Dear Blosser Lane Families and Friends,
It is hard to believe that we have one week left of the 2019-2020 school year, and boy what a year! From the power outages in the fall, to this shelter-in-place for the third trimester, I can say that this year has been quite astonishing!
Today at school, we collected all Chromebooks, and any school-work packets; additionally, we returned student belongings. If you missed the collection or distribution of these items, we will be open from 10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. after each drive-by farewell parade.
Speaking of the farewell parades, please remember that each grade level has its own day scheduled from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. on Blosser Lane. Thus, third grade will be Tuesday, June 2nd; fourth grade will be Wednesday, June 3rd; and fifth grade will be Thursday, June 4th.
As we begin to think about the coming fall schedule, a couple places to get the latest district and county education information, is through their websites. If you visit willitsunified.com or mcoe.us, you will find messages from our superintendents, and updates to school programs. I encourage you to visit these websites for the latest announcements throughout the summer.
Thank you for your time and attention to our Friday Night Notes; this is the last one for the school year. Stay safe and be well; have a great weekend and summer!
Sincerely, Mrs. Runberg, Principal
Good evening Blosser Lane Graduates and Families,
This is Ms. Stoll with a friendly reminder that tomorrow, Friday May 29th between 8am-1pm, is the time to return all packets and computers to Blosser Lane, as well as to pick up student belongings. Faculty will be in front of School to assist with easy transfer of items. If you are unable to meet this time frame, please let me know and we can work out a time to do so soon, as next Thursday, June 4th is the official last day of school and report cards will be finished a few days before. I am super proud of each and every one of my Graduates...all of you have shown tremendous growth this year!!
Wishing you a restful night.
Thank you, Ms. Stoll
Dear Blosser Lane Families and Friends,
We hope you are enjoying this long weekend; in observance of Memorial Day. It is hard to believe we are approaching the end of the 2019-2020 academic year! We are very proud of our students and staff who have valiantly adapted to this extraordinary school event!
Please be aware that all Chromebooks, and any school-work packets, must be turned in on Friday, May 29th between 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.; additionally, student belongings will be distributed at the same time. Each grade will drive through a different area of the parking lot to collect and return the items. The sections will be marked off with signs and cones.
Also, we are just two weeks away from our last day of school and we continue to make plans to bid our students farewell. We will be having a drive-by farewell parade on different days for each grade level, from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m., on Blosser Lane. Thus, please mark your calendars, third grade will be Tuesday, June 2nd; fourth grade will be Wednesday, June 3rd; and fifth grade will be Thursday, June 4th.
Please remember that the best way to communicate any questions or concerns to your child’s teacher is through email. We appreciate your patience and flexibility through this shelter-in-place directive, and please let our Blosser Lane students know that we miss them very much!
Thank you for your time and attention to our Friday Night Notes; stay safe and be well.
Sincerely, Mrs. Runberg, Principal
Good morning Students and Families,
Confirming our Zoom meeting today at 11:00 am, Friday May 15th. The Zoom ID is 913 0581 8771 and the PW is 9PwpTP Looking forward to seeing all students who are able to attend!
Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19), children who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals at school will get extra food benefits. These food benefits are called Pandemic EBT or P-EBT benefits. P-EBT benefits help families in California buy food when schools are closed because of the coronavirus emergency.
Families will get up to $365 per eligible child on their P-EBT card to use on food and groceries.
Families with children who get CalFresh, Medi-Cal or Foster Care benefits do not need to apply. Most will get their P-EBT card in the mail during the month of May. P-EBT cards will begin arriving around May 12, 2020.
New Shelter in Place Guidelines for Stage 2, now in place.
It certainly appears that we will not be returning to normal classroom settings for the remainder of this school year. All school sites have made plans to continue with modified school instruction through the end of May. The first week of June will be used for students to turn in all assignments and for teachers to assign grades. All students will be moved to the next grade unless discussions about retention have already taken place.
Although very unlikely- if it is possible before this school year ends to bring back a limited number of students, the District would consider the following: Brookside grade 2 only, Blosser Lane grade 5 only, BGMS grade 8 only and all seniors at WHS. In regards to graduation our preference is to wait it out, meet as a group and make it happen. As I have stated before, we can do it in August if necessary. I prefer this idea over a virtual ceremony.
Middle school and high school campuses are planning to hold a summer school session from July 27th through August 14th. WUSD is willing to provide support to all other summer session programs which use our facilities so they may become operational.
