. CDL is a core program and any other activities should be considered supplemental. This is a change from March-June 2019. 

In just our first week of daily online learning, faculty, staff and I have heard stories and saw first hand many happy students connecting with peers, both old and new while practicing math skills. We saw students engaged in reading and writing along with getting the hang of the SeeSaw platform. We had a whooping 1645 interactions on SeeSaw in addition to interactive specialists classes. We do have many areas of positive momentum to build upon going into week two.

Unfortunately, we also had computers freeze up, teachers having to restart lessons, figure out new engagement/ learning routines, teachers working through new platforms in a handful of days after their professional development, and both teachers and families without their complete tech learning set up. Our teaching team has persisted despite some really challenging setbacks which began with no access to their classrooms for 7.5 school days due to power loss on Tuesday, September 8 due to the wind storms that took several days to fix before the smoke kept them at home.

Our Information Technology team was on campus today unlocking document cameras and computers for our teachers to check out which was scheduled for last week. I can’t begin to tell you how happy my team was in the building today gathering the supplies they were supposed to have access to at the end of Soft Start. Yet, they stayed positive, resourceful, and resilient for each other and mostly for our students/families. We are here to serve you all to the best of our abilities each day as we prepare our students well for their next learning experience. 

Overall, I was able to see all that occurred this week. Some things were working well for our students and in some other areas we have work to do with the support of district support staff. We are confident that next week will be even better as this first week could be considered an initial implementation dip. Our commitment to our students is for my staff and I to continue to ensure our K-5 graders will be accessing the learning as outlined in the district lessons provided in ATLAS for all subjects. (See this link here for the Parent Facing Portal to ATLAS to review learning objectives by grade level). You will notice that CDL is meant to be a true school online and in order for teachers to provide grades, students will need to be in attendance each day and completing work assignments that are being provided. 

Lastly, the best and biggest  ATTA WAY goes  to the parents who are managing their work from home, helping students through the ups and downs of CDL, and are strong partners with their teacher.  We are with you every step of the way as educators and parents too. We will keep taking it one day at a time, one pivot at a time, and one week at a time. We will get there quickly!

Together WE Will make this a great year!

Sincerely,

Dr. Christie M. Petersen