Friday, August 12

Early Childhood

9:00am-10:00am: EC students visit classrooms with parents this year. Visit is for Toddlers, 2’s, 3’s, and Pre-K. Infant teachers will be on hand for parents to drop off supplies and see classrooms.

All Kindergarten

10:30am-11:30am: Kindergarten Parents/Students Orientation [Students to wear school uniform]

New Parents/Students Grades 1-4

10:30am-11:30am: All new Beck Lower School (Grades 1-4) Parents/Students Orientation [Students to wear school uniform]

Returning Parents/Students Grades 1-4

1:00pm-2:00pm: Optional for Returning Lower School (Grades 1-4) Parents/Students Classroom Visit and Teacher Introduction [School uniform, optional]

All 5th Grade Parents/Students

12:30pm-1:30pm: All 5thGrade Parents/Students Orientation, Supplies Pick-up, & Decorate Lockers [Students to wear school uniform] **More information will be supplied by your child's teacher. (Supplies pick-up is located on the K8 side, main lobby area, near the main stairwell) Locker dimensions inside are: 12" wide, 16" deep and 36" tall (locker front frames are: 9" wide and 34" tall).

New Parents/Students Grades 6-8

12:30pm-1:30pm: ALL new Middle School Parents/Students Orientation [Students to wear school uniform] **More information will be supplied by your child's teacher.

• Buddies are Back—Look for information about our first Buddies event for Rosh Hashanah!
• Zimriyah is Back—Our traditional, beloved school-wide song festival…Scheduled for the evening of December 15. 
• Weekend Engagements—Both EC and K8 Shabbat dinners; plus Shabbatons,  Havdalah, community service projects, and more.
• Expanded Middle School Judaic Seminar Program—Law and Order; Public Speaking thru the Parsha; Jewish History; Biblical Heroes, and much more.
• Early Childhood “Child-Directed” Learning—More study and art units flow from student interests
• Early Childhood STEM—Expanded loose parts and Makerspace activities.
• Levine Student Leadership Program—Upgrading our student ambassador program for Middle School.
• Levine Rock Band—New this year; 5th Grade and up.
• Levine Partnerships—Partnering with Dallas Arboretum, Temple Emanu-El, and Texas A&M AgriLife Center to support our greenhouse efforts, aquatic ecosystem, rain harvesting, and beautification.  

As we head into this new school year, we would like to emphasize the school-home partnership in all matters pertaining to our students’ safety and wellness. Because so many of our protocols will be returning to pre-pandemic norms, we know our community thrives best when our parents take ownership and responsibility for their children’s health and well-being.

In this spirit, we know that parents will have their own risk tolerance -- we know parents know what is best when it comes to protecting their children. With this in mind, we are very much excited to be returning to a fully accessible and welcoming school that we have always aimed to be.

Morning Carpool and Walk-Ins

• First Week of School—EC & K8 Parents may walk-in to drop off children—we will still be operating carpool.
• EC From Week Two Onward—Regular Carpool 8:40—9:00am, plus Early Care drop-off from 7:45am. EC Parents may walk their children in anytime from 7:45am—8:30am, and please use the crosswalk near the EC entrance.
• K8 From Week Two Onward—Regular Carpool 7:40—7:55am. K8 Parents using the EC crosswalk may walk their children along the sidewalk and up to the Main Entrance, but for K8, we strongly recommend using carpool for safety, security, and start-of-day efficiency.
• Monitor your children each and every morning; do not bring your child to school if they are running a fever or showing cold symptoms.

Friday Morning Shabbats

• Every Friday—both EC and K8: Shabbat programs are open to all families, and all may walk in with their children. K8 begins at 8:05am; while EC begins at 9:15am.
• Masks are optional for all students age 2 and up, and for all teachers, staff, parents, and visitors.

Quarantines for Covid Positive Cases

• Quarantine lengths for Infants/Toddlers contracting the Covid virus: For our youngest children—Infants and Toddlers up to Age Two—a Covid positive result will necessitate a 10 day quarantine*. These children may return earlier with a negative rapid test.
• Quarantine lengths for all children Two & Up, and for all Faculty and Staff—contracting a Covid positive result will necessitate a 5 day quarantine*; plus full resolution of symptoms before returning to school. Upon returning to school, an approved mask** must be worn up through and including day 10 from the date of the positive test, or day 10 counting forward from the onset of symptoms that resulted in a positive Covid test. 

