• September 21: Picture Day (see info below)

Wednesday afternoon is Tyee’s heaviest traffic of the week since all our students dismiss at the same time and there is no Tutorial.

There are significantly more vehicles picking up students than 2 years ago. Our front parking lot/pick-up lane is limited to just 70-75 vehicles for a school of 950 students.  As a result, we must close access to our lot when it is full to ensure the school buses can get in. Cars unable to enter the lot will need to circle the block, or drive to the back entrance to wait.

For better safety, access for buses, and to reduce driver stress, we recommend families try any of the following strategies:

• Plan to arrive after 2:25pm. There will be adult supervision out front while students wait for your arrival.
• Drive to the back lot on the north side of campus. This has a one-way pick up loop and several more parking stalls.
• Legal street parking. Please exercise extreme caution when parking that driveways are not blocked.
• If you can walk home, please meet your student out front to walk home with them.

Please be sure to have conversations with your students this month about personal items they bring to school. In particular,  valuables such as cell phones, personal electronics, cash, or keys.  Young adolescents are the early stages of learning to carry wallets and protect valuables.   The most often reported are missing items are also the most difficult to recover: cell phones and AirPods (wireless earbuds/headphones).  We recommend students leave valuables at home when possible. If students come to school with them, we ask families to teach students to keep items in pockets or hands, and to keep items in plain sight when setting down.

Students are welcome to use our office phones to contact families/guardians.  All BSD lunches are FREE at Tyee this year, students do not need to bring cash for lunch money.  We also have hallway lockers available for any student. This is a recommended place to store valuables during the day. Students interested in a lockers should see Ms. Steinberg in the Main Office.

• Small group/personalized virtual instruction
• Independent learning and practice
• Concurrent Instruction
• Recorded Instruction

Depending on subject matter and classroom activities, teachers will rely on multiple practices to engage students.

In the event a student is quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure, families should notify the attendance office.   The School Nurse and Counselor will confirm the number of days of  quarantine (and return date). The Counselor will inform the Teachers, who will communicate instruction plans to students and families.  While students are not present at school and not currently ill, they are not designated as “absent” and will engage in learning.

Quarantine is a new reality for us, necessary to lessen spread and keep Tyee in operation. Teachers are currently in collaborative work to establish practices to implement if their students is quarantined. Being away from school is disruptive for a student and family, so we will work to ensure they are provided instructional opportunities throughout, and can seamlessly return to the classroom when done.

We are stressing to our educators, students and families the importance of empathy and compassion in light of our new reality. Being on Teams during class doesn’t mean someone has COVID/coronavirus. Being in quarantine could happen to any one of us, millions of students and families are dealing with this, and we need to support one another as a community. Tyee centers its core values on respect: to one’s self, to one another, and to the community. We thank our families and students for their understanding, compassion, patience, and flexibility.

Visitors to school are not required to be vaccinated at this time. However, any visitors coming to the school for a meeting with staff and/or students (and going beyond the lobby area) must check-in via LobbyGuard, the district’s electronic visitor management system, and verify their vaccination status. Visitors must remain masked while indoors, and unvaccinated visitors must maintain 6 feet of physical distancing.

If you are coming by for a short period of time and confined to the lobby area, you will not be required to sign-in via LobbyGuard. Examples of this include delivery personnel, and a parent dropping of an item at the front desk.

If visitors are going into the school, they must check in on arrival. Visitors will provide verification of vaccination (yes or no) and contact information to include phone number and e-mail to assist with any follow-up contact tracing.  School staff will visually verify vaccination status (ex. vaccination card or photo).

At this time while transmission rates are high, we are encouraging video conference calls in lieu of in-person meetings. This is an available option if you do not wish to visit the school or complete vaccine verification.

If your student is bringing their own lunch to school, please be sure they remember to take it with them when they come to school.  If your student forgets their lunch, all cafeteria meals are FREE of charge.

We are unable to support mid-day lunch drop-offs/deliveries from families to students. We are making great effort to minimize contact between families and staff members and students. We ask that families not drop off meals at school during the morning hours.

In the upcoming weeks, BSD will begin offering COVID-19 screening and diagnostic testing at our schools. Doing so will allow us to more rapidly determine infections in our buildings and take a proactive approach to minimizing potential outbreaks. Testing will be optional, but highly encouraged as we work to keep our students, staff and BSD community safe. District administration is currently in the process of finalizing the procedures, permission requirements for testing, and other details, which will be shared as they are available.

More information on diagnostic testing and screening testing can be found on our COVID-19 Testing in Bellevue School District webpage and will be updated as more details become available.

Please contact Heather Edlund, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, at [email protected] if you have any questions about COVID-19 testing in our schools, or visit the district COVID-19 Health and Safety webpage for more information about our current health and safety measures.

The BSD Transportation Department reminds you to please exercise patience during drop-off and pick-up times at our schools and bus routes. Families may be experiencing bus arrival and departure delays at various stops because of the increased volume of drivers to our schools. We are working through the increase in traffic while studying the traffic patterns and adjusting as needed. Your patience during this process is appreciated.

Remember to sign up for the Edulog Parent Portal, which is a bus tracking program to notify parents and students of bus delays.

Join the BSD Transportation team and earn extra cash while continuing your busy day. Apply here.

TYEE PTSA Walk About Program supports our school staff in keeping a positive adult presence before school and during lunches. Here’s the training video for those who are interested in helping out. Volunteers do not need to police kids, just keeping a positive adult presence is a great deterrent to unwanted group behavior. If anything of real concern arises, volunteers simply let the office staff know and they will contact staff to address issues quickly.

All volunteers must complete a background check  and show their vaccination cards upon checking in with the lobbyguard site at the computer in the front office. Sign up HERE !

[email protected] for questions.