March 30, 2020
Dear West Bath Families,
I hope this letter finds you and yours to be well.
I want to start out by sharing our gratitude for our all that families are doing to support your child’s/children’s education during the COVID-19 pandemic. We recognize the hardships you are facing, and the challenge it has been to manage remote student learning along with your own responsibilities at home. By now, most students have accessed at least portions of their remote learning, and we’ve worked to make contact with those who haven’t to begin to get other plans in place. We are hopeful that this week, we all settle into more of a routine as students (and staff) become more comfortable with technology. On our side, we’ll be working on streamlining communications so that the amount of communication is not as overwhelming. At the end of the week, we’ll reach out with a survey to collect your feedback regarding how we can continue to make our remote learning opportunities beneficial, engaging, and with the appropriate level of challenge. Please remember, however, that our first priority is your family’s wellbeing. As always is the case, reach out with any questions or concerns you may have.
Nutrition Services:
We are serving breakfast and lunch to West Bath children under the age of 18, and meals are being delivered by Bath Bus Service. Use this link: https://forms.gle/mod2aoBz3ioPY2Hs8 to sign up to receive three days of breakfast and lunch delivered to you on Mondays and Thursdays.
Additionally, food can be accessed at the following locations:
- Bath Area Family YMCA, 303 Centre Street, Bath
o Mondays-Friday from 11:30-12:30 – Grab and go meals for children under 18
- Midcoast Community Alliance, 4 Old Brunswick Road, Bath
o Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays from 4-5 PM – Grab and go groceries
- Bath Area Food Bank, 907 Middle Street, Bath
o Tuesdays & Thursdays from 12-1 PM – Grab and go meals
o Tuesdays & Thursday from 2-4 PM – Grab and go groceries
We have also been working on securing grant and other funding sources to help with other needs you may have during this time of school closure. If there’s anything that we can do to support you, please contact me, your child’s teacher, or our school counselor, Allison Cosgrove.
School Playground/Grounds:
During the school closure, the school playground and grounds are closed to public use to help to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 in our community. This closure is consistent with recommended social distancing guidelines.
Schoolwide Crew:
In an attempt to keep some of our important traditions and routines in place during the time of closure, we are planning on weekly videos from the staff to the students in lieu of Friday schoolwide crew meetings. These will be posted on our school’s Facebook page, and shared with students through their Google classrooms. In case you missed it, our first video was posted last Friday at this link: https://youtu.be/okKWURkroH4
West Bath Faculty Support:
While our school building and grounds are closed, school is very much open. You can reach any of your child’s/children’s teachers, during the school day by email. Additionally, you can reach me by email at ethompson@westbathschool.org at any time, or by phone at 207.592.8010.
If you have specific inquiries that you would like to direct to particular experts, please refer to the following contact information:
- technology – Patrick Bowdish – pbowdish@westbathschool.org
- school counseling – Allison Cosgrove – acosgrove@westbathschool.org
- student health – Jennifer Mitchell – jmitchell@westbathschool.org
Thank you again for the tremendous home/school collaboration during these unprecedented times. We’ll get through these challenges together, because #WeAreCrew.
With warm regards,
Emily Thompson