*Our Covid experience over the past two and a half years has taught us that some circumstances may allow for leniency in the quarantine. The administrative team is willing to engage with families about special circumstances related to a child’s infection. The school, however, reserves the right to issue a mandated quarantine.

**Approved Masks

• Should masks be mandated for any student or staff member, cloth masks are no longer be acceptable. Cloth masks have been proven not to be ineffective. Instead, we ask that anyone who must wear a mask to use surgical face masks, or medical-grade surgical masks, or KN94, or KN95, or N95, and all disposable masks of this level of quality. Many of these masks now come in kid sizes, and they should all be available at Walmart, Costco, through Amazon, and several other outlets. 

Testing at School

• The school carries a limited supply of rapid tests. At this juncture we are not planning on testing entire classes or grade levels whenever a positive case emerges, but we will notify parents about any cases in order for parents to monitor their children. We can test individual students showing symptoms here at school, but we will only test with parental permission.

When Kids Show Symptoms at School

• When a student exhibits new onset cold symptoms or shows any concerning Covid-related symptoms, the School Nurse will notify parents that they must pick up their child asap. Receiving a negative rapid test result at school will not be a reason to stay in school.

Going Forward with All Programming

• As we being the school year, we are anticipating that all of our student activities—field trips, overnight trips, and athletic competitions—will not necessitate mask-wearing; however, the school’s stance on being mask-free away from campus is still subject to a host institution’s own policies.
• We are also entering our Fall Sports season with everything back to normal—we will go forward with mask-free practicing and mask-free competition.

Special thanks to our Medical Advisory Team, comprised of five Levine parents who are all medical professionals, and my COVID Team here at school—Yael Twito, Courtney Hensel, Brad Fleury, Anita Lawless, and Nicole Rosenbaum. My Medical Advisory Team has been with me and my school team throughout this process, sharing advice, research, and observations, which have helped us navigate these difficult past two and a half years… and they are still with us! 

Esther Wolf—EC Assistant Director: Esther rejoined Levine late last spring. Esther has been a Jewish educator in the DFW metroplex for many years and was the first recipient of Levine Academy's Waldman Teacher of Excellence Award when she worked at Levine previously. She has a Master’s in Elementary Education from University of North Texas specializing in Early Childhood Education. 

Ritanitra (Nitra) Williams: Nitra will be serving as our Education Technology Specialist. Recently, she has been serving in a private practice capacity at Levine in the area of student support. Nitra earned her undergraduate and Masters degree from Sul Ross University, and also has a Masters in Education with a specialty in Applied Digital Learning from Lamar University. 

Debbie Perlstein: Debbie will be our new EC Librarian. Yes, this is the legendary Mrs. Perlstein who was a master teacher for many years in Levine’s EC and Lower School. She’s also a recipient of the Waldman Teacher Excellence Award. We are so fortunate to have her -- Welcome Back, Mrs. Perlstein! 

Crystal Dyess-Carroll: Crystal is our new Middle School Learning Support Specialist. She has certifications in Special Ed, ESL and ELAR. She has also served for years as a Behavior Intervention Specialist, giving emotional and social support to children while partnering with parents within the context of whole child development. She has multiple degrees from Texas Woman’s University. 

Lauren Withrow-Edgar: Lauren serves in a new role at Levine -- Media Project Specialist. For several years Lauren has been developing social media strategies for all platforms for multiple clients and industries. She has also served as a journalist, photographer and copy editor, and prior to her professional career Lauren served in the United States Marine Corps. 

Julia Geffen Rogers: Julia will be serving as Levine’s Music Teacher and will be one of our Shabbat musical leaders. Julia has an extensive career in early childhood and elementary education -- as a music specialist, as a religious song leader, and as a music therapist for children diagnosed with disabilities. Having served in recent years with Temple Emanu-El, Julia earned her undergraduate degree from Texas Woman’s University and completed her music therapy clinical internship at The Children’s Center for Neurodevelopmental Studies in Glendale, Arizona.