Hope Valley School Weekly Update
January 14, 2022
Absences
Student Devices
Calendar of Events
January 2022
1/17 - No School
1/19 - COVID PCR Screening Event
1/26 - COVID PCR Screening Event
FEBRUARY NEWS
2/2 - PCR Collection Screening Event
2/7 - PTO Meeting is CANCELLED
2/9 - PCR Collection Screening Event
2/9 - Early Release Day (PM PreK attends)
2/16 - PCR Collection Screening Event
2/17 - NAEP Testing for Grade 4 only (information below)
2/21-2/25 – February Break
Updated Attestation Form...IMPORTANT
At the beginning of the year we asked all parents to submit a COVID -19 Health Check one-time sign-off for their child/children in PowerSchool. The attestation form has now been revised due to changes from CDC and RIDOH. We need all families to resubmit the form in PowerSchool based on these revisions.
As a reminder, *Students will not be able to submit a COVID-19 Health Check using their account. Parents, please do not log in using your child’s PowerSchool account as the COVID-19 Health Check will not function. A Parent/guardian will need to log into PowerSchool from a computer at https://ps.chariho.k12.ri.us/public/home.html or https://ps.chariho.k12.ri.us/public/. If you need any assistance please contact the school.
Here are directions on how to do this: PowerSchool Student COVID eFORM instructions updated Jan 2022[2].pdf
New SEL and Learning Resource from CDC's Healthy Schools
How to register for weekly covid testing
I wanted to share how you can register your child to participate in the weekly COVID testing that we conduct at school (typically on Wednesdays). Our testing company (Concentric by Ginkgo) now offers a way to register digitally. Thank you to those who have already consented. Our population of students being tested more than doubled this week. See directions on how to register below:
How do I provide consent for a child?
Please navigate to https://testcenter.concentricbyginkgo.com/minor-consent/ and complete the consent process if you wish to allow your child to participate in testing.
The access code you will need is HVES2321. If you need to provide consent for more than one child, please complete the process for each child.
Attached are additional instructions to guide you through the consent process. Click directly below for the instruction.
Important Reminders
Student Devices - Students in grades 1-4 have devices that MUST go back and forth to and from school everyday. Please ensure your child has his/her charged chromebook on a daily basis.
Snow/DL Day Information - Devices will need to be used if there is a snow day. Please see information regarding DL days for inclement weather days here. The emergency plan used as last resort is linked here as well. In case of a DL day I will be sure to inform parents like I did for the Jan 7th DL day.
Dismissal - Parent pick up for students in K-4 are arriving while prek dismissal is happening. PLEASE be mindful of our pre-school population and do not arrive prior to 3:10. The entire dismissal process for K-4 takes roughly 10-12 min. We have some amazing staff getting our students out quickly and safely.
Peanut & Tree Nut Free School - We continue to be a nut free school which means no peanut butter and no tree nuts including Nutella.
Cold Weather Alert - Please be sure your children are appropriately dressed for recess weather. Please ensure your children are dressed in coats, hats, and gloves. When I make the decisions for outside recess, I consider the air temperature and wind chill. All the Chariho elementary schools use a specific chart/table to determine if it is safe to go outside.
TOYS - Please make sure that your children do not take any toys from home to school. We continue to see an uptick in this and it is causing problems at school.
Identification - PLEASE be sure parents who are picking up children early from school have proper identification with them when they come to the front door. Ms. Donna is not always the one in the office and we must verify who is picking up the children. Thank you for your undivided attention to this request.
Parking at HVES - The parking spots that are numbered in the school lot are for staff ONLY. We are having issues with parents dropping off children in the morning and taking up a staff parking spot which is causing staff members to be late which is becoming problematic. Also, some staff end up getting blocked since we have double parking at the end of the day. If parents need to come to the building, PLEASE either park in front of the school or at Langworthy Field and walk up the stairs to the main front door.
Celebrations Outside of School - Throughout the district, there have been some inquiries regarding passing out birthday invitations. With the concerns with COVID, schools will not be passing out personal invitations or non-district events at this time unless it’s an approved organization event that is required to follow COVID protocols. We are sorry for this inconvenience.
