The St. Michael's Weekly - September 25th, 2020

MESSAGE FROM THE

HEAD OF SCHOOL

Dear St. Michael's Community,

We have now completed our second full week of school and I continue to be impressed by our community's efforts. I feel we are so fortunate to be in school! Let's keep up the good work we've been doing to stay safe and do our part so that we can stay in school, in person.

Beginning next Friday, October 2nd, I'll start hosting my monthly community "coffee" meeting, which will take place on the first Friday of the month throughout the school year, from 8:30 to 9:30 am. These meetings will be an open forum for St. Michael's community members to engage with me around various topics. For now, the meetings will take place via zoom, so after drop off, get to a screen, grab your morning beverage of choice and join me. Here is the zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/94710530564?pwd=MzVwMTByNzMxM0xwYjR1VzRIWStIQT09

Meeting ID: 947 1053 0564

Passcode: 433Pb5

You may have already noticed that our communications coordinator, Hilary Krieger, has not been on campus since the start of school. Hilary has been working from home, helping us to get the year off the ground, but will start her maternity leave beginning next week. Debra Perez and Rachel Hussey will share the main office role while Hilary is out. Please email: [email protected] with any communication for Debra and Rachel. We all wish Hilary the very best and look forward to having her back here at the school in the future.

Have a great weekend!

Walter

STATE OF THE SCHOOL

This year, the state of the school presentation will be pre-recorded and will air beginning on October 28th. To guide us in developing our presentation, we'd like to hear from you in advance. Please share below questions you'd like to have answered during the state of the school.

Note that we will host a follow up event on 11/4, where we'll answer questions that come up after our presentation. Thanks for your support!

SUBMIT QUESTIONS HERE

A PEEK AT OUR WEEK VIDEO

#smsstaysconnected

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO

BLUE HOUSE / WHITE HOUSE

We are excited to announce that St. Michael's will continue our Blue House and White House tradition for this school year. As you may know, upon matriculation at St. Michael's Country Day School, each child/family is placed in either the Blue House or the White House and will have multiple chances throughout the year to earn points for their House. This tradition continues opportunities to foster inclusion and engagement that extends beyond our classrooms and athletic fields and across grade levels.

Your child will receive a t-shirt with their House color along with a vinyl car or water bottle sticker on Monday, September 28th. If you need a different t-shirt size or would like more stickers, please email Jennifer Huntley ([email protected]) or Sandy Merten ([email protected]).

Last year, Blue won the year in the final hour of Field Day...let's see what happens this year! Our first event will be a family event and will be announced in next week's newsletter. Stay tuned!

GO BLUE! GO WHITE!

FLU CLINIC

FLU CLINIC: Wednesday, September 30th from 3:15 - 7 pm,

MUST PRE-REGISTER ONLINE at schoolful.com

Our Flu clinic times have filled up!

Our Flu Clinic has been extended by 1 hour, 60 sign ups are available between 6-7pm

Registration closes at noon the day before the clinic (closes Tuesday the 29th).

***Afterschool sports will be cancelled the day of the Flu clinic.

(No flag football on 9/30/20)

WHERE: Hill House

PARK in the FIELD, use the Rhode Island Ave Entrance

Do not arrive more than 15 minutes prior to your pre-registered schedule time

One way traffic flow → Follow the signs:

To the REGISTRATION TABLE in the Entry to Hill House→

You will be directed to a designated flu shot table→

Waiting area inside if this is the first time you are receiving a flu shot

To your car to wait 10 minutes before leaving IF you have had the flu shot before EXIT the field via Gibbs Ave

For the safety of all, you will be asked to Please...

Wear a mask
Practice 6 foot social distancing
Complete a mandatory verbal symptom screening at registration
Use provided hand sanitizer

***If you need a record of your flu shot, use your phone to photograph the piece of paper after the nurse signs it

Thank you for supporting our whole community by getting your flu shot!

NOTES FROM THE SCHOOL NURSE

Stay tuned for an invitation to download the MyMedBot app. Starting Monday, we will no longer be using Google forms for tracking Daily symptom Screening. When you receive the invitation to download the app please follow the instructions for doing so. Please check your spam folder if you do not receive an email today. It is important to allow notifications when prompted. The app will take over reminder alerts and simplify daily symptom tracking and data storage. Thank you!

