It is currently the end of June, and this is the normal time where students are typically about one month into summer break by now. Because of the pandemic and move to distance learning in March, it feels like it has been six months since students were on campus. We miss the joy, excitement, and fun they bring into our building each day. I think our teachers would start school next week if we asked them too! I thought I would take a few minutes and provide some updates on what has been happening at Brainerd Baptist School over the last few weeks.. This post is going to be somewhat scattered because there are so many things that are going on in our world currently.

Workers are installing a door in the new school office area.

Student Health - Our COVID-19 Task Force continues to prepare for the return of on-campus learning. We are meeting regularly to work on sensible plans that will keep both our students and teachers safe but will allow for learning to take place in our classrooms on campus. As we announced back in May, we have plans in place and are fully expecting the start of school on August 19. This committee continues to work on plans and will communicate closer to the beginning of August. While I do not think this will be a surprise to any of our parents, we are in the process of updating our enrollment contracts with specific language that addresses liability and COVID-19. Schools and businesses all across the country are currently working on their own versions of this, and we will be sending ours out for you to review in the next couple of weeks.
Construction - Our building is literally being transformed. The school has two different projects happening on the 2nd and ground floors while the church has a significant project of their own happening on the 1st floor. Many of you have seen the video updates were we have chronicled the progress of the construction projects. We are so close to being done with our first phase that I am going to wait to do a video update until it is complete. We expect the Hub space to be completed in the next two weeks. The Hub houses our new library, STEM lab, and Learning Center. This week they finished painting this space. They are installing the flooring and lights (Learning Center and STEM) and this space is almost complete. Our new library furniture is scheduled to be installed next week, and the final piece will be the NanaWall that is being installed the week of July 6th. I know I have said this in our videos, but I can not wait for our students to use this amazing new space. Our three new first grade classrooms and new upper school office are almost complete as well. Over the last couple of weeks, flooring has been installed, a new ceiling grid laid, walls painted, and new cabinets installed. They are finishing up the lighting and installing the ceiling tiles early next week, and this space will then be complete.
Our new school offices that will become our main entry point are proceeding as well. All of the new offices have officially been built as they are finishing the drywall and mudding today. These spaces will be painted next week and the ceiling grid will be installed. This space has been intentionally designed to maximize the use of space and the location will make everyday school life much easier on our parents. We are also excited about our new, expanded student health area. Little did we know when we were laying out this space how different our world would be when our students return to campus. As of now, we expect all of these projects to be completed toward the end of July. We are hopeful to have our library open for students to be able to check out books by the week of July 13.
Class Lists - I am guessing that some of you saw this bullet and didn’t even bother to read the first two points, but skipped right to this just to see what it says. (I am soo tempted to list the names of people here that I believe actually did this!) Teacher letters will be mailed in about two weeks. Home visits (K3 & K4) and parent meetings may look different this year. Our teachers will be contacting you with additional information soon. Also, our new faculty completed an extensive F&F training under the direction of Mrs. Dahlke and Ms. Robinson.
Summer Camp - we are finishing our second week of summer camp. We have almost thirty students enrolled and they are going swimming each week and doing other fun activities. We have room for more students, so if this is something that interests you, contact Mrs. Ateca for more details.
Enrollment - While many of the national associations have talked about declining enrollment because of the uncertainties surrounding COVID-19, we are encouraged that our 1st-5th grade and K4 enrollments are actually ahead of our projections. We are lower than we would like to be in K3 and K5. If you know any families that are looking for a great school, please send them my way!

Summer Update