News & Announcements

The BDS team has been working diligently to serve our students, families, and community. Please know that our teachers, staff and I are all here for you and your students.

The challenges we are facing from the devastation of the CZU fire during an ongoing pandemic has made some aspects about the start of school this year uncertain. Many of us lost our homes and others are anxious to return to evacuated areas. It will take a long time to restore peace and security to our lives. That being said, I am writing to announce that Bonny Doon School will continue to suspend instruction through September 21st.

Please join Mr. Heffner for a Town Hall Community Meeting. This will be an opportunity to provide updates and to be together. To join the community meeting, please use the following link:
https://santacruzcoe-org.zoom.us/j/82997376885?pwd=d3BCcjc5cGoySi9PbVJJUEEwMlZhQT09

I want to share several emotional support resources with you during this time of stress and worry. You may find some a better fit for you than others; there is an affirming redundancy in the documents. I wanted you to receive some different styles of informational literature to consider sharing with your child if and when the time is right for your family.

The fire and evacuations continue to impact our school community, including the Bonny Doon School staff. All school meetings and activities are cancelled through August 31. I will provide an update on school resumption on or before August 31. Please stay safe. A warm hug to all of you and your families, Mike Heffner, Your Superintendent/Principal

Dear Families of Santa Cruz County,
We are deeply saddened by the devastating effects that the Lightning Complex Fire is having on our community, especially in the midst of a pandemic. The education community stands together in unity and solidarity with every person impacted by this tragedy. Please see the full communication attached.

The attached document has many community resources to support families and individuals.

I am writing this message while some staff have received orders for evacuation from their homes because of fires that are spreading in our community. Many students, staff and families are spending time preparing to evacuate as a result of the fires in our immediate area.

Today we learned that on August 17th Santa Cruz County was removed from the California County COVID-19 Monitoring List. If Santa Cruz County is able to remain off the monitoring list for 14 consecutive days, there is a possibility we could consider plans to transition to in-person instruction per California Department of Public Health (CDPH) guidance. However, there are a number of questions and barriers remain at this time before Santa Cruz County Schools could safely and effectively re-open.

I hope you are all safe and comfortable. This weekend’s storm and the heat wave have combined to create power outages and fires in our school community and beyond. All of the staff at Bonny Doon School recognize the challenge this represents. Distance learning will resume tomorrow morning at the scheduled times for those students able to participate. For those families without power/internet, students will not be penalized for missing class meetings and work they were unable to complete due to the power and/or internet outage. We advise those families without internet access to continue reading, journal writing, practicing math facts and site words, low-impact PE, as well as any activities your teacher may have provided. We will provide an update tomorrow morning.