CORONAVIRUS

A “probable” case of covid 19 must be tested, or alternatively choose to quarantine for 10 days and monitor for symptoms to resolve. (Siblings are home on quarantine too)

A “PROBABLE” CASE IS:

ONE of these symptoms:

New COUGH

Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

Loss of Taste and/or Smell

TWO of any of the following:

Fever or chills

Muscle or body aches

Headache

Sore throat

Congestion/runny nose

Nausea or vomiting

Diarrhea

This can be difficult to understand, please call if you have questions:

*** IF ONE OF YOUR CHILDREN IS A “PROBABLE” COVID CASE REQUIRING A COVID TEST, OR TESTED FOR COVID DUE TO A DOCTOR'S RECOMMENDATION, NONE OF THE CHILDREN IN THE HOUSEHOLD MAY COME TO SCHOOL UNTIL A NEGATIVE PCR TEST IS CONFIRMED.

If your child has ANY symptoms they should stay home from school. If they do not fall into the “probable” covid category, monitor for resolution of THE symptom and siblings may attend. IF your child at home begins to show increasing symptoms a covid test will need to be obtained and siblings will need to go home until negative PCR test results are received.

Thank you for your continued communication and flexibility as we all learn to navigate our new environment!!!

UPDATES FROM THE OFFICE OF ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT

Financial Assistance 2021-2022

For all families interested in applying for financial assistance for the 2021-2022 school year, the SSS parent portal opens on October 2, 2020.

- For families that already receive financial assistance, you will receive an email from Sandy Merten on October 1 with application details.

- For families that do not receive financial assistance, but are interested in applying, please contact Sandy Merten directly at [email protected].

Records Request: New Students in Grades 1 - 8

If you haven't done so already, please be sure to request official records from your child's previous school using this official Records Release Form.

Financial Assistance Taxes Reminder

If your family is a recipient of financial assistance and hasn't done so already, please be sure to upload your 2019 taxes to SSS as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Sandy Merten, Director of Enrollment Management, at [email protected].

PARENTS ASSOCIATION

The Parents Association had its first meeting of the year yesterday. Moving forward, the meetings will be on the third Thursday of each month, alternating between 8:30 AM and 7 PM. The next meeting will be on Thursday October 15th at 7 PM via Google Meet.Yesterday we discussed:

The current year and activities of the PA
The formation of two committees: One to re-examine the holiday and year end gift approaches and the other to evaluate and propose future events and fundraising efforts
The Halloween Party: The current plan is a re-envisioned trunk or treat in which families stay in their cars, and the kids Trick-Or-Treat down a center aisle in a socially distant way based on school pods. We are working on reviewing guidelines and the safety protocol for comment and distribution.
Parent mixers and events: The PA will plan online meetups for parents to socialize and to help introduce new families to the community, as well as provide the means for class parents to do the same. Details will follow.
A vacant seat on the PA board: If you are interested, please reach out to one of the PA Board members.

We need parents to volunteer for the following efforts: Halloween, The Gift Committee, The Event Committee. Please reach out via email to one of the PA Board members:

Tim Moulton: [email protected]

Alexandra Maracaccio: [email protected]

Whitney Clarke: [email protected]

The meeting can be viewed HERE :

PICTURE DAY IS OCTOBER 2nd!

COVID-19 PROTOCALS

EXTENDED DAY SIGN UP

Our extended day program runs until 5:30 each school day and is offered at no extra charge. You can find more information about ESD in our Reopening Manual at this link: https://rb.gy/t7a21l

Registration for ESD is required for this year and will occur in increments of 2 weeks. You can register using the below links:

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ESD (Oct 5 ^th – Oct 16 ^th⁾

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ESD (Oct 19 ^th – Oct 30 ^th )

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ESD (Nov 2 ^nd – Nov 13 ^th )

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ESD (Nov 16 ^th - Nov 24 ^th )

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ESD (Nov 30 ^th – Dec 11 ^th )

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ESD (Dec 14 ^th – Dec 17 ^th )

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ESD ( Jan 4 ^th – Jan 15 ^th )

Please Note: We ask that you provide at least 24 hours notice and notify Deborah Perez at [email protected] if your after care needs change.

PICK UP/DROP OFF REMINDER

New Front Office is the little window in front of the Early Childhood Main Entrance in the Van Beuren Building. Please email: [email protected] regarding any late drop-offs or early dismissals.

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'20-'21 FAMILY HANDBOOK + DIRECTORY

HANDBOOK AGREEMENT FORM

This years handbook + directory will be a "live" document and will be available with all updates in every weekly. No binders this year, so please let us know if you do not have a printer and we can send a copy home with your child. Please sign the form to acknowledge you have read and understand the policies and procedures for the '20-'21 school year.