SBLSD News
Sept. 1, 2022
Looking for back-to-school information?
Visit our website at sumnersd.org/backtoschool for details on:
- Key dates and back-to-school events
- Meal applications and menus
- Health and medical forms
- Safety information
- Registering for athletics
- Transportation and bus routes
The first day of school for grades 1-12 is Tuesday, Sept. 6. The first day of school for kindergarten is Friday, Sept. 9. Main offices for elementary, middle and high schools are now open. Refer to our district directory for school contact information and office hours.
Grades 1-12
There will be special school start times for students in grades 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 on the first day of school, Sept. 6.- Grades 7, 8, 10, 11, 12: School start time will be 12:25 p.m. School lunch will not be served. Bus transportation will be five hours later than the regular weekday bus schedule.*
- Grades 1-6 and 9: Follow the “Regular School Day” schedule. Breakfast and lunch will be served to students in these grades. Buses will operate on the regular weekday bus schedule.
- Pierce County Skills Center students: There is no district transportation — morning or afternoon — on Sept. 6.
*For example, if your regular morning bus pickup time is 7:10 a.m., your bus will pick you up at 12:10 p.m.
Due to a bus driver shortage, it’s highly likely that some bus routes will be affected to some degree on a daily basis. Any given route on any given day could experience a different bus number, earlier or later pick-up/drop-off times, and unfortunately the potential of no bus transportation at all.
Please note these important items that could affect your child:
- Different buses: It’s possible your child will ride two different buses — one bus in the morning and a different one in the afternoon. This means a different bus number and a different bus driver.
- Bus times: Pick-up and drop-off times could vary and may not always align exactly with school start and dismissal times. Because of the need to double-up on bus runs, your child could be picked up earlier or later than when school begins. Another possibility is that your child might need to wait (supervised) at school for a bus to pick them up. As soon as we know if your child’s route is affected, we will send a robocall to families with as much advance notice we can give.
- No transportation: As a last resort, when no bus drivers are available, it’s possible we may not be able to provide bus transportation for some routes on any given day. We encourage families to have a back-up plan with an alternative way to get your child to school. This is a very unfortunate reality that will likely affect routes on a daily basis. If your child is unable to make it to school, it will be an excused absence. Please call your school to confirm that your child will be absent due to no bus service. We will notify affected families as soon as we possibly can. We will continue to provide transportation for special education students who have special transportation in their IEP.
This bus driver shortage also affects:
- Waivers: While a condition of waivers is that District transportation is not provided, we have made exceptions in the past if a bus is not full. This year, however, our buses will be full and we are unable to accommodate students on waivers. Families will need to provide their own transportation to and from school.
- Bus passes: We are unable to allow students to ride a different bus when wanting to, for example, go home with a friend or be dropped off at a grandparent's house.
Bus lookup tool
Families may now use our bus stop lookup tool to view their child’s route for the 2022-23 school year. For questions about your child’s route, please call the Transportation Department at (253) 891-6400.
Get prepared for school by taking a look at the breakfast and lunch menus for September:
- Elementary
- Middle and High
- Interactive menus (ingredients and nutritional information)
This school year, there are some important changes to meal prices. A national school meal waiver that provided free meals for all students due to the pandemic expired over the summer. This means that meals are no longer free for everyone.
We encourage families who may be eligible to apply for free meals. Applications can be found at sumnersd.org/meals.
To make sure we have a strong and healthy 2022-23 school year, we will continue to follow COVID-19 requirements from the state Department of Health (DOH) and the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Updated DOH guidelines
On Aug. 5, DOH released updated COVID-19 guidelines for K-12 schools and childcare, reflecting a significant shift toward long-term COVID-19 management and away from an emergency response. SBLSD has adjusted our COVID-19 protocols accordingly while continuing to prioritize the health of our students, staff and community, and safely preserve in-person learning.
No longer required:
- COVID-19 testing on site
- Reporting negative test results
- Specific notification of exposure to immunocompromised persons
- Contact tracing
Required:
- While we are no longer testing at school, we will distribute COVID-19 tests and/or testing location information to students/families and staff (while testing supplies last.)
- Students/staff who test positive or have COVID-19 like symptoms are required to isolate.
- Students/staff who have symptoms of COVID-19 are required to stay home and should get tested. We will follow the updated DOH Symptom Flowchart.
- Staff/students must wear masks in the health room.
- Positive tests must be reported to the health department.
- Schools are required to inform students, families, and staff when there are cases and outbreaks in the school.
- Employees must be vaccinated or have an exemption through human resources.
Continued additional mitigation strategies:
- Closely monitor and share COVID-19 transmission trends via our COVID-19 dashboard
- Continue increased introduction of outside air, continue routine filter changes, continue increased HVAC equipment runtimes per WA DOH guidelines (one hour before occupancy and two hours post occupancy)
- Support frequent handwashing in school
- Communicate that all individuals experiencing COVID-19 symptoms should stay home and test
Each year schools are required to provide lessons related to human growth and development (puberty) and/or HIV/Aids prevention for students beginning in the 5th grade. There will be no instruction related to these topics prior to the 5th grade.
This is an annual reminder to let families know they will be able to view all materials at the elementary, middle and high school level in advance of classroom instruction. Families will also have the ability to opt their child out of any, or all, portions of the lessons. Open viewing events will be scheduled throughout the year at least 30 days prior to any classroom instruction. Families will also have the ability to access materials by contacting the district office or their child’s school. Information regarding dates and times for curriculum viewing events will be coming in early winter for the school year.
