Good morning DES families,
Hopefully you have read the return to school in person planning at the elementary we are implementing over the next month. We have had a lot of success with our processes and required procedures allowing us to hold school in person. We do have a plan to get our elementary students in attendance at school for 4 days a week over the next month. As an elementary school, our work is so very vital to the future academic success for our students, and we greatly value the opportunity to ensure we can continue providing more direct instruction in the safest ways for our students, staff and faculty. Safety is still a priority and will continue to impress our plans leading to these important decisions.
Beginning with the start of the second quarter (Oct. 19), all Kindergarten and 1st grade students will attend school in person Monday - Thursday, with Friday as a remote learning day. This plan continues the following week with the addition of our 2nd grade students who are not already attending 4 days a week. With the additional students, our procedures will need to be continually monitored and adjusted to ensure students are safely being checked each morning and have enough time to participate in the breakfast. I have adjusted our exploratory schedule given the additional students in attendance. So during exploratory, our teachers move from class to class instead of students, providing yet another level of safety and security to maintaining in person attendance for all our students. Given the plan is successful, we will continue to bring additional grade levels to in person instruction each week to finalize the return to school plan. If you have questions related to these plans, please contact me.
The teachers and I have been getting questions about parties. We will have fall parties later this month with teachers organizing the party. We, unfortunately, will not be able to have parents in the building or helping with our party events. Teachers may ask for donations of candy and other prepackaged items. We will allow students to wear costumes if you choose to participate in the costume dress up event. Our 3rd and 4th grade students who attend on a Mon/Wed. schedule may wear costumes on Wed., Oct. 28 and will have a party that day. Those who are in attendance on Tu/Th may wear costumes on Thurs., Oct. 29 with a party that day. All the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders may wear costumes on Oct. 29 and will have a fall party on this day. Students do have to wear cloth masks, so do not send students with costume masks or headdresses for this day. Also we will not be able to walk to the nursing homes to visit, but will take pictures and video and share them on our social media accounts.
Finally, as we reach the end of the quarter, please be sure to check your student’s grades. We gave students a list of missing or redo assignments included in the grades for this quarter. We typically have parent-teacher conferences at this time of the year. We appreciate and recognize all the great contact we have already held with our families, but do want to offer this opportunity for those interested. Parent-teacher conferences will be held by phone or video meeting this year for everyone's safety. Watch for additional information from your homeroom teacher in the coming weeks concerning fall party needs and conferences. Just respond to your teacher's email if you would like to provide something or hold a conference with any faculty member.
With Papoose Pride,
Diana Rea, Principal
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