Superintendent Mike Merlino offers information in letter to families in the district
The following letter was sent Saturday to all families in Evergreen Public Schools by Superintendent Mike Merlino:
March 14, 2020
Dear Evergreen Community:
Yesterday, March 13, we informed you Governor Jay Inslee closed all schools in the state of Washington through April 24. As part of our communication to you, we said we would ensure our childcare partner, Southwest Washington Child Care Consortium (SWCCC), would continue to operate in our schools, and that we would provide meals to students. Here are the details for both of those:
Child Care: SWCCC will be open and operating for currently enrolled families beginning Monday, March 16 at the following elementary school locations: Burton, Crestline, Endeavour, Fisher’s Landing, Harmony, Image, Orchards, Pioneer and the Park Crest Early Care and Education Center.
Families who are not currently enrolled with SWCCC will need to register by phone starting on Monday: 360-952-3466. Families will not be able to register on site.
Meals sites/delivery: Beginning on Tuesday, March 17, we will be feeding any student or community child through two different programs:
Breakfast/lunch “grab and go” meals will be available from 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. at the following schools:
Burton Elementary (14015 NE 28th St.)
Cascade Middle School (13900 NE 18th St.)
Covington Middle School (11200 NE Rosewood Ave.)
Crestline Elementary (13003 SE 7th St.)
Ellsworth Elementary (512 SE Ellsworth Road)
Hearthwood Elementary (801 NE Hearthwood Blvd.)
Heritage High School (7825 NE 130th Ave.)
Mill Plain Elementary (400 NE 164th Ave.)
Silver Star Elementary (10500 NE 86th St.)
We will deliver meals using school buses operating on normal morning elementary routes throughout the district. Students of all ages (not just elementary) may wait at the regular time/bus stop, and the bus will stop to deliver both breakfast and lunch at the same time. To find a convenient bus stop: https://evergreenps.org/Bus-Schedules. We will also operate normal morning Special Needs routes. A household member will need to be available to come out to the bus and collect the meals.
We know that many students and families have additional questions and also want to help our school community. We will be providing a FAQ section on our website shortly. However, I want to answer two of the most frequently asked questions here:
How will this closure affect high school seniors? First, current high school graduation ceremony dates are not changing. The last attendance day for seniors will be extended beyond the graduation ceremony. As of March 13, OSPI has canceled all required state testing for the remainder of the school year. We will have more information on graduation requirements in the future. AP testing dates through the College Board currently remain the same.
I want to volunteer to help students and families. How can I sign up? We have already been overwhelmed with our community’s generosity. If you would like to volunteer to help in some capacity, please email community.relations@evergreenps.org. Please include your contact information, and a description of your service (willing to help serve meals, donate pantry items, volunteer wherever needed, etc).
We know this is an unprecedented closure for our educational system. I want to thank everyone in advance for working together as a community to take care of each other. We will continue to provide frequent updates to you in the days to come.
Thank you,
Mike Merlino, Superintendent
Information provided by Evergreen School District.
