November and its traditions of gratitude have arrived just in time. Pausing to give thanks for the everyday things and the people who enhance our daily lives helps us focus on the positive and boost our happiness in a year when we can all use another reason to smile.

As you may know, Windsor Middle School transitioned to off-campus learning this week. Now, three of our four secondary schools have made this transition in the span of a week. While we have not experienced a school outbreak or evidence of school spread thus far, in looking at the data and talking to public health officials, we anticipate that between the Thanksgiving and winter breaks, our secondary schools will experience quarantines to an even larger degree than they have so far.

As you may have heard, our neighbors in District 6 have made the difficult decision to close all schools to in-person learning through the winter holiday due to a significant increase in positive cases among their students and staff and the fact that many of their schools have already been forced to go fully remote.

As you may know, we are seeing an increase in COVID cases in Colorado and here in Weld County. While schools do not appear to be a source of spread here or around the state where students are learning in-person, community spread is affecting our ability to operate.