Haƞ Mitakuyapi,
I am writing to update you on the school’s and community’s preparedness in response to the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19). To continue our mission at C̣aƞṡayapi Waḳaƞyeża Owayawa Oṭi, we have a goal of continuing to keep our families and staff healthy and able to learn and work.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are experiencing staff shortages with staff needing to quarantine for several reasons such as having children who are in quarantine or isolation. With this, we are looking to ensure we have our classrooms at high quality care for your child and your family. With our assessment, we will need to look at our operational capacity for classrooms and will be assessing each week. If we do not have adequate staffing in a classroom the following week for a day or the week, we will ensure to notify families the week prior. There may be unforeseen circumstances such as a staff contracting COVID-19 and in these cases, we will give as much notice as possible.
During this time, we will be closing the Taḣca Classroom for the week of January 10th-13th and reopening January 17th.
All updates will be announced through the school’s ChildPlus text system. They are also communicated on the school’s Facebook page at: Lower Sioux Early Head Start and Head Start and on our school’s website LSCWOO.com. Families are asked to look for these updates on these communication methods. The Tribe has declared a State of Emergency and the Federal Nation has declared this a pandemic, please follow the guidance of the CDC to take precaution and mitigate the spread. Any of these precautions or symptoms should be followed for the children, family, staff, and community.
Pidamayayapi,
Vanessa Goodthunder
Director