On March 30, Governor Doug Ducey and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman announced an extension of the statewide school closure through the end of the school year. Additionally, this afternoon, the Governor issued an executive order to “Stay home, Stay healthy, Stay connected,” which encourages Arizonans to limit their time away from home, and if they do go out, to ensure social distancing. Our leadership team is continuing to meet regularly and we will share answers based on these announcements.

Parents can find a link for educational resources at wesdschools.org/students. The page will provide educational resources to support ongoing enrichment. These activities are recommended as they can help keep children engaged in learning during school closures. WESD will continue to review options for providing educational resources to families and will provide updated information.

Washington Elementary School District has created a collection of online educational resources and printable activities to support our students’ learning opportunities and enrichment during the closure of our schools. We highly recommend these activities and resources to keep children engaged.  

New digital grade-level materials and printed grade-level copies will continue to be available every Thursday for the length of the school closure. We are working on developing advanced classes, Algebra and Geometry opportunities for our seventh and eighth-grade classrooms, special area, EL and gifted resources for additional grade levels.   

Additionally, our teachers will provide support for your student using the platform, Google Meet, to provide opportunities to interact with your student.  Scheduled times will be set up and shared so that your family can plan to participate either online or by phone.  Teachers will communicate their scheduled times early next week.

The last packet distribution of the school year will take place Thursday, May 14, from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m., at each of our 32 schools. This packet will include lessons through the last day of school, May 19.

During these challenging times, it’s important that our teachers and students stay connected. Teachers will be reaching out to their students to check-in and see how they’re doing. They will use the same communication strategies that they’ve used all year; whether it’s SchoolMessenger, Class Dojo, Remind, email or a phone call. Teachers will also be gathering information about Internet and device availability at home.

There will be no meal service May 25-29. The Glendale Union High School District will be providing meals the week of May 25-29 for families who need it. The WESD Nutrition Services Department begins its Summer Feeding program Monday, June 1. It will include a combination of daily and weekly meal service. Please review the flyer for serving times and locations.

If you checked out a Chromebook for your student, it needs to be returned to the school that you checked it out from on Monday, May 18.

For families with more than one student, Chromebooks were checked out where their oldest child is enrolled. A schedule for returns will be established by each school. Be sure to watch for specific information from the school you borrowed the Chromebook for more information. Please be sure Chromebooks are charged before you return them.

For more information, contact your school principal.

Teachers will return to their classrooms and remove students’ personal belongings from their desks if there are any. These items will be bagged and labeled and the teacher will reach out directly to students who have items to be picked up. Be sure to watch for information from your school or contact your child’s teacher directly if you have additional questions.

Student Belongings Pickup – Monday, May 18

School Health Techs will be calling families who have medication in the Health Office and scheduling time on either Tuesday, May 19, or Wednesday, May 20 to pick it up.

Medication Pickup – Appointment only, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 19 and 20

The health and safety of our students, their families and our staff is one of our top priorities. With schools closed for the remainder of the year and the Governor’s Stay at Home order extended through May 15, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel our traditional eighth grade promotion ceremonies at all K-8 and 7/8 schools. We know that transitioning to high school is an exciting time for our eighth graders. To celebrate this milestone, each school will create a special video to honor their eighth grade students. Families will receive a link to the video presentation, which can be shared with family and friends. Promotion certificates will be mailed to students during the week of May 25.

Additionally, schools will not be conducting special promotion ceremonies for kindergarten or preschool students.

We know there are families interested in receiving refunds for field trips, activities, or other fees for programs that were canceled due to the closure.  We want to be supportive of families with these requests, but this process will take time to manage. 

In some cases, non-refundable fees were paid to the vendor that may not be available to refund. It takes time to receive funds from vendors for trips that are refundable, and this has delayed the ability of the District to issue refunds.  We have received legal guidance that payments for which a tax credit receipt was issued are not refundable.

Due to the complexity of these issues and the potential volume of refund requests where possible, it could take months to complete this process.  Thank you for your patience in this challenging time.

For questions related to field trip refunds, please email WESDAccounting@wesdschools.org.

We are currently working on ways to meet all of our students’ educational needs while the schools are closed.  Things will look different since we cannot hold in-person classes, but we are exploring other options for meeting your child’s needs. The majority of our students with IEPs needs can be met through accommodations to what we will be providing for all children and we will be working with our special education team to find ways to support children who need further modifications.

If you have specific questions regarding your child’s special education needs you can reach out to Dr. Koba via email, Jeanne.koba@wesdschools.org

Your child’s special education provider will be reaching out to you to discuss options for holding your child’s meeting. While schools are closed we will not be having any in-person meetings.

The WESD Art Show at ASU West scheduled for Tuesday, March 24 has been canceled and the two community meetings regarding boundary/grade configuration changes at Desert View, Royal Palm, Maryland, and Ocotillo have been postponed.

All WESD athletics including practices are suspended through the end of the school year. We will continue to update.

 The free registration date of April 1, 2020, for the 4-year-old Early Childhood Enrichment Program, will be rescheduled. We will continue to update.

If your child was enrolled in the KidSpace Spring Break program March 17-20, your account was credited. The credit has been transferred to your home school account.  

We are currently enrolling for KidSpace Summer camp; however, the start date is contingent upon the Governor’s stay at home order. If you would like to register, please scan and email all summer registration forms to: kidspacecontracts@wesdschools.org and pay online through Revtrak.  Forms are available here.  If the start of summer camp is delayed, families will not be billed for weeks that services are unavailable.

Credits on current KidSpace accounts can be used during KidSpace Summer or for next school year.  If you will not be using KidSpace in the future, please contact  kidspacecontracts@wesdschools.org and someone will respond to you regarding your account.

Our facilities managers conducted a deep clean of schools, including disinfecting high touch areas. Additionally, Nutrition Services and Facilities staff will continue increased precautions to ensure the health and safety of students and staff during the preparation and meal delivery program.