Superintendent Update

August 11, 2021

Dear St. Paul Community,

I hope this update finds you and your family safe, well, and enjoying the last weeks of summer break. At our August 9th school board meeting I shared information regarding the requirements for the reopening of schools in St. Paul with our school board and a number of community members that were in attendance. I would like to thank the board and the members of the community for their valuable input and for advocating for safe schools for our students, parents, and staff.

Our district is preparing for the return of students to school full time in the fall, the first day of school will be September 7. The governor has mandated the wearing of masks for all students, staff, and community members who visit our schools. Masks are also required on public transportation and this includes our school buses. I know this is disheartening news to many but is something we will need to do for our students to get back in school where they belong. The Oregon Health Authority will be reviewing Covid related conditions at least monthly and will return school safety protocols to local control as soon as they determine that conditions related to the virus allow it. The school board adopted a resolution on Monday asking the governor to return decisions related to the operation of schools back to local control and we are ready to respond as soon as the mask mandate is lifted. The resolution can also be found on the district website https://5il.co/x2sc. The good news for our kids is that the mask mandate applies to educational settings so students will not be required to wear masks during lunch or recess and we are planning to schedule additional “mask breaks” throughout the day. Please visit our website frequently to learn more about the district calendar, transportation schedules, and school activities, https://www.stpaul.k12.or.us/ you can also find additional information regarding school operations on the Oregon Department of Education website https://www.oregon.gov/ode/Pages/default.aspx.

We will be updating the website weekly with current information regarding school operations. The elementary school doors will open at 7:45 a.m. with classes starting at 8:00 a.m. Please do not drop children off before 7:45. The middle/high school doors will open at 7:30 with classes in session from 7:55 a.m to 3:00 p.m. The hours of operation for the elementary will be 8:00 a.m. to 2:50 pm. Our district has a reopening plan and it will include safety protocols similar to those that were in place last spring. I am pleased to share with you that we will be operating in person and for full days except for Wednesdays which will be early release days for staff professional development. Each Wednesday students will be dismissed from school one hour early with the elementary dismissal at 1:50 pm and the middle/ high school ending at 2:02 pm. St. Paul School District will not have a preschool program for the 2021-2022 school year, we are sorry for any inconvenience that this causes our families and plan to have the preschool program return to St. Paul 2022-2023.

Please continue to watch for updates related to the start of school in the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

Joseph M. Wehrli

School District Superintendent