In regards to the governor's comments about starting school July 1st. There are more problems with that Idea than good. A major issue for a third of our students is transportation, can they get on the bus, with such a confined space we would have to limit buses to 12 students and this is a problem. Another large issue is the heat in July, only about 40% of our facilities have air conditioning and classrooms would be very warm. Along with this are summer jobs, summer school, cleaning facilities, adding 20+ days to teachers' work year, new teachers who won't be here yet, plus all the added cost for operations for a month and half. Although we are anxious to all be together again an early start is not the best plan. When all the students come back in August we will all work aggressively to get back on track.
I commend all of our parents and staff for working through this situation, hang in there. My biggest concern in coming back together is the health of our adult staff, the impact from the virus can be harsh and we have a small number of substitutes available. The need to social distance even with a small group is very tough with young kids. If we do have to create A and B days for students to limit the exposure we will do so. Bus routes, siblings, teachers, children and creating off day work for students will be a challenge but we will do it if necessary.
In conclusion, we are waiting it out and hopeful that summer will get us a little closer too normal. Our goals for Willits Unified are to finish the year in distance mode, have a graduation ceremony, provide whatever educational services we can in the summer and get ready for next school year.
Mark Westerburg
Congratulations Students you have hit the 7 digit level on IXL.
I have attached a link to the CENSUS 2020. It is very important for school funding to have an accurate census for the district. Federal funding inTitle Programs, food service and grant opportunities come from census data. It is very quick and easy to do. https://my2020census.gov/
WUSD April 15, 2020 School Board Meeting Video
https://youtu.be/dOmTXIUzBlU
Willits Unified Schools has extended the Modified School period through Friday May 1st. All the Mendocino County Schools will be under this extension. We will be monitoring the situation. I look forward to returning to school as soon as it is safe for staff and students to be together.
Even in the midst of trying times like this, good things can still happen. Today we received the fourth new bus from grant funds. This is a huge savings to the district and has significantly upgraded our transportation department. Can’t wait for us to get back on the road.
This is a column that I posted in the Willits Weekly and Willits News.
We have been using this program at grades 3-5 for the past two years. Based on the situation we are in, I have expanded the use of it and added Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. If you have a student in grades 3-5 they know all about it. IXL has grade Level Math, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. (Science and Social Studies start at 2nd grade). The program is linked to California State Standards for all areas and is set to work in conjunction with the Math book series we use in grades K-5. This is new to the K-2 teachers, they will be able to see your child's progress and what the struggle with. The 3-5 Grade teachers already know who to use it and will now be able to use it for Language Arts as well. If you go to the district website and click on the Modified School Information Button you will see a video named IXL to watch. DOWNLOAD the App for tablets, Ipads, Iphone and smartphones https://www.ixl.com/apps Login Websitie https://www.ixl.com/signin/willits Username Firstname lastname @Willits (Example: johnsmith@willitsPassword abcd1234 ( you can change it if you wish once your are up and running. ) Thank you for all your efforts at home.
We have been using this program at grades 3-5 for the past two years. Based on the situation we are in, I have expanded the use of it and added Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. If you have a student in grades 3-5 they know all about it.
IXL has grade Level Math, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. (Science and Social Studies start at 2nd grade). The program is linked to California State Standards for all areas and is set to work in conjunction with the Math book series we use in grades K-5.
This is new to the K-2 teachers, they will be able to see your child's progress and what the struggle with. The 3-5 Grade teachers already know who to use it and will now be able to use it for Language Arts as well. If you go to the district website and click on the Modified School Information Button you will see a video named IXL to watch.
DOWNLOAD the App for tablets, Ipads, Iphone and smartphones https://www.ixl.com/apps
Login Websitie https://www.ixl.com/signin/willits
Username Firstname lastname @Willits (Example: johnsmith@willitsPassword abcd1234 ( you can change it if you wish once your are up and running. )
Thank you for all your efforts at home.
Remember that we have breakfast and lunch pick up at WHS from 8-10 AM and 11-1 for lunch. If you can't make arrangements to get in please call 707-459-5314 and leave a message.
The best way to contact staff is through email. All district emails are first and last name @willitsunified.com. For example markwesterburg@willitsunified.com Important information for WUSD is located on the district website under the Modified School Information link. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19avYBzh8L5XfvixXwXPz6-Yg23G08uyF
Mendocino County will be going into a shelter in place at 10 PM tonight. Based on that all buildings will be closed on Thursday until further notice. The phones will be monitored and checked remotely. Student food pick up at WHS will continue as scheduled.
I have put together a folder of information to share with parents and students during this non-classroom instruction time. It is my intent to continue to add to this as we go through the weeks. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19avYBzh8L5XfvixXwXPz6-Yg23G08uyF?usp=sharing
Let me tell you what I saw today on the first day on non-traditional school for WUSD. https://drive.google.com/file/d/179V-ymN3MUqEwGKiAo7HeEmePOVhLJZN/view?usp=sharing