BENA, MN- The Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School has released an open letter to families regarding the recently announced closure. Plans for distance learning, food delivery and childcare are outlined below.
All families are requested to contact Family Liaison, Petra Rodriguez at 218‐665‐3075 (school number), 218‐398‐5330 (cell) or petra.rodriguez@bugschool.k12.mn.us with answers to the following questions:
1. Do your students have reliable internet access?
2. Would you like a meal delivery service for your children throughout the school closure?
3. Are you employed in the healthcare industry or some other emergency response system and also the parent/guardian of a K‐5 student at Bug O Nay Ge Shig?
Please share with members of the community who may not have internet access.
The letter can be found here.
The full text is as follows:
March 15, 2020
Dear Bug O Nay Ge Shig Families,
It has been an interesting few days as COVID‐19 has become a larger concern throughout our community. It seems the headlines and guidance we receive has been changing by the hour, which has made it hard to stay up to speed. As of this evening, we have plans taking shape, and I wanted to share some important information with our school community.First, like all schools across the state, we will be initiating a temporary closure this week. We will have school Monday, but the closure will start on Tuesday, March 17th and run through at least Friday, March 28th. The decision to remain closed or reopen will be made at a later date, and it will obviously be based on the status of the virus. The safety and health of our students and staff will be the highest priority in any decision we make. The Bug O Nay Ge Shig School facility will be closed to everyone except some of our staff.
Second, as a school we are committed to three things during the span of our closure. We will continue to provide educational services for all of our students through a distance learning program, we will continue to provide a meal option for every one of our students, and we will offer childcare services for children whose parents/guardians are healthcare workers or work within an emergency response system (law enforcement, EMT, fire fighter, etc).
In order to follow through on those commitments, the school staff will use Tuesday and Wednesday as planning days to organize our distance learning system. Unlike many districts, we cannot rely on all of our households to have internet connections, so our distance learning will include learning packets that will be delivered to homes on an intermittent basis.
Students will also have daily access to their teachers via phone and/or email. We will also be organizing our food delivery plans, because we intend to provide two meals per day per student, for families who wish to take advantage of that option.
For a childcare program, we plan to coordinate with LLBO Headstart and Early Childhood programs to offer a childcare program for all students in grades K‐5 whom we can verify are the children of healthcare providers or emergency response programs.
In order to effectively plan these major projects, we need some information from our families. Please consider your response to the following questions:
1. Do your students have reliable internet access?
2. Would you like a meal delivery service for your children throughout the school closure?
3. Are you employed in the healthcare industry or some other emergency response system and also the parent/guardian of a K‐5 student at Bug O Nay Ge Shig?
It is really important that we get responses to these three questions from each of our households. Please call, text or email our Family Liaison, Petra Rodriguez, and share your responses. If you text, email, or leave a voice message please be sure to
identify who you are and which students are yours.Petra can be reached at:
218‐665‐3075 (school number)
218‐398‐5330 (cell)
petra.rodriguez@bugschool.k12.mn.usCOVID‐19 presents unique challenges for our school community, but I am optimistic that our dedicated staff and resilient families can navigate these challenges with patience, creativity, and genuine concern for each other. Please share responses to the questions listed above by 12:00pm (noon) on Tuesday afternoon, and then watch our website for more updates.
Miigwech!
Dan McKeon
Bug O Nay Ge Shig
School Director