EES Newsletter-April 2020

Important Stuff for Big and Little Devils

EES Strong: Principal's Message

Wow! At times like this words fail me when trying to express the love I have for our students, staff, and community members. We are facing a huge new challenge. With everything that is going on I wanted to send out a family and community newsletter a little early for this month. Be on the lookout for them to come out a little more often to keep everyone up to date.

It almost seems like another time but I first want to thank all of our families for attending our student led conferences just a few weeks ago. We had over 95% attendance from the families of our students. You guys rock!

At EES we have had several tests of our mettle lately. I want to say that our staff has shown that they are true warriors in the face of all of our challenges as a family. As most of you know we lost a couple of members of our EES family in the last two weeks, so we are operating right now with heavy hearts. The huge work load has really been a saving grace for many of us as we turn our focus to our students. Thank you to all of the community members who offered support to the families of our students who have lost a teacher and even a family member. If you have need for support for your student or self during this tough time, please contact the school and our counseling team and Peace of Mind team would be happy to help.

The next item on hand is our new continuous learning plan. All of you who have students should have been notified of all the specifics by your child's teachers so I will skip most of that and move on to some helpful advice. Don't worry! Don't try to do everything! Many or even most of our families have tons of other items on their minds. The health of loved ones, jobs, food, and so many more things must come before our academic needs right now. No assignment or task is so important to to cause more stress and frustration. Frustrated children and adults struggle to learn so remember to keep first things first. We will be there every step of the way to ease this transition and help our students and families.

Speaking of help, please be aware that all teachers have regular office hours to help with homework, tech issues, and even social and emotional support. Reach out to them. They love you and want to hear from you. All teachers should also be contacting you to provide information about their extended office hours and help lines. We have partnered some of our outstanding support staff with every grade level of teachers so they can help tutor students, answer parent questions, and provide much needed connections to families. Please use these awesome resources as well.

As always I will be here to help too. Feel free to Dojo, email or call me at any time. If you have an issue and cannot reach your teacher and/or support staff helper, please let me know and I will find someone or help myself. We are all in this together. Remember to be patient and offer grace to everyone at this time. As we move forward this will become much easier.

Please remember that our lunch service will remain operational as will essential educational functions. This means that, while we can't have students in the building, the show will go on. I will post the lunch pick-up times and locations below. They can also be found on our Facebook page and, soon, on our district website as well.

Food drop off times for USD 101 Erie/Galesburg Schools

Galesburg
11:15-11:30 meet at the Christian Church parking lot.

10th and Ottawa 11:45-noon.

Savonburg 11:20-11:30 at the library.

Stark 11:40-11:55 at the bank.

Walnut 12:15-12:20 at the firehouse.

Erie Elementary 11:30-noon

Erie high school at the north set of doors that exit between the gyms at 11:30-12:00.

If you have questions or concerns about any part of our plan to keep your kids learning, please contact your child's teacher or contact Mr. Pontious via email, Dojo, or phone. We want to be a great source of strength and support right now so let us know if we can assist you with any family or community needs. including household, academic, social and emotional, and even mental health. We are family and we are EES Strong!

Be sure to check your emails, Dojo, and social media multiple times daily for educational and operational updates!

Thank you all for such great support that we have been given over the last year. I couldn't be happier with the way you all respond to our needs and care for our kids. It really shows the heart of this district. Thank you!