Students begin returning to campus

For the first time since March, our campuses echoed with the images and sounds of children laughing and back at school -- it looks wonderful. This week, students whose families chose to return in person at the Little School and Kindergarten, along with 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th grades came back to school. The week of Sept. 14 will bring grades 3, 4, 7 and 8, while the the weeks of Sept. 21 and 28 will see the return of Upper School students. Click here for slideshows of students returning this week.

2 named National Merit Semifinalists Congratulations to Aidan and Eric, who are National Merit Semifinalists. They are among about 16,000 of the more than 1.5 million juniors who took the PSAT last year, who received the semifinalist designation. They will find out in February if they are named National Merit Finalists. Terrific job, guys!

Please self-screen before coming to school We would like to ask you to help us keep our campus safe by performing a self-screening before you bring your children to school. Please check for these symptoms: Fever/chills Cough, congestion, runny nose Shortness of breath Difficulty breathing Fatigue, muscle or body aches New onset of headache or sore throat New loss of taste or smell Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, or diarrhea If your child has any of these symptoms, we ask you to please keep them home. When we perform temperature checks in the morning, we will also ask about these symptoms. Children experiencing any of them will not be allowed to come on campus. Whenever possible, we would like to save you the frustration of traveling to campus, getting turned away for fever or COVID-like symptoms, and having to return home.

Drop off safety tips Now that we have had a few days to return to campus, we would like to offer a few safety requests for parents when dropping off their children: Please use the crosswalk if you're dropping off your children on the eastbound side of Craig. Please stay in your vehicle while in the carpool lane. If you wish to walk your child to the gate, please park in the La Fonda parking lot. Pull up to the curb as close as possible, so passing vehicles can pass by. For your safety and that of children, do not make a U-turn on Craig. Please head west on Craig from McCullough Ave. When dropping off your child, please don't stop on the crosswalk. For safety reasons, please have your child exit on the curb side of your vehicle.

Billy's Blog - From our Head of School

“In the midst of war or crisis, nothing is as clear or as certain as it is seen in hindsight.” Barbara Tuchman  “So, tell me again why we have to learn this?” When students pose this question, we educators need to stop, take a deep breath, and help students see the relevance of the formula we’re explaining, the verb we’re conjugating, or the historical event we’re describing. Embedded in this query lies the opportunity to help young minds discover the connection between whatever we’re studying in class and the greater world.  Read more here

College Visits

Due to the pandemic, college representatives are visiting Keystone virtually. Here are the visits for this week: Mon., Sept 14: American U (DC), 5th Period Franklin University (Switzerland), 7th Period Tues., Sept 15: Boston College (MA), 8-8:30am *before school visit Goucher College (MD), 3rd Period Franklin & Marshall College (PA), 5th Period Embry Riddle University (AZ), 6th Period Sarah Lawrence College (NY), 7th Period Wed., Sept 16: Louisiana State University, 8-8:30am *before school visit University of Richmond (VA), 2nd Period Bryant University (RI), 3rd Period St. John’s College (NM), 6th Period Thurs., Sept 17: Hamilton College (NY), 2nd Period University of Rochester (NY), 6th Period Fri., Sept 18: Kenyon College (OH), 2nd Period Furman University (SC), 3rd Period Skidmore College (NY), 6th Period College visits to Keystone are intended for students only. Links for the visits are accessible through Naviance 15 minutes prior to the visit. Please see Ms. Christiansen for assistance.

Important events and notes

Hot lunches now available Cafeteria procedures may have changed, but hot lunch is still available. Now it's packaged in to-go containers and students eat either in their classrooms or outside. Click here for September's daily menu. Click here for the a la carte menu. For more information, including how to load your account go to: http://www.keystoneschool.org/lunch/

Online merchandise sale on now

New Keystone shirts, shorts, jackets and hats are now available. New this year: Keystone branded face masks! Our merchandise partner, Vivroux Sports in Alamo Heights, is offering its annual online sale. Place your order here: https://kstonefall2020.itemorder.com. The sale ends Sept. 20, so get your items now!

Yearbook has a few questions for students and faculty From the Yearbook Club: This year, the Yearbook Club hopes to portray the diverse and connected community that Keystone has upheld during distance learning. We hope to include testimonials from students, teachers, and faculty regarding distance learning and the virtual community Keystone has created. Answering these questions are completely optional but greatly appreciated!  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeBK7fFsqxXBMl13_oeAzjO0TsEXaXhR9fzeDKjg7pWb7Nf2g/viewform?usp=sf_link

Virtual book fair coming Oct. 5-16 This year's book fair will be virtual, and offer books appropriate for Lower, Middle and Upper School students. We will host a Junior Library Guild virtual book fair from October 5-16. Order online and books will be delivered directly to families. Proceeds from the book sale help fund Keystone's subscription to Junior Library Guild physical books and the book streaming service, jlg Digital. Click here to learn more about the Virtual Book Fair.

Keystone community responding to pandemic Members of the Keystone community are living out the school's pillars of Community Involvement and Responsible Leadership by launching or supporting fundraisers to help organizations involved in the pandemic. We'll include them on the Keystone website at: https://www.keystoneschool.org/covid-19. Click on the "fundraising efforts" tab.

Support Keystone while you shop

If you're getting school supplies or adding to your home office from either Office Max or Office Depot, please mention Keystone. As part of the Give Back to Schools program, the stores give 5% of the purchase price of qualifying school supplies in credits to Keystone for office supplies. Be sure to include the school's ID number when you make your purchase. Keystone's school number is: 70100727.

If you're purchasing items from Amazon, please consider supporting Keystone with your purchases and use AmazonSmile. Just designate Keystone as the beneficiary and a portion of your purchases will go to the school. Make sure to install the Smilematic browser extension. It works with Firefox, Chrome and Safari and automatically redirects users to AmazonSmile when they visit Amazon. Here's the tool: https://couponfollow.com/smilematic.

We want to hear from you! If you have news to share about the students, alumni, faculty or staff at Keystone School, please send it to: etijerina@keystoneschool.org.

Follow Keystone on social media

‌ ‌ ‌ ‌