A Message from Superintendent Greg Baker

Dear students, staff, families and community,

I hope you all were able to stay warm and safe over the cold weekend with minimal challenges.  I want to share a quick update about our schools and facilities, particularly the District Office, and how it may affect school tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 16.

Our most severe weather-related response this weekend was at our District Office, where a water pipe burst early Saturday morning.

We are temporarily closing the District Office; the water caused extensive damage throughout the building, and we need to give space and time for the building to dry and be assessed for safety.  The plumbing is turned off and there are a lot of unknowns. District Office staff will be working out of our schools that have capacity to house staff in classrooms and office spaces.

The other update is regarding connectivity.

Our network services are currently down, which means phones and internet are not working across our district and schools. 

Our educational technology team is working tirelessly to restore our network services and have them fully functional in time for school. We are asking staff and students to please be aware and prepared that internet may not be up and running by the start of school. We expect it will come back online at some point tomorrow.

We are working on contingency plans, including WiFi hot spots in our school offices and relying more on walkie/talkies and cell phones instead of desk phones that use internet. Thanks in advance for your patience and help!

Here’s a quick visual of water damage in the District Office board room.

I want to acknowledge that we had many staff working this weekend, whether it was supporting the city’s severe weather warming shelter or responding to small and big emergencies throughout the district, including the district office. Thank you to all those who have been helping.

Again, I hope you have been able to stay safe and warm over the last few days. Thankfully, the weather is improving beyond the extreme cold temperatures, but challenging weather is still in the forecast.

As always, I welcome your questions and comments.

Greg Baker

Send reply to: greg.baker@bellinghamschools.org