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Wednesday, July 22, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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A spectacular sight…
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Facing a challenging
school year — together
By Jay Wilkins
Sisters School Board Chair
Local photographer Kris Kristovich caught a fine image of
Comet NEOWISE from Dee Wright Observatory last week.
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s name, address and
phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions
not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a
response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items
are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is 10 a.m. Monday.
To the Editor:
Before you publish a slew of letters in sup-
port of anonymous federal troops in unmarked
vehicles taking prisoner people on the streets
of Portland, you might point out the hypoc-
risy 4 the whole Malhuer occupation of fed-
eral lands in Burns by the Bundy-led group,
including destruction of federal property,
which was supported by the Proud Boy types
who have not uttered a peep about sending
federal troops into Portland to take people off
the streets in order to protect federal property.
John Mapes
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s
s
To the Editor:
I love The Nugget and appreciate your
paper each time it comes out.
I want to send a special <thank you= to
Scout Arnone for her article about her stu-
dent gently handling and releasing what he
believed to be a black widow. (<Scouting the
Northwest: Fear not the false black widow,=
The Nugget, June 8, page 29).
I teach my own sons to respect, and be
kind to, the spiders in our house. My boys
have learned to share their space with spiders
and to recognize their inherent value.
Scout9s story was beautiful to me and her
student wise beyond his years. Her article
made my day.
Cheers!
Owyhee Weikel-Magden
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s
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To the Editor:
One way to re-open schools with social
distancing:
In 1946, my father came back from World
War II, USS Salt Lake City (CA25). He was
born and raised in Iowa. He was stationed in
the Navy on the west coast along with hun-
dreds of thousands of Midwesterners. At the
end of the war he and 100,000 plus other
See LETTERS on page 12
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Monday
Sunday
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
Mostly Sunny
89/53
81/48
84/48
85/52
90/56
93/58
This is going to be a
challenging school year in
an unprecedented environ-
ment. Each school is creat-
ing a <Ready Schools, Safe
Learners= plan that will
deliver on the social, emo-
tional and educational needs
of our students while also
honoring the needs of all the
members of our educational
community.
These plans can mini-
mize and mitigate risk, but
there is no risk-free option.
As with any undertaking
in the district, our success
relies on the support of the
whole community. A robust
plan is important, but the
plan9s ultimate success will
be determined by how much
the community embraces
the plan and how well we
work together.
I am proud to serve on
our school board. However,
I submit this letter only as
a member of our commu-
nity and as a parent. It is a
request of the community
to come together 4 as you
have in the past 4 and help
the district rise to the chal-
lenge ahead.
First, please engage in
the planning process.
Second, assume positive
intent. Every member of our
community wants the best
for our students. Someone9s
health needs, limits, con-
cerns, fears, or reactions
may be different from yours.
Try to remember they9re
trying to do what they think
is best even when you dis-
agree with their actions.
Third, be curious. If you
don9t know what you9d
like to know, seek answers
from the source. In a perfect
world, the district would
communicate everything to
everyone in a timely fashion
with 100 percent clarity and
0 percent ambiguity. This
goal is seldom met. Asking
questions of the source
helps spread truth.
Fourth, tolerate with a
smile. Safety processes and
protocols will be inconve-
nient, unpleasant, and some
may feel unnecessary. Let9s
debate the efficacy of such
protocols in the after-action-
review while setting a proud
example of compliance in
the meantime. Even small
individual sacrifices can
have large positive impacts
on our community.
Finally, stay connected.
My unofficial polling of
parents across the state
leads me to believe our
teachers responded very
admirably to the unplanned
shift to distance learning.
They strived to keep a deep
personal connection with
each student 4 the foun-
dation for any real learning
4 through the computer
screen. Even in the best-case
plans for the coming year,
there will be some safety
requirements that interfere
with the normal connec-
tions that build our fabric.
We9ll have to identify those
gaps and work to close
them.
I believe each building
will create the best possible
plan they can in light of the
circumstances. Sisters is
by no means alone in fac-
ing this challenge; however,
Sisters will find success if
we embrace these plans and
work together.
Each of Sisters schools is crafting a
8Ready Schools, Safe Learners9 plan
to submit to Oregon Department
of Education on August 15.
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Via the district9s surveys:
" bit.ly/2020surveySHS
" bit.ly/2020surveySMS
" bit.ly/2020surveySES
At the Wednesday, July 29
Superintendent9s Coffee:
bit.ly/Superintendent07-29
By email: curtiss.scholl@ssd6.org
By phone: 541-549-8521
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.