Dear SSD Families and Community Members,
I want to take a moment to provide you with an update on a few important items as we rapidly move into October. First and foremost, we are very happy to be working in person with your student. There is no doubt that the adjustments we made due to covid were extremely challenging for everyone. Our staff is very engaged in understanding where students' academic performance and needs are, and we are responding to these learning needs.
Education Jamboree
Sultan School District and the Sultan Education Foundation present the 5th Annual celebration! The 2022-2023 Education Jamboree will be held at Sultan High School on October 10th, 2022, from 6-8 pm. This is a scheduled board meeting evening though there will not be a board meeting in the usual sense, we are just planning on having a quorum of school board directors present at the event on Monday night. Community members, students, families, and staff are welcome to come. This event is to learn about the exciting work our students and staff are doing and to see how you can get involved. We also feature community partners that will be present to share how they support our school district. There will be dinner provided for the duration of the event. Transportation will have 2 buses running. One from Gold Bar Elementary (GBE) to Sultan High School (SHS) and one from The Startup Events Center to SHS. Routes will run every 20 minutes starting at 5:40 pm and will continue picking up and returning attendees until the event is over. The Sultan Education Foundation and its board of directors have been instrumental in supporting this event over the years.
Weather
The Bolt Creek Fire is affecting us all in many ways. The ongoing poor air quality is not something that we are used to dealing with for this length of time. We closely monitor the situation using tools that are provided by the Emergency Management System team that is currently in place and provides us with air quality readings regularly. They point to the Bolt Creek Fire Information Facebook page HERE for daily updates. From there, we reference the Washington Air Quality Guide for School & Child Care Activities HERE. This chart is based on the outside “Air Quality Index”, where many sites tell us what the current levels are. One of them can be found HERE. This helps us determine how to address recess, P.E., and athletic events and practices. During times when the air quality is poor, we have stopped drawing in air from the outside through our HVAC system and we have air purifiers in classrooms and other open spaces. I want to be clear that if you feel that the air quality is impacting your student to the point that they need to stay home, we will make sure that the absence is excused.
FlashAlert
With winter weather just around the corner, please install the FlashAlert app on your phone as this is one of the ways that we communicate changes to the school due to weather. By using this app you will receive the same messages that we send out to the local media to indicate school schedule changes. Download the FlashAlert Messenger app for iOS HERE or Android HERE.
Sky Valley Transportation Cooperative
We are just about ready to begin construction of our new transportation facility which will be called the Sky Valley Transportation Cooperative. The construction company, HB Hansen, will begin to move their equipment to the construction site a little later this month with construction starting either at the end of October or the beginning of November. Be sure to visit our website and click on the “Current Levy” link for updates, which can be found HERE.
If you have questions about anything discussed in this letter or about the Sultan School District, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
Sincerely,
Dan Chaplik, Superintendent
Sultan School District