BY: SUPERINTENDENT DAN SKEWIS
To say the 2020-2021 school year has been more different than any of us could have imagined would be a huge understatement. Despite the challenges we have faced since March of last year, I have watched Negaunee Public Schools continue to thrive. This is due to a tremendous commitment to excellence from our staff. In addition to teaching students face to face, our staff has been given the extra responsibility of sanitizing their classrooms and buses, working mask breaks into their daily routines, adjusting to teaching students remotely, and being able to quickly transition between instructional delivery methods . As a district leader, I could not be prouder of how all of our staff members have handled the situation we are in because of the pandemic. Additionally, the families and students of Negaunee deserve recognition for being so flexible. We all had an understanding that this year would be full of unique situations, and it has gone better than we could have hoped for because of everyone’s cooperation.
Over the past month, we had the good fortune of offering the Covid-19 vaccine to all of our staff. With 147 NPS employees now fully vaccinated, our efforts to keep our students in face to face learning for the remainder of the school year have become even stronger. Since Thanksgiving, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the district have been minimal. Even though we know this can change at any time, we have not had to halt face to face learning at any grade level since November 23. This impressive feat can be attributed to the team work from our students and staff by doing their part and following guidelines set before them. I am confident that we will continue to move in a positive direction by continuing to work together.
I want to express how thankful we all are to be a part of this community. The families and students of our district have been wonderful to work with during these unprecedented times and we know it has been challenging. The partnerships between our community, parents, students, and staff are the basis of our excellent school system. We look forward to continued success as we head toward the spring and welcome the warmer weather together. Thank you for everything you are doing to keep our students and schools safe and healthy.