July 29, 2020

Today the parents and guardians of all WYO students were sent a letter from our Superintendent, Dr. Scoboria. The letter, which can be found HERE, states that WASD will be opening with a hybrid virtual/in-person model on Monday August 31st. Parents have the option to enroll their children in WAVE (Wyomissing Area Virtual Education), WASD's full-virtual program.

Feeling anxious about the upcoming school year? The NY Times Article How to Handle Anxiety Over Back-To-School Decisions provides helpful insight. The author recommends the following:

• First, Decide if you want Full-Virtual or Hybrid

• Accept Uncertainty - "Part of healthy emotional coping during a pandemic is to accept that you will feel conflicted about the decisions that are in front of you."

• Distinguish Between Productive and Unproductive Worries - "Especially in times of uncertainty, it’s [tempting] to believe that if you worry about something for long enough, you can affect the outcome, but this is a [false]."

• Stop Fighting With Your Feelings - "When unproductive worries strike, you don’t have to go down that rabbit hole of trying to disprove them or reassure yourself, you can just let them be."

• Cultivate Compassion - "Nurture a sense of good will toward yourself for facing this hard decision".

• Pay Attention to Grief - "For some parents, their grief and guilt around a lost school year has morphed into obsessive researching or catastrophizing."

• Practice Flexible Thinking - "Psychological flexibility is a skill that is worth honing... One way to nurture flexibility is to reflect on other situations in your life when you’ve been faced with uncertainty and unexpected change. What helped you get through those times? What did you learn about yourself?"

• Focus on Your Values and Find Sources of Meaning - "Five years from now, how would you like to have shown up for your family during the pandemic? How do you want your children to remember this time? Put your energy into what’s working and what’s meaningful to you."

Have fun, stay safe, and see you in the fall!🍉🌻🌴