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  • Superintendent's Update for Week of October 19, 2020

    Unfortunately, COVID rates for our community started to increase. Because of this, the health department asked us to delay our moving forward with returning Preschool - 4th grade students on October 26.  Our need to go through a formal waiver process to return students is no longer in effect, given Douglas County is now in Safe Start Phase 2. However, we are required to continue to consult with our local health officer and director. Their guidance is to go slowly as we determine when and how to safely return students. We are also very aware the CDHD retains the authority to close schools and districts should the need arise.  Please help us keep moving forward with the return of students. You can do this  through the personal and family practice of masking, distancing, using all other safeguards, and especially avoiding inside social gatherings.  Also know we are excluding students and employees as we receive COVID positive reports, or incidents of potential exposure. Immediately taking these actions is allowing us to maintain our current level of on-campus instruction and helps prevent Eastmont from becoming a community transmission site.     Below is our update for the week of October 19th. Current Activities:   We currently have 1,650 employees and students on campus. Oct. 19 - Starting limited inside CTE instructional activities at our high school.  Oct. 19 - Phasing in additional limited athletic activities per October 6, 2020 Washington Department of Health  and Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) guidance.          Return of Students:  November 2, Phase 2a (remaining pre-school - 4th grade students) will return part time. This return date will get delayed again if infection rates, positive cases, hospitalization rates, and other information indicate bringing additional students on campus is not in the best interests of our community.   The dates for the return of Phase 2b (gr. 5 - 7) , Phase 3 (gr. 8 - 12), and Phase 4 (Extracurricular) have yet to be determined. These will only occur if prior phases continue to be successful.     Other Activities: We continue to revise and update all recommended safeguards including masking, distancing, cohorting, personal handwashing, and increased cleaning and disinfecting.  The Parent Portal for our student information system is now active for grades 5 - 12. Additional grades will be added over the next few months. Our new student information system and emergency message systems are in place and functional. Please take advantage of parent teacher conferences to confirm you information is current and accurate.  Information on our November 3rd proposal to renew our current educational and operations levy is available on our website. Additional information was mailed last week. Below is information for free COVID drive-thru testing in our community. We look forward to returning all students to campus and a return to full activities. Sincerely, Garn Christensen Superintendent PS: Please see included directions for ParentSquare.

    Monday, Oct 19 2020

  • Continued Delay of Pre-school - Fourth Grade (Phase ...

    Good Afternoon, Unfortunately, we were informed today that our waiver to return elementary students to campus on October 26th was not approved. This is because our most recent regional COVID Rates are 161/100,000. This greatly exceeds the 75/100,000 guidelines for returning elementary students. Unfortunately, we are in a unique situation as some neighboring districts were approved to return elementary students prior to the rates increasing. Because we had just expanded our Phase 1 students on campus, we were waiting the requested time before we submitted to return Phase 2 (elementary). Without the support from our local health officer, we must wait until rates drop to the 75/100,000 level. We will continue to work with our local health department in efforts to return additional students to campus. We greatly appreciate your understanding as we are very aware of the many challenges this current situation is causing for our students and their families. Sincerely, Garn Christensen Superintendent

