Welcome Back,

Now that things have returned to normal in our schools, it is time to thank everyone for the way they handled and reacted to the unprecedented interruption of our children's education. We always will put the safety and welfare of our students first, and know parents realize this was the reason for the closures and then the split schedules.

• Parents, thank you for being flexible with your schedules and for ensuring your children were taken care of when school was closed and for making sure they were in school at some very inconvenient times. We realize you had to sacrifice time and money to help make this situation work.
• Teachers, thank you for your willingness to keep the learning going under very difficult circumstances. Valdez has the very best educators and we are very appreciative of your positive attitudes and work ethic.
• Maintenance personnel, YOU ARE THE BOMB! Our schools are now inhabitable because of your tireless efforts and innovative techniques to get the snow removed. Thank you for being a terrific crew and working with the city crews to get our kids back in school.
• City of Valdez employees, you bore the brunt of the organization and snow removal efforts. Thank you for putting a good schedule together and for funding the shovelers and the overtime that was needed for the equipment operators and emergency team members.
• Students, you should be thanked the most for coming to school either too early or having to stay too late and keeping up with your job of learning. The great attitudes that you projected during this time were inspiring for all and made everyone's hard work worth the effort. Valdez is the Snow Capital of the US and is the BEST place to live on Earth because of the wonderful, hardworking citizens that choose to live in this beautiful place!