New Start Date for BSS
Good Afternoon Brilliant Star Family,
Governor Torres and his office recently put out a directive taking aggressive action to keep the CNMI safe and reducing the chance of CHCC being overrun with people in dire medical need. With his 14 day quarantine on any persons coming into the CNMI and a plea that the community practice social distancing, I believe that our current good fortune will be able to continue in the world’s fight to get a handle on the COVID-19 virus spread. The BSS Board and I - using the advice from an COVID-19 educational group which is a collection of all the CNMI’s private schools, college, and PSS representatives - have decided to postpone our start date until April 13th. This not only gives us and the community a full 14 day quarantine, but adds 5 extra days just to be sure. All parties will continue to discuss how we can safely open up the private schools over these next two and a half weeks.
I hope everyone has been able to login to Seesaw and have started their online adventure. Toddler class parents and students particularly, we thank you for your patience. Your classroom will be up and running by the end of the day. BSS staff will continue the online learning until April 13th. With the guidance from the teachers, we will be not only connecting all of our classes again, but will be able to continue each child's education exactly where it left off. Each teacher has online office hours, but they are also available during normal school hours with an appointment.
Tuition is something that is on everyone's mind right now. Please note that tuition for April is still due April 1st, 2020. Brilliant Star, just as most small private non-profit schools, operates solely off of your tuition fees. Teachers have not taken a break, I have not and will not reduce the number of hours they are all working. Many are working more than usual because we are learning how to deliver a high quality Montessori-based education online. Without your tuition payments, there will be no money to pay the BSS staff for the remainder of the school year. With that said, we know that many families have been affected in one way or another by this shutdown. Some have lost jobs, had pay reductions, or had a decrease in business revenue. If this is the case, please reach out to me so we can have an open discussion.
Please also note that the campus is closed until April 13th. As of right now we are all working from home giving Hilbert, our maintenance worker, the chance to complete a sterilizing, deep clean of each classroom. This way we can all return to the most sanitary facilities possible. Liza is able to complete credit card payments over the phone. If you need to pay with a check or cash we can arrange a meeting place and time, just contact Liza or I and we can set it up.
We can and will get through this together.
Best Regards,