Dear BASD Community

Welcome to the 2021-2022 school year!

To quote the Grateful Dead, “What a long strange trip it’s been” from March 2020 through summer 2021. Every person in our school community has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of us have lost loved ones. Our children have not experienced “normal” school days in well over a year. Our teachers, principals and support staff shifted into overdrive to support students and families. Parents had to pick up the burden of serving as tutors and teachers at home - while balancing new and interrupted work schedules.

It has been an emotional and physical load for all of us. Yet, we persevered. We collaborated. We connected with each other to support each other. We remembered that compassion and grace in relationships is an antidote to the stress of the pandemic.

We enter this school year with renewed enthusiasm. Our children will be in school five days a week. Students learn best in-person and through interactions with teachers and peers. But, we need to be clear eyed about what lies ahead. The virus has made a resurgence in the past couple of months. We need to continue to implement mitigation strategies to protect our students and staff from the virus when in school. For details, please see our Tiered Mitigation Plan document: BASD’s Tiered Mitigation Plan.

I urge all eligible students, parents, staff and community members to get vaccinated if you have not already. The surest way to continue to move toward and guarantee the in-person education we all desire is stamp out the virus.

Best wishes for a healthy and wonderful school year!

Sincerely,

Joseph J. Roy, Ed.D

Superintendent of Schools