SLSD Families:

It’s hard to believe that we finished the first quarter of our school year on Thursday, October 29! Time flies when you are having fun! It has been incredible witnessing the resilience of our in-person and at home learners, as well as the tremendous effort of our teachers, nurses, cooks, secretaries, maintenance team, custodians, bus drivers, aides, and administrators. Without folks stepping up to handle the many challenges presented this school year – we would be hard pressed to live our mission each day. Please see this short Video Message from the Superintendent.

Thank you to the many families who have been flexible as we continue to take on all that 2020 has dealt us! Thank you for being extra vigilant in doing your health checks and to the many, many students and parents who through contact tracing, in an instant, had to adjust lives and schedules to quarantine at home.  We know this hasn’t been easy, and yet our SLSD families, students, and staff have persevered.  It is also important to note, that with each of our positive COVID cases, our students and staff have safely and fully recovered from the COVID-19 virus. 

Amidst all the uncertainty of starting up our school year, we know that second quarter will no doubt be equally challenging. As a school district, we will remain fully transparent with communicating our health alerts. We will need you help, as a community, to remain vigilant while out and about this fall, winter and spring – as we continue to push forward with this school year. Mask up, keep your distance and exercise good hand hygiene each day. The better we do with this – the longer we have the opportunity to stay in school. As cases and hospitalizations in Ohio and Hamilton County continue to rise – it’s important we do our part, as a school district and community, to combat this. The little and big things will make a difference as we rise up yet again, to hit this challenge head on.

As a reminder, SLSD is not tied to the color-coding system that Ohio uses. We monitor our district data daily, in conjunction with the Hamilton Co. Health Department. We also closely monitor the three primary zip codes data that feed our school district. The trends in our community have been worrisome, and it’s important that we follow the masking and distancing piece while out in public. I fully realize how trying this can be at times – but the greater good prevails and keeping our kids in school is important.

While we all like certainties and guarantees within our daily routines, the strength to pull through this school year will come through our trust in each other and our patience to endure changes that will no doubt be challenges for all of our families.  As we work hard to do our part within our schools, we are also asking that as parents we all do our part beyond the school day to be sure that if and when our kids are together, we are being smart about monitoring when and how many friends they are around and when they are in public spaces, making sure we are reminding them to keep wearing their mask and washing their hands.,

Again, thank you for a great first quarter and special thanks to our teachers and staff who have been working in overdrive to figure it out.  It’s not been easy, we know there are and will be bumps along the way, and we are thankful for your continued trust, support and patience as we work, even in this crazy year, to make SLSD a great place for kids.

John C. Hamstra
Superintendent
Southwest Local Schools