There’s no doubt this past year has been incredibly difficult. The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it once-in-a-lifetime changes and challenges. While the road has been trying, schools and school leaders across the ESD 112 region have embraced the opportunity to rethink education and support for all students.  

As soon as the pandemic began, Southwest Washington school district teams quickly pivoted to remote learning while continuing to serve some students with the greatest needs in-person. They maintained meal services, provided internet hotspots for students, used new educational tools to manage remote learning, acquired PPE, reconfigured classrooms, and gradually returned students to in person (some school districts have had students learning in person in hybrid or in full for months), all while closely following rapidly changing national and state guidelines.  

Our ESD 112 teams rose to the challenge, too, and provided unwavering support to our 30 school districts. The ESD 112 team supported the procurement of PPE for the entire State of Washington, continued to care for children non-stop through the duration of the pandemic, created a website hub for remote learning resources, supported educator professional development for learning management systems, provided school nursing staff and guidance to countless schools, delivered special education and behavioral interventions and support to students year-round, led communications and media relations efforts for the region, and provided vaccination pathways for all people working in K-12 education. I believe our ESD 112 staff are heroes, helping our school districts and our ESD 112 teams with whatever they needed during this trying time. Our team’s resilience and dedication to students and schools across Southwest Washington has been truly incredible.  

For more than 50 years, school districts have counted on ESD 112 and our 300+ programs and services. This year, and the COVID-19 pandemic unequivocally demonstrated our agency’s commitment to supporting school districts of all sizes across the region. Together we have and will continue to achieve amazing things! 

Sincerely,

Tim Merlino
Superintendent, ESD 112