From the Executive Director & Senior Pastor

Dear Trinity family,

We know if our God could give us a picture of exactly what the 2020/2021 school year looks like things would seem a lot easier, but that would require no faith on our part. Throughout this pandemic, we lean into Him even more and trust Him for guidance and direction. That being said, Trinity’s leadership has been diligently working on various plans that we can implement regardless of the scenario we face in August.

Our number one priority as we approach the reopening of the Bend region is to provide a safe on-campus environment within the guidelines we are given. Having proper safety measures in place will allow for the protection and comfort of our entire community.

We would like to share that as of this week, classroom sets of Chromebooks and headsets have been ordered for grades 3-5, and classroom sets of iPads and headsets for grades K-2 will be ordered this week. With these additions, every student in grades K-12 will be able to utilize a personal device should we need to learn off-campus in the future. We are also finalizing plans to create common learning platforms for each grade level. This will ensure a more consistent way to communicate, send, and receive assignments (if needed), and enhance the educational experience. Just as we have schedules for every day now, we will have a distance learning schedule for more direct instruction so that we increase the face-to-face time between students and teachers should the need for distance learning be needed at any time in the future.

This past week we sent families their tuition contracts for next year. Thank you to all who have completed them. Through May 26 we had received 140 families out of a possible 181 who had set up their payment plans for next year, representing 243 students of the 296 students registered.

In the middle of May, Mrs. Elliott or Mrs. Pinick reached out to check in on our families. As a result of those conversations, we did hear from a few families (representing 6 students) that they would not be returning for the 2020/2021 school year because of job loss/income, not satisfied with Trinity’s response to online education, or moving out of the area.

You’ll agree that there is much uncertainty in the thinking of how this will all play out but as we plan for staffing for the fall, each family’s best guesstimate as to what they are considering for their children next year will be very helpful. We know that situations can change, and we will be working with families as more information regarding phase 1 and phase 2 of the Governor’s reopening strategy becomes clear.

Teachers, parents, and students will be trained before school begins in August so that we are prepared to offer an even better learning experience next year, on-site or by distance learning.

Thank you for your partnership and support. All of this requires flexibility and adaptability on all of our parts. We will continue to update you in the coming weeks as the reopening of Deschutes County drives our parameters and more information can be shared. Blessings to you and your family as we all together finish up this school year strong over the next few weeks.