Thank you for your patience during this unprecedented and difficult time. We are all adjusting to a new reality. The Board of Directors and myself are prioritizing the health, safety, and security of the OAB staff, our students, and the community. We had to make some very difficult decisions, but we are trying to minimize any hardship on the OAB community while keeping OAB financially healthy to ensure our longevity. With that in mind OAB's response to COVID-19 is as follows:

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• OAB will continue to follow OPS closures. As of March 18, OPS will likely be closed for 6-8 weeks due to the second community spread case of COVID-19 in Omaha. In addition, the city of Omaha has banned all public gatherings of 10 or more through April 30. So, it pains me that this also means our beloved Spring Dance Concert is cancelled. Even if we were able to return to the studio for classes within two weeks, we simply would not have enough time to prepare our dancers to present dances that would showcase their talent.

• Some good news is that to continue serving our students, our teachers are developing training and education materials that can be delivered online for each class. These materials will be delivered weekly through the end of the term that ends on May 2 and beyond if needed. I have asked all instructors to be ready to conduct online learning by Wed. March 25 if not earlier.

• We will continue to pay all staff for regularly scheduled work hours from March 16-28. Because of the rapidly changing nature of our daily lives and the COVID-19 crisis, we are planning to revisit this decision every two weeks.

• I hope we will be able to conduct summer classes and NE Dance Camp this summer as well, however the status of summer training remains uncertain at this time.

• Finally, if your dancer’s teacher is unable to deliver online learning/training materials, we are asking that you consider donating any prepaid tuition to OAB or request that your prepaid tuition be reserved as a credit for future enrollment. Your continued support of OAB allows us to pay OAB staff and our monthly bills, including a mortgage, that are crucial to OAB’s longevity. If your dancer chooses not to participate in online learning, please contact Penny Michonski at 402-346-0469 or academy@oabdance.org.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I will keep you updated as new decisions are made. And please know that everyone at OAB misses all of our dancers! We can't wait to be back in the studio. OAB is a strong community, I know we will all be there for one another through this incredibly difficult time.

Jessica Kennedy