    Friday, Oct 16 2020

  • Superintendent's Update for Week of October 12, 2020

    Unfortunately, COVID rates for our community increased since last week. Because of this, we had to delay our moving forward with the 10/19 return of Phase 2, which is our Preschool - 4th grade students.   Below is our update for the week of October 12th. Current Activities:   To date: we have the following groups on campus: May - June employees working on campus = 50 - 60 July - Aug employees working on campus = 110 - 120 Aug. 15 - Present: employees working on campus = 755 - 795 Aug. - Present: estimate of gr. K-7 employees’ children in on-campus educare = 180 Sept. 14 - Present: estimate of grade P-12 life skills students on campus = 55 Sept. 28 - Sterling, Clovis, Eastmont Junior High, and Eastmont High School began on-site food services.  Sept. 28 - Phase 1b P-12 students on campus = 400 Oct. 5 - Started limited outside grade 9-12 physical/athletic conditioning activities = 289.  Oct. 7 - Started limited inside CTE instructional activities at junior high.    Oct. 12 - We will be opening our outside campus facilities for community recreational use. Please visit our facility use website  at https://www.eastmont206.org/departments/facilities for more information.  Oct. 19 - Starting limited inside CTE instructional activities at high school.     We are in our 8th week of providing remote and on-campus services with no COVID related shutdowns. Our t otal adults and students scheduled to be on campus this week = 1,650+ Other Activities: We continue to serve over 2,000 meals daily. Please know meals are available for any interested child or teen in our community up to age 18. Visit our Food Services website for for additional information. https://www.eastmont206.org/departments/food-services/index . Until conditions improve, students must wear a facemask or approved face shield to be on campus. All requests for waivers from the standard cloth face mask requirement must go through the local health department.    School networks continue to be the target for hackers and ransom type activities. When possible, monitor instructional activities and report any concerns to your teacher or principal.   The Parent Portal for our student information system is now active for grades 5 - 12. Additional grades will be added over the next few months.  Our new student information system is in place and functional. Please ask your school's office to confirm your information is current and accurate.      Next Steps:   A waiver to return Phase 2a (P-4 students) part-time to campus has been submitted. If approved, these students would begin to return the last week of October or first of November. Included in the waiver is an expansion Phase 1 activities for our older students. Returning any additional students to campus requires Douglas County COVID rates to be under 75/100,000 for prior 14 days, or approval by our local health officer.  Phase 2b returns remaining grade 5-7 students part-time once our county rates decline below the 75/100,000 over a 3 week period, or we receive approval by our local county health officer.   Phase 3 begins to return grade 8-12 students part-time once our county rates decline below the 25/100,000 over a 3 week period, or we receive approval by our local county health officer.   Phase 4 begins to return additional extra-curricular, music, athletics, and similar type activities to campus. This will occur once our county rates decline below the 25/100,000 over a 2 week period, or we receive approval by our local county health officer.   Continuing Issues:   This system, ParentSquare Messaging, is our primary electronic and emergency messaging system. Please ensure your emergency contact information is current for parents and others who may be helping supervise your students. We ask teachers to check with parents during remote conferences to ensure they are registered to ParentSquare.  Information on our November 3rd proposal to renew our current educational and operations levy is available on our website. Additional information will be mailed mid October. Opportunities & Community Information:  Below is information for free COVID drive-thru testing in our community. Location Dates Time Notes Wenatchee High School 1101 Millerdale Ave., Wenatchee, WA October 13 – 16 (Tuesday – Friday) 1pm – 6pm Drive-thru New Song Community Church 11 N. Iowa Ave., East Wenatchee, WA October 13 – 15 (Tuesday – Thursday) 1pm – 6pm Drive-thru New Song Community Church 11 N. Iowa Ave, East Wenatchee, WA October 16 (Friday) 9am – 1pm Drive-thru Emergency Assistance for East Wenatchee Residents to Pay Rent or Utilities The City of East Wenatchee is working with the Housing Authority of Chelan County & the City of Wenatchee (CCWHA) to award grants to qualified individuals and families who live in East Wenatchee who need emergency financial assistance to pay rent and/or utilities . Please visit https://www.eastwenatcheewa.gov/Home/Components/News/News/2723/17?backlist=%2f   for more information. We look forward to returning all students to campus and a return to full activities. Sincerely, Garn Christensen Superintendent PS: Please see included directions for ParentSquare. PSS: First graders shared their monster creations, made from play dough the teachers sent home, this morning at their morning meeting to launch the next writing topic "How to Catch a Monster".

    Monday, Oct 12 2020

  • Delay of Pre-school - Fourth Grade (Phase 2a) Return...

    Good Afternoon, Unfortunately, our local COVID Rates have not met the 75/100,000 requirement to return elementary students to campus without a waiver from our health department medical officer. As a result, our tentative start date of October 19th for P-4 is no longer viable. Next week, I will be visiting with our health officer to discuss the likelihood of receiving a waiver to begin returning P-4 to campus with a possible start date of October 26th. If rates increase, or Eastmont gets identified as a transmission site, this date will get pushed into November or later depending on future COVID rates. If a waiver is approved, you will be notified immediately in an effort to provide as much time as possible to plan and prepare. We appreciate your understanding as we are very aware of the many challenges this current situation is causing for our students and their families. Sincerely, Garn Christensen Superintendent

