Message #2 from The Willingdon Administrative Team

Good afternoon Willingdon families,

We hope that this email finds you and your loved ones well. 

As you may be aware, yesterday, we received new directives from our EMSB Director General regarding new updates from the ministry.  Please see attached link for all details in that memo: 2020-03-29-communique-to-emsb-community.pdf.  Following this important update, the EMSB https://www.emsb.qc.ca/emsb/community/education and the Ministry of Education https://ecoleouverte.ca/en/ launched it's online resources to help students remain engaged in their learning.  We encourage parents and students who are looking to engage in new learning tools during this time to explore these websites at your leisure. Please note that it has been clearly stated by the MEES that these materials/activities are not mandatory and will not be evaluated or counted towards any final grades during the school year.  Teachers have clear directives to be of emotional support to the students as no curriculum will be completed for the year.  As you go through the provided resources, we remind you of what was recommended by Youth Mental Health Canada Sante Publique.jpg.  The entire world is in this together and we will get through it while focusing on what matters most, our emotional, psychological and physical well being. 

In addition, we wanted to take this opportunity to inform you that our entire staff met this morning on the ZOOM platform to better discuss how, as a team, we were going to reach and support our students in the weeks to come.  It was extremely evident how much each and everyone one of us is missing our colleagues, our Willingdon families and most importantly our students.  We assure you that we are all sending each and everyone one of you our love and giant virtual hugs. 

This week, Willingdon staff members will be contacting students to see how they are doing and to suggest that they engage in some of the learning activities available to them.   We are all eager to communicate with our students and to be of support to them on a weekly basis.

Please consider that our teachers and staff, like many of you, are:

• parents - home with their own children - trying to keep them occupied, safe and healthy;

• wives and husbands - with family issues of their own derived by the COVID-19 crisis;

• daughters and sons – some with elderly or sickly parents who need much attention.

Some staff members may:

• have recently suffered the death of someone close to them – either here in Montreal or in another country, like Italy, where many have family and friends;

• have family members, including spouses or adult children, who have lost their job or who have had to close down their business, and are experiencing serious financial difficulties; • have family members working in essential services roles – in hospitals, pharmacies, etc., which may be stressful.

Please be mindful that the COVID-19 crisis has taken a toll on many members of the EMSB community and of our larger society. Your support for what our teachers, professionals and staff are able to provide in the next few weeks, given their own realities, would be much appreciated. 

Moreover, Santé Publique has deemed our schools closed during the provincial shut down period - in effect until April 13th. Therefore, to be able to allow staff or parents to retrieve any items from the school buildings, requires strict health and safety protocols be put in place. The EMSB will work this coming week to put such protocols – as outlined to us by Santé Publique, in place. When in place, Ms. Nicolas will inform their school communities and access will be by appointment only. 

We would like to finally remind you that if any of our families are in a vulnerable state or require emergency assistance of any kind during these difficult times to please contact our school principal, Ms. Nicolas at cnicolas@emsb.qc.ca to inform her of how we can be of help to you and your loved ones. Ms. Nicolas will be working with the school team to ensure rapid and effective assistance.  

Thank you for your continuous support.  We love you, we miss you, ça va bien aller!

Sincerely,

The Willingdon Administrative Team