RIDOH Updates Guidance for Schools
Dear Chariho Community,
On 1/7/22, Rhode Island Department of Health issued updated guidelines regarding isolation and quarantine for students and staff who either test positive for Covid-19 or are identified as a close contact of a positive individual. Below are the updated guidelines, which we are putting into effect immediately.
We are hopeful that the updated RIDOH guidance will allow more students to remain in school without disruption. However, the effectiveness of these guidelines is greatly dependent on the willingness of students and families to monitor symptoms and remain home when there are signs of illness. We are asking all families to support us by following these guidelines for the good of their own children as well as the good of the entire school community. Click here to review recent changes.
Based on the updated guidance any student who was designated a school close contact who needed to quarantine as of January 4, 2022, or earlier may return to school on January 10, 2022, as long as they do not have symptoms. Moving forward you will still receive a district message when we have a positive case in the schools that have placed students/staff into quarantine. Families who have students who are designated close contacts will receive school communication via email, call or text.
Here is the link to the CDC Frequently Asked Questions document.
If you would like to see the school data across the state you can use this link and it is located on the tab Cases by Learning Style.
We will be asking all families to resubmit a Self-Attestation form that has the updated information from RIDOH. This will be done via PowerSchool. Principals will message families when the form is ready for distribution. Please reach out to your school administrator if you have any questions and thank you for your continued support of our schools.
Sincerely,
Gina Picard
Superintendent
NAEP Testing for Grade 4
Texting Feature Available
I strongly encourage you to sign up for this texting feature that Chariho has initiated. The purpose of this texting feature is strictly for any emergency notification. In order to participate in this service, you must first opt in by sending a text message of Y or Yes to our school's short code number at 67587. Individuals who DO NOT opt in will NOT receive text messages. You can always opt out at any time by texting STOP to the messages. I recommend signing up to this texting feature right now so you don't forget and miss any notifications. Thank you!
Superintendent's E-Newsletter
A link to past issues of the newsletter can be found here as well:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1grxKQ2ZjeBENC4UTdO1b8SwStqKmFqPL?usp=sharing
We Are Chariho Newsletter
Please find a copy of the January issue of the We Are Chariho newsletter here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PbIxGgZrde_U_dFQpCfNotob6jJXn-Pj/view?usp=sharing
A link to past issues of the newsletter can be found here as well:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1grxKQ2ZjeBENC4UTdO1b8SwStqKmFqPL?usp=sharing
PTO & School Information
Here are the PTO meeting dates for the rest of the year. All parents are welcome to attend any of the PTO meetings. Hope to see you there!
Feb 7th PTO meeting is cancelled.
March 7th at 6:30pm
April 4th at 6:30pm
May 9th at 6:30pm
PTO Members
Co-President: Kristin Clarke > kristinc49@aol.com
Co-President: Leah Sousa > leah.sousa@hotmail.com
Treasurer: Stephanie DaPonte > sdaponte14@gmail.com
Secretary: Chloe Morgan > cmako28@yahoo.com
Communication: Chelsea Vandeveer> chelseabaker101@yahoo.com
School Contact Information
School Principal: Giuseppe Gencarelli – Giuseppe.Gencarelli@chariho.k12.ri.us
School Secretary: Donna Sunderland – Donna.Sunderland@chariho.k12.ri.us
School Webpage: https://hopevalley.chariho.k12.ri.us/
School Contact Info: Phone - 401-539-2321 Fax - 401-633-7099
Social Media Outlets
@CharihoRegional
use #HopeValleyHawks
About Hope Valley Elementary School
The mission of the Hope Valley Elementary School is to work in partnership with our colleagues, students and families. We are committed to creating a learning environment where children are expected to achieve their full potential.
Email: ggen@chariho.k12.ri.us
Website: hopevalley.chariho.k12.ri.us
Location: 15 Thelma Drive, Hope Valley, RI, United States
Phone: 401-539-2321
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mr.Gencarelli/?ref=br_rs
Twitter: @MrG_HVES