    Thursday, Oct 08 2020

  • Superintendent's Update for Week of October 6, 2020

    Below is our update for the week of October 5th. Current Activities:   To date: we have the following groups on campus: May - June employees working on campus = 50 - 60 July - Aug employees working on campus = 110 - 120 Aug. 15 - Present: employees working on campus = 755 - 795 Aug. - Present: estimate of gr. K-7 employees’ children in on-campus educare = 180 Sept. 14 - Present: estimate of grade P-12 life skills students on campus = 55 Sept. 28 - Sterling, Clovis, Eastmont Junior High, and Eastmont High School began on-site food services.  Sept. 28 - Phase 1b P-12 students on campus = 400 Oct. 5 - Starting limited outside grade 9-12 physical/athletic conditioning activities = 289.  Oct. 7 - Starting limited inside CTE instructional activities at junior high with shop doors open.    Oct. 12 - We will be opening our outside campus facilities for community recreational use. Please visit our facility use website  at https://www.eastmont206.org/departments/facilities for more information.  Oct. 19 - Starting limited inside CTE instructional activities at high school with shop doors open.   Please let your principal know ASAP if you prefer your P-4 student continue remotely. A survey regarding this preference will also be sent out this week to help plan for the return of students.     Total adults and students scheduled to be on campus this week = 1,550+ Other Activities: We are in our 7th week of providing remote and on-campus services with no COVID related shutdowns.  We are now serving over 13,259 meals a week. These numbers have doubled in the last few weeks. Please know meals are available for any interested child or teen in our community up to age 18. Visit our Food Services website for for additional information. https://www.eastmont206.org/departments/food-services/index . We continuously work to ensure that all safeguards are in place as a work site and P-12 school system. Until conditions improve, students not able to wear a facemask, or approved face shield, will have limited, if any access to our campuses. All requests for waivers from the standard cloth face mask requirement must go through the local health department.    Our Remote Learning and Eastmont Virtual Academy (EVA) continues to refine instructional offerings and provide additional learning resources. Please let your principal know if you are wanting to change from future hybrid to remote only for the remainder of this school year.  Network and video connection issues are minimal. When possible, monitor instructional activities and report any video meetings where a teacher is not involved to your principal. Similar to Zoom bombing, we are learning similar non-instruction use of Google Meet is occurring.    The Parent Portal for our student information system is now active for grades 8 - 12. Additional grades will be added over the next few months.      Next Steps:   Oct. 19 - Tentative part-time return of P-4 students. This is contingent on Douglas County COVID rates being under 75/100,000 for prior 14 days, or approval by our local health officer.  Phase 2b returns remaining grade 5-7 students part-time once our county rates decline below the 75/100,000 over a 3 week period, or we receive approval by our local county health officer.   Phase 3 begins to return grade 8-12 students part-time once our county rates decline below the 25/100,000 over a 3 week period, or we receive approval by our local county health officer.   Phase 4 begins to return additional extra-curricular, music, choir, athletics, and similar type activities to campus. This will occur once our county rates decline below the 25/100,000 over a 2 week period, or we receive approval by our local county health officer.   Continuing Issues:   The Chelan Douglas Health District may be contacting some parents asking to test students. This is being done in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the infection rate among this population.  Below is information on free COVID testing sites.  Date Location Time 10/6 – 10/9 Wenatchee High School 1101 Millerdale Ave Wenatchee, WA 1 – 7 p.m. 10/6 *Additional dates TBD Douglas Co. Shop Site 110 2nd St. NE East Wenatchee, WA 1 – 7 p.m. Our new website is improving each week with more accurate information. This system, ParentSquare Messaging, is our primary electronic and emergency messaging system. Please ensure your emergency contact information is current for parents and others who may be helping supervise your students. We ask teachers to check with parents during remote conferences to ensure they are registered to ParentSquare.  Information on our November 3rd proposal to renew our current educational and operations levy is available on our website. Additional information will be mailed mid October.  We understand how difficult this is for students and families. Our goal continues to do this in manner that is safe for students, families, employees, and our community.  We look forward to returning all students to campus and a return to full activities. Sincerely, Garn Christensen Superintendent PS: Please see included directions for ParentSquare. I also included one of the best mask safety bulletin boards. This is an original creation from one of our Eastmont Employees.

