District Administrator's Corner

by Loren Glasbrenner River Valley School District Administrator Within three weeks of today, our state tree, the Sugar Maple, will have sap flowing.  Within six weeks, the earliest red-winged blackbirds will arrive in numbers to the Wisconsin River Valley.  And within eight weeks, the Pasque flower will bloom on the Spring Green Nature Conservancy out on Jones Road.  It is a message from Mother Nature of what is to come.  We need to remain hopeful—nature reminds us of this each year.  As the pandemic continues, the hope of a vaccination is present.  Educators have been placed high on a list of professions to be vaccinated in the next phase of public health.  Michael Thompson, the assistant state superintendent, recently sent the following information, “School districts throughout Wisconsin have been providing education to Wisconsin students using a variety of instructional approaches throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.  Returning to full in-person instruction for students continues to be a goal.  Vaccination of education staff will help decrease the risk of exposure to, and complications from, COVID-19 when providing face-to-face instruction.” This leads the district to a plan of assessing our needs, planning and coordinating with the local public health department, and also communicating with potential vendors of the vaccination. The information from the state also alludes to the fact that supply may be a factor.  Even when the demand is great, the supply may not be available.  Throughout February, this will be interesting work. We remain hopeful that the district will be able to offer vaccines to staff prior to the end of March.  As the vaccine becomes available, we will take advantage of every opportunity to move ahead.  This may be on short notice and may affect face-to-face instruction. Vaccination is an incredible step in the transition back to normalcy, but we need to continue to use the methods already in place to stop the spread.  Everyone still needs to follow the following guidelines: • Quarantine whenever necessary. • Social distance whenever necessary. • Practice good hand hygiene. • Maintain masking practices - even once vaccinated.  This applies to individuals that have received one or two doses of the vaccine. Until the State of Wisconsin communicates that the threshold of vaccination has been reached, we will need to continue to practice the preventative measures that will help us all.  The strategy is to move ahead with guidelines and processes to educate the students of the River Valley School District.  Our processes continue to be posted on our website (https://www.rvschools.org/district/rvcovidupdates.cfm).  We need to hope for a successful end to this incredible public process and work together for the betterment of our community.  In the meantime, I will watch for the buds on the maple trees to swell.  I will listen for the cry from the red-winged blackbirds, and dream of spring.