WBCSD looks to move past a year like no other

The 2020-2021 school year has been a year like no other.

Trying to run a school district and educate students in the middle of a global pandemic posed significant challenges. However, with the hard work of all our district staff and school board, we were able to make this a reality. Throughout this entire year, we have for the most part been able to have our students full time and in person in our schools for instruction. Online options were also available for those families who were not comfortable sending their students back at this time.

The coordination, cooperation, and hard work required of the district staff, students, parents, and community to make this year a success has been encouraging. Our staff have been able to educate in their classrooms, while also maintaining a Google classroom for those who are sick or quarantined. Advanced cleaning procedures used throughout the district by our staff have been implemented to keep everyone safe. Our students, parents and community have been understanding and supportive of safety measures we have had to implement to keep everyone safe, along with the additional work they have had to do in helping us educate their students.

Sports and activities have been able to occur with precautions put into place to keep everyone safe. These have been welcomed outlets for our students, since the sports seasons and events were canceled last spring. Our seasons and events up to this point have been able to be completed and students are enjoying all of the opportunities that come from participation. Again, there were a lot of additional challenges in making these happen, but cooperation amongst all allowed them to be successful.

As COVID-19 cases have started to decline in our county and vaccinations become available for those that want them, we are starting to see what we hope is an end to this pandemic. All of us in West Bonner County School District are ready for things to get back to “normal.” As always, we will put students first and try to live up to our vision statement of “Strive for Greatness”

Paul Anselmo is superintendent of the West Bonner County School District.