    Monday, Oct 05 2020

  • Superintendent's Update for Week of September 28, 2020

    Below is our update for the week of September 28st: Current Activities:   To date: we have the following groups on campus: May - June employees working on campus = 50 - 60 July - Aug employees working on campus = 110 - 120 August 15 - Present: employees working on campus = 755 - 795 Aug. - Present: estimate of gr. K-7 employees’ children in on-campus educare = 180 Sept. 14 - Present: estimate of grade P-12 life skills students on campus = 55 Sept. 28 - Sterling, Clovis, Eastmont Junior High, and Eastmont High School began on-site food services.  Sept. 28 - Phase 1b P-12 students on campus = 400 (Photo shows preschoolers at play - when masks are not required as long as students are distanced.) Total adults and students on campus = 1,550+ Other Activities: In our 6th week of providing remote and on-campus services with no COVID related shutdowns. This will likely change as we increase students being served at schools.  We are now serving over 5,800 meals a week. These are available for any interested child or teen in our community up to age 18. Please visit our Food Services website for for additional information. https://www.eastmont206.org/departments/food-services/index . We continue to ensure all safety measures are in place as both a work site and P-12 school system. We did learn the use of any plastic face shields for students will likely be rare. Any use require a signed approval form from the local health department. Please present these to your school's nurse.   Our Remote Learning and Eastmont Virtual Academy (EVA) continues to refine instructional offerings and provide additional learning resources.  Network and video connections continue to improve.  When possible, monitor instructional activities and report any video meetings where a teacher is not involved to your principal. Similar to Zoom bombing, we are learning similar non-instruction use of Google Meet is occurring.    The Parent Portal for our student information system is now active for grades 8 - 12. Please watch for an email from Eastmont this week on how to set this up or visit with your student's school if you do not receive it.     Eastmont teachers and employees continue to work hard and bring creative approaches to daily activities - even remotely teaching a student basic engine operation.       Next Steps:   A waiver was approved to move forward with Phase 1c. This will occur October 5th. It allows older students to participate in small groups for part-time physical exercise/athletic conditioning and CTE related activities.  This waiver also included approval to open our facilities for community use. This will begin October 12 and start with outside areas.   Phase 2a returns remaining grade P-4 students part-time once our county rates decline below the 75/100,000 over a 2 week period, or we receive approval by our local county health officer. Phase 2b returns remaining grade 5-7 students part-time once our county rates decline below the 75/100,000 over a 2 week period, or we receive approval by our local county health officer.   Phase 3 begins to return grade 8-12 students part-time once our county rates decline below the 25/100,000 over a 2 week period, or we receive approval by our local county health officer.   Phase 4 begins to return additional extra-curricular, music, choir, athletics, and similar type activities to campus. This will occur once our county rates decline below the 25/100,000 over a 2 week period, or we receive approval by our local county health officer.   Continuing Issues:   The Chelan Douglas Health District is working to start a community testing center in East Wenatchee. They will also be contacting some of our K-4 parents in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the infection rate among this population. This is important as it provides information on our Phase 2a students who we hope to return to campus as soon as we get approval.  Though fewer, we still have not resolved all the remote learning connection issues. Please let your student's school know if you continue to have problems.   Our new website is improving each week with more accurate information. This system, ParentSquare Messaging, is our primary electronic and emergency messaging system. Please ensure your emergency contact information is current for parents and others who may be helping supervise your students.  Information on our November 3rd proposal to renew our current educational and operations levy is available on our website. Additional information will be mailed mid October.  We understand how difficult this is for students and families. Our goal continues to do this in manner that is safe for students, families, employees, and our community.  We look forward to returning all students to campus and a return to full activities. Sincerely, Garn Christensen Superintendent PS: Please see included directions for ParentSquare.

