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Community News

The SGS Parent Annual Fund Drive is continuing into 2021.  The school's student and faculty SUPERHEROES are hoping your donations will beat last year's goal of 90% parent participation.

In the class competition, the 3rd grade is still in the lead with 92% and only needs one family to be at 100%.  1st grade is a close second at 85% and only needs two families to reach 100%.  Make your contribution today at sgs.org/give.  Contact Ashley Miller for questions or matching gift information.  Go Dragons!

Upper School advisory groups spent time before holiday break decorating the doorways of their teachers.  Then six judges weighed in on their favorites and created some thematic names that went into the awards that were placed outside of each door. 

Congratulations on the winning designs -- Rachel Hildie's door ("How the Grinch Stole Math Class" - 4th place), Judi Morgan's door ("Picture Perfect Winter" - 3rd place), and Cassey Buchman's & Jamie Billings' doors ("Home for the Holidays - Spanish Land" - 2nd place).  The top prize went to David Demand's advisory for their Yeti-themed "Say 'yes' to the Prom" design!  See a Photo Gallery of all the door designs, and thanks to everyone who made the Upper School a festive, colorful, and beautiful place for the holidays!

If your child has COVID-19 symptoms, please refer to the latest Return to School Guidelines from the Spokane Regional Health District.  Students and family members with COVID-19 symptoms or exposure to COVID-19 should not come to school and should immediately alert the COVID-Coordinator, Ryan Peplinski, at ryan.peplinski@sgs.org.  Ryan will work in concert with Spokane Regional Health District to do contact tracing to ensure safety in our community.  SGS will notify families in the event that their child has been in close contact with a COVID-19 positive person, as directed by the SRHD.

This year's SGS Parent Annual Fund Drive will support the students, teachers, staff and coaches who are SUPERHEROES for the amazing efforts they make each day!  Top classes for donations are 3rd grade (77% of families), followed closely by Kindergarten (63%) and 2nd grade (62%).  Make your contribution today at sgs.org/give

A quick reminder that if your employer has a matching gift program, please utilize it as that could potentially double your donation.  Contact Ashley Miller for questions or matching gift information.  Go Dragons!

The Middle School faculty doors are decorated for the holidays.  See a Photo Gallery of the holiday cheer.  Special thanks to Azra Sande for the creative displays!

This fall's SGS Parent Annual Fund Drive will support the students, teachers, staff and coaches who are SUPERHEROES for the amazing efforts they make each day!  A big thanks to the 3rd grade parents, who are in the lead at 62%, with the 1st grade a close second at 54%.  Thank you as well for donations of almost $6,000 on Giving Tuesday that went towards our goal of $175,000 for the Annual Fund.  If you missed Giving Tuesday, you can still donate to the SGS Annual Fund here.

A quick reminder that if your employer has a matching gift program, please utilize it as that could potentially double your donation.  Contact Ashley Miller for questions or matching gift information.  Go Dragons!

Dear SGS Community,
 
Let me start off by thanking everyone for doing everything you can to help lower the risk of spreading COVID-19 inside Saint George's School.  The cooperation from all stakeholders in our contact tracing has been great.  While it is not customary to divulge medical and sometimes personal issues to anyone outside your doctor and family, it has truly made a huge impact up to this point.  I have appreciated how forthright our parents and staff have been to ensure the safety of the community.  I also appreciate the sensitive nature of questions that arise in situations when dealing with close contact protocols or symptoms parents and students may be experiencing.
 
While there has been a change of Health Officers at Spokane Regional Health District, the service to our school has not missed a beat.  The epidemiologists are always there to answer questions and walk us through scenarios no matter what time of day or day of the week.  Saint George's School appreciates their guidance and we will continue to work closely with them throughout the pandemic.  
 
We have two major holidays coming up and recent history has taught us that COVID spikes after each holiday.  We are currently seeing the highest numbers in our country to date.  There is an expectation the number of cases could increase even more after Thanksgiving, which has led to a travel advisory from the Governor.  
 
