Jaguar Journal
Return to Hybrid Learning Edition - January 8, 2021
News from Principal Nicely's Office!
Greetings Unity Braxton Family!
Happy New Year!
Today is the last day that parents may make changes for the third quarter learning preferences for your child. On Wednesday night, Dr Walts proposed continuing a virtual model of learning until April. However, the school board is continuing to discuss this and will be having a special school board meeting on next Tuesday (January 12) to finalize plans. The original plan to return to school on January 26th for 6th graders and February 2nd for 7th and 8th graders will be further delayed due to the rise in Covid cases in our community.
As of now, our return date is April 20 for 6th grades and April 27 for 7th and 8th grades. This provides a two-week window after Spring Break to monitor any community spread after expected travel over the break. It also provides additional time for the Coronavirus vaccines to be more readily available. Although we will no longer be returning to school at the end of the month, we will still use the return to learn preferences for planning.
In this edition of the newsletter, we wanted to focus on some of the plans we have been working on over the last several months in preparation for a gradual return to in-person learning. We hope that this information is helpful, especially if you are unsure whether to select an all-virtual option or a hybrid (partially in-person and partially virtual) option for your student. One thing I want to emphasize to everyone is that in-person learning will look very different compared to previous school years and previous experiences for our students.
While most middle schools have been working together to develop these plans, each school is unique. This means that the focal points have been the same no matter the middle school, each school does have its on set of plans. This is based not only on the floor plan of the building, but also the volume of students who will be returning.
Presently, a little more than 60% of our families have chosen the all-virtual model for their students. But more importantly, regardless of whether you have chosen the all-virtual plan, if your child is a Jaguar who will be returning to school using the hybrid model on April 20, or if the school board determines an alternate date, our staff will continue to work as hard as possible to help students make progress. We take great pride in the work that we are doing, and hope that you and your student feel the creativity in our teachers' lessons, the passion they have for teaching, and the care and affection we have for our students in all that we do.
GO JAGUARS!
Sincerely,
Mike Nicely
Principal
3rd Quarter Survey Closes Today (Friday Jan 8)
Key Dates for the Hybrid Return to Learn Plan
Jan 12 : Special School Board Meeting to discuss Dr. Walts' updated in-person plan
Jan 26/ Feb 2: Previous planned date to return to school (THIS HAS CHANGED TO APRIL)
April 20 : New date for 6th graders to return to in-person (this may change)
April 27 : New date for 7th/8th graders to return to in-person (this may change)
Social Distancing
Many students are used to seating configurations in the classroom where multiple students are seated together at a table, or with desks connected to assist with collaboration between students. This kind of seating arrangement will not be possible using our current 6 foot guidelines. While there will be opportunities for students to work together and discuss together, this will mainly be done on the computer and look very similar to the work students are doing at home virtually.
Arrival and Dismissal
Walkers and car riders will each be asked to arrive within very specific time frames to allow for social distancing. Walkers, car riders and bus riders will each use separate entrances and exits to and from the building. To help prevent students from congregating in groups around the school grounds, students will not be able to arrive earlier than their scheduled time frame, and car riders may not be dropped off early before the building is open to students.
In the afternoon, students will be dismissed in smaller groups: walkers and car riders by grade level, and bus riders by one or two buses at a time. We want to stress that parents who come to pick up their students will be asked to be patient as we release these different groups of students. It will be different, but the end result will be a safer, but much more staggered and slower dismissal than we are all used to.
Specific information regarding arrival and pickup times, entry doors and a map showing car-rider traffic pattern will be provided in our next update!
Breakfast and Lunch
Students will come into the cafeteria by class, and will be seated by class. We will have rolling lunch shifts so that we have a slow and steady group of students arriving to get food, and orderly dismissals from the cafeteria. Students will be permitted to remove their mask while eating, but must return to wearing if after they have finished.
Some Images from Around Our School
UBMS Cafeteria
UBMS Classroom
UBMS Hallway
Class Changes and Hallway Transitions
The best way to picture hallway traffic is to think back to elementary school where students were expected to walk in single-file lines, and were frequently escorted by staff members. There will be markers along the floor to help students keep 6-foot distance from one another.
Because our lockers are literally side-by-side throughout the building, we will not be using them this school year. Students will be asked to bring minimal materials to school, and to carry these with them throughout the school day. Students will be asked to bring their school issued laptops with them to school on in-person days, and to carry them from class to class.
If your student did not request a school laptop computer for virtual learning, one will be issued to them as they return to school. Computers or other supplies will not be able to be left in school between days.
Mask Wearing, Sanitizing and Supervision
Students will be required to have and wear a mask at all times, except for predetermined / prescribed mask breaks, or while students are eating lunch or other materials. Students who refuse to wear their mask consistently while in-person my be required to return to virtual learning. Mask wearing will be required even while seated in desks or behind plexiglass barriers. If a student loses a mask, forgets one at home, or if their mask gets damaged throughout the school day, we will provide a cloth facemask for the student. Mask breaks will be allowed.
There will be multiple hand sanitizing stations throughout the building. This includes throughout our hallways and within each classroom. Each classroom will have a very specific cleaning procedure between classes and also overnight. Custodians will be cleaning frequenty touched areas such as doorknobs, sinks and bottle filling stations throughout the day.
Our staff will be stationed throughout the building to remind students about mask requirements and to remind students about 6-foot distance between themselves and others within the building. In addition to staff, we have many different types of signage posted throughout our building to remind students about safety requirements, directions of one-way hallways, and social distancing expectations.
Health and Safety of Students and Staff
All students and staff who are attending in-person will continue to be asked to review a series of questions each morning before coming to school. These include asking if you have been around another person who has tested positive or if a medical professional has told them they are presumed positive for Covid. Students who show any symptoms consistent with the virus will be removed from class and placed in an isolation room separate from students who are not displaying symptoms. Parents will be called and will be expected to come to school and pick up their child immediately.
Students who are showing any signs of sickness should stay home from school until the student is free from a fever without taking fever-reducing medication for 24 hours, and other symptoms are improving. Parents may always reach out to our school nurse if they have question about sending a student to school.
PWCS has very detailed guidelines for reporting student and staff COVID cases, and a detailed community contact plan in the event any in-person students or staff are a close contact to a person who develops COVID. We also work with the Prince William Health District to provide information that allows medical professionals there to complete contact tracing.
If you, or your student become sick and receive a positive COVID test result, we ask that you please report that to us. We also ask that you report to us if you have been in contact with a person who has received a positive COVID test result, even if you do not have any symptoms.
Making Your Decision
Getting the school ready for students to return has been a large and complicated task. We have a plan for a safe learning environment, but it will also be a very different environment than students are used to.
I personally live in a neighboring school district, where students were previously on a hybrid schedule. Although they have since returned to all-virtual, one of the things that middle and high schools faced when they first reopened were students who chose in-person options, and then when they saw what in-person learning really looked like, they stopped coming in-person and instead chose the virtual model. This caused some additional planning issues for the school that could have been resolved if they had communicated a visual or description of what in-person learning was going to look like.
Unity Braxton Middle School
Please follow us on twitter, facebook and check our school website for important school information!
Email: UBMS-Helpdesk@pwcs.edu
Website: https://unitybraxtonms.pwcs.edu/
Location: 10100 Lomond Drive, Manassas, VA, USA
Phone: (703) 361-3185
Facebook: facebook.com/UnityBraxtonMiddleSchool
Twitter: @unitybraxton