    Monday, Sep 28 2020

  • Superintendent's Update for Week of September 21, 2020

    Below is our update for the week of September 21st: Current Activities:   To date: we have the following groups on campus: May - June employees working on campus = 50 - 60 July - Aug employees working on campus = 110 - 120 August 15 - Now employees working on campus = 755 - 795 Aug. - Sept. 11, Estimate of gr. K-7 employees’ children in on-campus educare = 180 Sept. 14 - Now, Estimate of grade P-12 life skills students now on campus = 55 Preparing for Sept. approved return of P-12 most vulnerable Phase 1b students on campus = 400 Other Activities: In our 5th week of providing remote and on-campus services with no COVID related shutdowns or evidence that Eastmont operations are causing an increase in community rates.  We are now serving meals for any interested child or teen in our community up to age 18. Please visit our Food Services website for school and bus drop off locations. https://www.eastmont206.org/departments/food-services/index . We continue to ensure all safety measures are in place as both a work site and P-12 school system. However, we have been informed these are under review by the WA Dept. of Health and may be updated and aligned with other similar guidelines in place for childcare, and youth & adult recreation activities.  We continue to work for maximum ventilation practices now the smoke has cleared. Our Remote Learning and Eastmont Virtual Academy (EVA) continue to refine instructional offerings and provide additional learning resources.  Network and video connections continue to improve with better reliability and ease of access thanks to the thoroughness of our technology team.  Temporary internet hotspots have been distributed where needed. Please let your principal know if this something that may be needed.  Eastmont teachers and employees continue to work hard and bring creative approaches to making remote and on-line learning as relevant and rigorous as possible.     Next Steps:   Sterling, Clovis, Eastmont Junior High, and Eastmont High School will begin on-site food services starting on the 28th. Phase 1b students return to campus on September 28th. This group represent another 3-5% per school.  This group are those students identified as our most vulnerable students. If county rates decline below the 75/100,000 as a county over a 2 week period, we will return grade P-4 students as Phase 2a.   Phase 2b will return our grade 5-7 students and will be initiated once we determine the increase in students on campus is not contributing to increased county rates.   Phase 3a will return grade 8-12 students and will be initiated once county rates decline below the 25/100,000 as county average over a two week period and determine the increase in students on campus is not contributing to increased county rates.  Phase 1c will return some of our older students in small groups for part-time physical exercise/athletics conditioning and CTE related activities. A request for a waiver to begin these activities is in process as well as to open our facilities for community use. This is in recognition other community recreation groups are being allowed to open per a recent Governor's order.   Phase 4b will return additional athletics and extra-curricular activities to campus as long as prior Eastmont activities do not contribute to an increase in county rates. Continuing Issues:   The question has come up on student use of plastic face shields rather than masks. Specifically, the type of face shield and approval process. We are researching this with our local health department to ensure we have the latest requirements. We hope to have more information by the end of the week. Please visit with your student's principal if this something you might desire for your student.   Though fewer, we still have not resolved all the remote learning connection issues.   We continue to correct data in our student and family information systems as we complete the transition to our new student management system.   We continue to update our new website and ensure future events will be on the event calendar.  This system, ParentSquare Messaging, is our primary electronic and emergency messaging system. Please ensure your emergency contact information is current for parents and others who may be helping supervise your students.   Please know we understand how difficult this is for students and families. My goal is to do this in manner that is safe for students, families, employees, and our community.  We look forward to returning all students to campus and a return to full activities. I also wanted to thanks those who have shared feedback on this weekly newsletter. Sincerely, Garn Christensen Superintendent PS: Please see included directions for ParentSquare.