Governor Inslee’s Travel Advisory for Non-Essential Travel on Friday, Nov. 13:
 
1. Persons arriving in Washington from other states or countries, including returning Washington residents, should practice self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival. These persons should limit their interactions to their immediate household. This recommendation does not apply to individuals who cross state or country borders for essential travel.
 
2. Washingtonians are encouraged to stay home or in their region and avoid non-essential travel to other states or countries. Avoiding travel can reduce the risk of virus transmission and bringing the virus back to Washington. 
• “Non-essential travel” includes travel that is considered tourism or recreational in nature. https://ca.usembassy.gov/travel-restrictions-fact-sheet/ 
• “Essential travel” includes: work and study, critical infrastructure support, economic services and supply chains, health, immediate medical care, and safety and security.
 
With the rising cases of COVID, we know it will be ever more challenging to prevent the virus from being introduced to campus.  If you plan to travel, attend, or host large gatherings with people outside of your immediate household, we would encourage families to follow the Governor’s advisory and self-quarantine for 14 days after last contact with the extended group.  Saint George's School also recognizes some families may choose to return to distance learning for 14 days to mitigate risk from the holiday, regardless of how you spend the holidays.  We are not requiring a mandated 14-day quarantine and expect families to continue to act in everyone’s best interest to keep our students, parents, faculty and staff safe.  This includes keeping students home if they have symptoms and communicating with the school’s administrative team if contact tracing is necessary.  We are making every attempt to avoid a large quarantine situation at the school that will force us to return to full time Distance Learning model.
 
The following restrictions were released by the Governor on Sunday, Nov. 15:
 
K-12 Schools are allowed to continue in-person learning unless directed by the local Regional Health District otherwise.  
 
The guidance on youth and adult sports does not allow for indoor workouts and requires masks for all outdoor activities.  
• It does not specifically list high school sports. However, Saint George's School will put after-school workouts on hold until we get more guidance from the Governor and the WIAA.
 
Saint George's School plans to remain open and offer the hybrid model (both in-person and remote learning) of instruction currently in place after the holidays.  We hope you will partner with us to mitigate as much risk as possible.  Great things are happening at SGS and we would love to keep things moving forward with as few speed bumps as possible.  I hope you have a safe and happy holiday season.
 
Stay Safe,
 
Ryan Peplinski
Saint George's School
COVID Coordinator

December 1st is #GivingTuesday -- a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media.  #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving.  To support SGS, just go to the Online Giving Form on #GivingTuesday! 

If you plan to shop on Amazon for Black Friday or Cyber Monday, be sure to sign up for AmazonSmile and choose Saint George’s School as your charity.  AmazonSmile donates .5% of your eligible purchases back to a charity of choice.  Click on the AmazonSmile Link and see and how you can support Saint George’s School. 

Thank you to everyone who donated to the SGS Fall Food Drive.  We delivered 2,123 lbs. of food to the 2nd Harvest Food Bank -- that's over one ton!  The top donors were the Middle School students with 832 lbs. (12.6 lbs. per in-person student).  The Lower School contributed 512 lbs., while the Upper School was right behind at 503 lbs.  The top grade was 7th with 238 lbs. (14.88 lbs. per in-person student).  In addition to the food donations, an SGS family made an anonymous $5,000 cash donation to 2nd Harvest!  Great job, Dragons!

This fall's SGS Parent Annual Fund Drive will support the students, teachers, staff and coaches who are SUPERHEROES for the amazing efforts they make each day!  Saint George's faculty, in particular, have worked harder than ever to bring subjects to life in the classroom -- both in-person and remotely -- while supporting the health, safety and emotional well-being of our students.  

The 6th grade parents are already at 34% participation.  Last year's Annual Fund Drive had 5 classes at 100% parent participation!  Please Make a Donation in honor of our student, teacher, staff and coaching SUPERHEROES!  And did you know that your gift to SGS on #GivingTuesday (Dec. 1) will count toward the Annual Fund?  All of your donations help keep Saint George's School THRIVING.  Go Dragons!


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