Hello Anglophone West School District Families,
I hope you all had a restful and safe summer. We are excited to welcome our students back to school next week for the 2022/2023 school year! Our teaching staff are back to work, preparing for a positive, safe, meaningful year ahead.
As always, our students’ and staff’s health and safety remain our priority. We will continue communicating and working with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) and the Department of Public Health to monitor Covid-19 and other communicable diseases and adjust our practices as required.
Your efforts to continue with proactive health measures will also make a big difference. Please encourage your children to keep up with frequent hand washing and sanitizing, use proper cough/sneeze etiquette, and monitor for symptoms of illness. Please also remember to keep your children home when they are sick. According to Public Health, children should stay home until they have been fever-free for 24 hours and symptom-free for 48 hours without medication. If your child has symptoms of Covid-19, we encourage you to get them tested. If they have tested positive after becoming symptomatic, please follow Public Health’s advice available online.
If you have further questions about COVID, we encourage you to visit the following Government of New Brunswick sites:
Protecting Yourself and Others
Although there is no mask mandate in our province, and masks are not required in our schools, some students and staff will choose to wear masks based on their level of risk or concern. While families may have different perspectives regarding Covid-19 safety, we ask that everyone be patient, kind, and respectful. We will continue to support our schools so they remain welcoming, supportive environments for everyone.
Please also be reminded that some of our schools are staggering student entry next week. These schools will be communicating with you to ensure you know which days your children will be attending during the week of September 6-9. If you are not contacted with specific instructions, the first day of class will be Tuesday, September 6.
We would also like to remind you to take some time to browse this site and familiarize yourself with new ways to find information. The site is divided into three main sections, found across the top of the page: New Students, Current Students, and About ASD-W. The New Students section is for those looking to find information on getting a child started in ASD-W, and the Current Students section is for those with children already in the system, like yourselves. The About ASD-W section contains information about the district governance, policies, schools and facilities and employment opportunities. Updates will be shared through the News channel, and all events will be posted in the Calendar. Alerts regarding weather, busing and buildings can be accessed by clicking the yellow Alert button found at the top right of the site. There is also a new feature called Switch sites, which will enable you to move from the district website to your child’s school website with just a click.
Finally, our Facilities and Transportation Teams have been working all summer to prepare our buildings and buses for September. Our bus routes have been finalized and are available on our website here.
Throughout the year, Jennifer Read, our Director of Communications, and I will continue communicating important district updates and information by email, phone, text and on our website. Please ensure your contact information is up-to-date with your school.
I would like to wish you all the best for the coming year and thank you for all you do to help keep our schools welcoming, supportive places for our students to learn. I encourage all of our students to jump into the new year with confidence and make it one of the best years yet! We look forward to seeing everyone in person soon.
Sincerely,
David McTimoney, Superintendent, ASD-W