Greetings Meridian Families & Students,
We hope you have had an enjoyable holiday break. The weather has continued to be a huge factor for all of us. We are looking forward to having everyone back in school. We want to provide some information as we prepare for next week.
Frozen Pipes
Like many homes, school districts have had to work through difficulties with frozen pipes over the holiday break from the frigid cold. Some districts were hit particularly hard. Our district has had a few isolated issues at IRE, MHS, and MMS. Most impactful was the water in IRE’s library and main office. There is a rumor circulating about IRE being shut down for a month due to the damage. That information is not accurate. Our maintenance and custodial teams have done a phenomenal job addressing all of the cold weather events, cleaning up debris, and making the appropriate repairs. They have worked closely with contractors, engineers, and building principals to allow us to start school next Monday, barring any new issues from thawing pipes between now and Monday. We will continue to evaluate things as they evolve.
Health Department Update
Many of you have seen the increased cases and impact of the new COVID-19 Omicron variant at universities and colleges in the news. The Whatcom County Department of Health has shared information with each district about upcoming state Department of Health guidance changes being released in early January. They have communicated they anticipate increased transmissions in school environments over the next few weeks – if not longer. Given our two-week holiday break, we do not have a clear understanding of current positive cases for our students or staff members. While we don’t want to alarm anyone, we do want to remind our students to plug their devices in so they are charged and ready to go if we need to shift to a remote learning environment for a short period of time – whether it be for staffing issues, COVID-19 closures, or inclement weather.
Weather Forecast
With the continued cold temperatures and the potential of thawing and freezing in the forecast, we’d like to remind you to update your contact information in Skyward and ensure you are signed up for FlashAlert, http://www.flashalert.net/signup/. Even if you were signed up previously, you may need to update your profile. It is our main form of communication about changing school programming due to emergency circumstances like inclement weather. Please look for district information this weekend as we may be needing to share updated content with you about schools operating next week. Stay tuned!
We hope everyone is doing well. We are looking forward to positive changes in the new year. We wish everyone a Happy New Year and enjoyable rest of your break.
James