Dear Zion Parents,
Greetings in Christ! The start of a new year is coming and will soon be upon us! After a quarter of distance learning, I am pleased to announce that Zion will open its doors for its 90th year of school!
On multiple fronts, the year 2020 has thus far proven to be one for the record books – especially in the area of education. The steps taken to mitigate virus spread had reached unprecedented levels, reaching nationwide school facility shutdowns. The transition to distance learning was a tough one, and while I am satisfied that our teachers and students performed better than many of our counterparts, I do know that the end of the 2019-2020 year was something we do not hope to repeat. God created man to be social creatures – we suffer socially and emotionally when we are deprived of our peers!
The Zion administration, Board of Education, and teaching staff have been working hard this summer to enable Zion to reopen and still be able to provide the high quality education that you have come to expect. We do take the virus seriously and will be very proactive where we can to deter virus spread among our school population. We will be doing the following:
- Social distancing of classrooms – we will rework schedules and different practices to avoid mixing of classes.
- Lots of cleaning and disinfecting! We will schedule regular handwashing breaks, desk/supply cloroxing, and after-hours room sterilization with UV(+ozone) lamps. Zion also has air-scrubbers installed that utilize air ionization to literally clean the air!
- Health checks/screenings – we will be taking student/staff temps twice daily using touchless technology.
- MASKS? Students (and adults) will wear masks when we cannot avoid class mixing. During instruction time, lunch, p.e., students will not be required to wear masks. Students need to see faces and expressions to communicate and grow socially and emotionally! Masks will need to be dress code (solid-colored) only.
With clear procedures in place (which you can view in further detail in the parent guide and on the website - see documents) and with God’s continued blessings, I am confident that we’re going to be able to start the year strong! I know it will be a joyful reunion when students and staff can reunite after being apart so long! Our theme this year is Faith Over Fear – and we’re going to be learning more about all the good that our heavenly Father blesses us with daily and how to rely on our God-given faith to counter the fear and anxiety that we may encounter in our lives.
It’s going to be a great year! I look forward to seeing you all soon!
In Christ,
Anthony Splittgerber