Dear DCS Parents and Guardians, Faculty, Staff, & Students,
In response to the continuing COVID-19 health crisis in our state, Governor Brown and the Oregon Department of Education announced all schools will close their buildings for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. This news weighs heavy on all our hearts, but the health and safety of our students, staff and the broader community, remain the highest priority.
Damascus Christian will continue to deliver our distance and digital learning we initiated on April 1st for the duration of the academic school year. Our elementary teachers will continue to utilize packets and Zoom with their students. Our secondary teachers will continue to use Google Classroom and Zoom. As these platforms become our norm for the year, we will strive to continue to improve in our instruction and communication. Also, we will continue to weekly call families for prayer requests, distribute surveys and to check in on how the distance and digital learning is going. We remain committed to our students' academic growth, to continue to foster relationships with them, and to encourage their spiritual development.
We understand that these new learning platforms have created challenges, hardships and opportunities for our staff and school families. The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined our partnership with our school families. We are so thankful for our amazing parents who are doing a fantastic job in playing a pivotal role in their child’s education. Our desire as a staff is to continue to support our families. If you are experiencing challenges such as receiving communication or struggling with aspects of the distance and digital education, please contact your child's teachers to help solve those challenges.
Despite these challenges, we are thankful for the following: (1) teachers are personally connecting with students through Zoom several times a week, (2) many of our secondary discipleship groups have reconvened to provide extra support for students, and (3) we are maintaining the academic integrity of our courses through these new platforms.
Unfortunately, this extended closure does mean the loss of several valued and cherished events. Our pre-K-12 students will miss out on field trips, concerts, drama performances, Serve Day, Spring Formal, Spring Assembly and end of the year awards. Spring athletes will be unable to participate. Seniors will miss out on many anticipated events. Despite all the loss, we are committed to and hopeful that we can creatively put on both Kindergarten and 8th grade promotions as well as the Senior Commencement. We are committed to working with our school families to do all we can to recapture as many of our lost events as possible. We will be soliciting input from all our stakeholders as we develop alternatives.
Finally, we continue to trust God as we move forward. We were thrilled that our 24-hour Giving Day collected over $10,000 for our school families affected by COVID-19. We are also in the process of interviewing for open teaching positions for the 2020-2021 school year and enrolling 65 new students. Your testimonies, prayers and words of encouragement have been a tremendous blessing to us. We look forward to gathering as a school family in the future.
Zachary Davidson
Principal
Damascus Christian School