Greetings Kapowsin families:

I am Dave Cordell, principal of Kapowsin Elementary and while I am always excited for the beginning of a new school year, this year’s excitement is shared with feelings of wonder, curiosity, and hope as we enter a teaching and learning environment that is new to all of us.

 Grade-level schedules for the start of this crazy school year are now available on the school’s web page.  Additionally, the specific schedule for each student’s grade level has been sent out as an email attachment to each family.  The most important aspect of this schedule is the identified live Zoom sessions that will occur each day.  These are live classroom interactions between your student, the teacher and classmates. In the schedule you will also see opportunities for flexibility, identified times for students to work independently and at their own pace on their daily lessons.  Although these are built into the schedule, they allow for flexibility for families who may need to adjust the times that their students are engaged in their work.

 A lot of time and effort has been devoted to the creation of Bethel’s distance-learning schedule.  Input and guidance from Bethel parents and staff were used throughout the schedule creation process.  With that said, I know the schedule is not perfect and it will not meet the needs of all of our families.  There will obstacles that families and teachers will have to problem solve and navigate in order to support student learning.  I will be working closely with the teachers to provide any support that I can.

I encourage you to communicate and work with your student’s teacher to identify potential challenges and seek possible solutions.  If you have questions you can email your student’s teacher directly or contact the school office at 253-800-8691.

You will be hearing from you student’s teacher with information about materials and supplies, information about how and when students should access their live Zoom sessions and opportunities to set up individual times for your student to have access to his/her teacher.  If you have any issues or need support, you can contact your child’s teacher, the main office, or, for technical support, the district’s technology support team at 253-800-6767.

Again, I want to welcome you to the new school year and I look forward to working with you and your students in the virtual world as we start the 2020-21 school year.  Take care and I look forward to seeing you soon.