Principal's Update

Website: http://stweb.gresham.k12.or.us
Location: 1440 SE Fleming Ave, Gresham, OR, United States
Phone: 503-261-4600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpringwaterTrail/
Twitter: @STHS_Titans

Greetings Springwater Students and Families,

Happy New Year! I hope everyone was able to find some time to relax and rekindle your energy over the winter break. It has been great to welcome students back into our building this week. While I am excited for 2022, the next month will be a challenging one as we all navigate the rising COVID rates due to the Omicron variant. Thank you to everyone for staying home if you are sick and following COVID protocols when you are in the building! Our goal is to safely keep school open for students.

We only have 2 weeks until finals week! This means we only have 3 weeks left before semester grades are finalized and students begin semester 2. Now is the time for students to keep their foot on the gas pedal: continuing to attend classes daily, completing and turning in all assigned work, and problem-solving with their teachers if they need to raise their grade. The schedule for finals week has been included below.

This week marks the beginning of the "Test to Stay" / "Test to Return" option for students who have been exposed to COVID and are not vaccinated. This option allows these students to remain in school and avoid quarantine as long as they test negative for COVID. We want to keep as many of our students in school as possible!

For students who are home sick, we strongly recommend they log into our virtual academic support in the afternoons: Monday - Thursday from 2:30pm - 3:30pm. This will give them an opportunity to problem-solve with staff and make sure they know what assignments they should work on while they are out of school. See more information below. If a student will be out for an extended period of time due to illness, we can also problem-solve other supports.

As you've probably seen in the news, we are starting to see school closures due to staff absences around Multnomah County. GBSD and STHS are doing everything we can right now to keep schools open. We will continue to monitor staffing and student absences and will keep you updated as the month progresses. If there are schools that do need to close, the intention would be for this to be for a very short period of time: no more than 1-2 weeks. As always, please reach out with questions, concerns, ideas, etc.! I enjoy hearing from you all!

Take care and be safe,

Ryan Blaszak

Springwater Main Office: 503.261.4600

blaszak@gresham.k12.or.us

Over the course of the year many families have been affected by both a positive Covid case with their student or having to quarantine their student due to an exposure. For students who are fully vaccinated there has been no need to quarantine due to exposure, which has enabled them to continue to attend school without breaks. Fortunately we are now able to implement the use of Covid testing to either completely eliminate the need to quarantine OR to return sooner based on the type of exposure.

There are two protocols that will be used based on the manner in which your student has been exposed. Location Matters. Please see details below:

• Test to Stay: This protocol is used when a student is exposed at school where masking and social distancing are being utilized. For example, in a classroom exposure (please note that this does not apply to athletics or activities where students are participating without masks). If a student is exposed, they will test two times within 3-7 days of exposure. If the test is negative, and they are not showing symptoms, they may Stay in school.
• Test to Return: This protocol is used when a student is exposed in the community or while participating in athletics or activities when the wearing of masks can't be guaranteed. In this case, the quarantine time can be reduced to 7 days (rather than 10). If the Covid tests show they are negative, and they are not showing symptoms, they may Return to school.
• Please see the Images Below for graphical descriptions.

Students must have a permission form on file to participate. If you would like your student to be eligible for the program, please turn in a signed permission form to the office. If the exposure occurs at school, testing will be provided at no charge to families. We are looking forward to maintaining access to in-person learning when Covid-19 exposures occur in our school!

• Testing Permission Form: English
• Testing Permission Form: Español

Its also time to start submitting baby photos! Please use THIS FORM to submit baby pictures by February 1st, 2022.

Please email Mrs. Weber at Weber18@gresham.k12.or.us if you have any questions.

Additional academic support is available at Springwater Trail High School (Virtual option also available), on Monday - Thursday from 2:30pm-3:30pm. This additional time will allow students to utilize school resources such as the library and student computers for homework, studying, reading, etc.

Transportation route home at 3:30 is available. Below is the route of the 3:30 activity bus. If you have questions regarding after school support, please call the office at 503.261.4600.

Click HERE to join virtually

3:43pm Hollydale Elementary School

3:50pm Gresham High School

3:53pm North Gresham Elementary School

3:56pm Highland Elementary School

4:01pm Hall Elementary School

4:08pm Powell Valley Elementary School

4:12pm Kelly Creek Elementary School

4:20pm Thompson Fruit Stand - Corner 242nd & Bohna Pk (END)

4:22pm Lewis & Clark Montessori

4:25pm Safeway Parking Lot

Springwater students are able to participate in sports at their home school. Click on the link below for clearance and try out deadlines.

SBHS: https://www.gresham.k12.or.us/domain/1620

GHS: https://www.gresham.k12.or.us/domain/1159

Anime Club: A club for those who enjoy anime and those who want to get into anime (or comics)

Art Club: A club where anyone can learn to do art. Sketching, painting, digital, any medium of art. Meets Monday's during lunch.

Drawing Club: A club to be creative, hangout, and draw. Meets Thursday's and Friday's during lunch.

Gardening Club: A club to clean up the garden and plant food. Meets Monday's during lunch and after school.

GSA: Stands for "Gay-straight alliance" Anyone of any identity is welcome to hangout and learn about LGBTQ+ history and do fun things. Meets Fridays during lunch.

Weight Lifting Club: A club that allows students to physically training themselves to grow stronger and healthier.

Foosball Club: A club where we play foosball, can have championships, and a little awards.

Basketball Club: A club where we play basketball after school.

Robotics: A club where using lego robotics, we will design and program robots.

Contact Koryna Herreid at Herreid@gresham.k12.or.us or 503-261-4600 to schedule a time to drop off your cans and bottles at STHS or to pick up a blue bag. Thank you for your support!

Springwater Trail High School is enrolled in the Fred Meyer Community Rewards program! Please link your Fred Meyer rewards card with our nonprofit number MU443. Fred Meyers will donate a percentage of your purchases every quarter to our program. This will NOT affect your reward points or fuel points. Last quarter we received $106.56, every little bit helps. This program helps pay for transportation to allow our students to attend events in the community. Below is the link to sign up.

https://www.fredmeyer.com/account/communityrewards/enroll