    Monday, Sep 21 2020

  • Superintendent's Update

    Below is our weekly update: Working:   Today, we returned Phase 1a students to our campuses on a part-time basis. These are our students with high need Individual Education Plans (IEPs) who are primarily in our lifeskills programs. This brings us up to just over 4% of our students on campus.  We are now providing meals for any interested child or teen in our community up to age 18. Please visit our Food Services website for school and bus drop off locations. https://www.eastmont206.org/departments/food-services/index Eastmont Schools are starting our 4th week of providing remote and on-campus services with no COVID related shutdowns. We continue to practice required 6' social distancing, PPE use, increased hand washing, and increased cleaning of high touch surfaces as required by the WA Dept. of Health for K-12 schools.  The smoke in the valley this week is causing us to stop our maximum ventilation practices. In prior smoky years, we have tested indoor air quality of our schools and found it safer than outside air. This is due to our large spaces and air filtration systems.  Eastmont Virtual Academy (EVA) continues to develop and organize in response to parents requesting an all remote option for this school year.  Network and video connections continue to improve with better reliability and ease of access.   Still working on:   Eastmont remote learning continues to have connection issues that we are working to resolve.  We started to distribute the 100+ hotspots we purchased and found challenges with connecting to the internet. We continue to work with the vendor to resolve these issues.  We continue to correct data in our student and family information that moved from our old student management system to the new system.   Our new website continues to be updated on all pages. One goal this year is to improve our events calendar.   This system, ParentSquare Messaging, is our primary electronic and emergency messaging system. Please ensure your emergency contact information is current for parents and others who may be helping supervise your students.   Future Issues:   The health department approved our plan to return Phase 1b students to campus. As long as our county rates continue to decline, this group will start September 28th. They represent another 3-5% per school beyond those this week in lifeskills (1a) and educare. This group are those students identified as our most vulnerable students. Ideally, if county rates continue to decline, we will soon be implementing Phase 2a. This step will return our younger students to campus and can only occur if our rates are below the 75/100,000 as a county over a 2 week period. Phase 3a will be the return of our older students and will not begin until county rates are below 25/100,000.  Information on our November 3rd proposal to renew our current educational and operations levy will be going up by the end of this month on our website and mailed to all residents by mid October. Please know we understand how difficult this is for students and families. My goal is to do this in manner that is safe for students, families, employees, and our community.  We look forward to returning all students to campus and a return to full activities. Sincerely, Garn Christensen Superintendent PS: Please see included directions for ParentSquare.

    Monday, Sep 14 2020

  • Superintendent's Update

    Below is our weekly update: Working:   Eastmont Schools are starting our 3rd week of providing remote instructional services to all students with no COVID related shutdowns. Last week, we were able to return to providing meals for any interested child or teen in our community up to age 18. Please visit our Food Services website for school and bus drop off locations. https://www.eastmont206.org/departments/food-services/index We continue to practice required 6' social distancing, PPE use, increased hand washing, and increased cleaning of high touch surfaces.  Children of instructional employees are on-campus at each school in supervised educare working remotely. Having this group on campus has allowed us to sustain our workforce and practice our safety and distancing procedures in preparation for bringing all students back to campus. We continue to increase ventilation at all schools per safety requirements. The smoke in the valley this week is causing us to have to balance opening doors and windows with unsafe air conditions.   Eastmont Virtual Academy (EVA) continues to develop and organize in response to parents requesting an all remote option for this school year.  We increased our fiber bandwidth from 1 GB to 2GB  last week to help us have better video connections with 5,000+ students and their teachers.   Not yet where we want it:  Eastmont remote learning continues to have connection issues that we are actively troubleshooting. It appears Google Meet is having connection issues beyond Eastmont. If these are not quickly resolved, we will be looking at transitioning to more reliable video conferencing software.   We received hotspots for remote internet only to learn the software for use had not been configured. This is being done now in hopes of getting these distributed later this week.   Our new website continues to be updated on all pages. We are still checking data accuracy for information that moved from our old student management system to the new system.   We are using ParentSquare Messaging as our primary electronic and emergency messaging system. We learned this past week the data for the primary parent, secondary parent, etc. got reversed in some situations and is being corrected. Please let your principal know if you are not getting messages from your student's school.    Future Issues:   In response to a continuing decline in COVID rates in our community, on September 14, we will be returning Phase A1 students to campuses. This is about 1% of our students and are those with high need Individual Education Plans (IEPs) who are primarily in our lifeskills programs.  For comparison, on August 14, our county 14 day average COVID rate was 507 per 100,000. As of 9/7, we are at 237 per 100,000.   We are waiting for confirmation from our health department to return our Phase A2 students. This group represents another 3-5% per school. These students are those not engaging in remote learning and have been identified as among our most vulnerable students. Phase A3 is in planning and will return our youngest students once our COVID rates are below the 75/100,000.   Phase B to return our older students once our community 14 day average rate is below 25/100,000.  Information on our November 3rd proposal to renew our current educational and operations levy will be going up by the end of this month on our website and mailed to all residents by mid October.  Thank you for your patience. Eastmont Educators are doing the best they can in a very difficult situation. We look forward to returning all students to campus and a return to full activities. Sincerely, Garn Christensen Superintendent PS: Please see included directions for ParentSquare.

    Tuesday, Sep 08 2020