Greetings Peirce!

We had a wonderful week back to school! It was so great to see our classrooms filled with children - learning, laughing and coming together as we re-build our school community. Teachers are working on developing relationships within their classrooms, creating a sense of safety and security along with a love for learning.

For the first time ever our school launched outdoor lunch and while the weather was warm earlier in the week and bees were buzzing, outdoor lunch was a success! CPS and CDC have recommended that schools have students eat outdoors when possible to minimize risk of transmission of COVID 19. We are thankful to have a large campus, allowing us to provide outdoor lunch to all K-8th grade students. We are also thankful that Friends of Peirce purchased and installed a new hand washing station in the lunchroom - making hand washing much easier than in years past! We are in the process of developing an inclement weather eating plan, with the possibility of using tents/outdoor heaters during the cold weather months. In the meantime, if it rains or the weather is not conducive to having lunch outdoors, students will eat in their classroom, with windows open and air purifiers operating.

Shana Tova to our Jewish families and staff as they celebrate Rosh Hashanah this week!

Sincerely,

Lori Zaimi

Principal

• Pay Student Fee
• School Schedules
• Parent, Educator and External Guide for Reopening
  
• Self-Reporting of COVID19 Positive Cases
• Family Handbook
  
• School Year 2021-2022 Calendar
  
• Safety Best Practices

Students can enter their regular entry doors up until 8:15am. Students who arrive after 8:15am should enter through the main entrance, door #1 on Bryn Mawr.

Early Dismissal

If a student needs to leave school before 3:00pm, approved caregivers should come to Door #1, the main entrance on Bryn Mawr and inform the security staff member that they are there to pick up a student. The security staff member will check that the person picking up is approved for pick up, have the caregiver complete an early dismissal log and call for the child to be sent to the main entrance for dismissal.

For children who are vaccinated: To provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination, parents or guardians will bring a copy of their child’s vaccination card to the either the main entrance or for their child to give a copy to their teacher. The school nurse will enter the vaccination dates into the district’s HIPAA-compliant student information system.

*Families can also bring the vaccination card to the main entrance for the school to make a copy for you.

Please notify your child's teacher if you traveled and they will prepare a take home work pack that will either be emailed or available for pickup at the main entrance on Wednesday, September 8th.

Students can also remove their masks outdoors when they are able to maintain at least 3 feet of social distancing and are within their same cohort. Please know that there are few instances when this is applicable, therefore, many students will keep their mask on the duration of the day.

CPS is offering weekly COVID-19 testing for students. Parents/guardians will need to complete the COVID-19 Testing Consent Form that was emailed to all parents and guardians from CPSnoreply@cps.edu on Friday, August 27, 2021 if you want your child tested.

If you did not receive the email from CPS, you can complete the paper version and return to your child's teacher.

Weekly testing will occur at school during the school day. More information to come as we learn more about the testing process.

Click here for the FAQ Guide on Testing

If your child is sick with any COVID-19 Symptoms please do the following:

Call your child's healthcare provider and get the child tested for COVID-19. Your child should stay home while waiting for results. If you are unable to get your child tested, your child must stay home until they are symptom-free without medication for 24 hours.

• Siblings should stay home until a negative test result or alternative diagnosis is received for the symptomatic child.
• If the child is negative student should stay home until...
  
• Illness is over
• Symptoms have steadily improved
• Fever-free for 24hrs without medication
  
• No uncontrollable cough
• No vomiting or diarrhea for 24hrs
  
• If a child is positive
• COVID-19 case must isolate for 10 days from the start of illness; non fully vaccinated household members must Quarantine 14 days (from date of last contact or end of case’s isolation)
• ** CPS Cases should SELF-REPORT to cps.edu/covidresults. Parents or guardians report on behalf of their own children.

Dear CPS parents and students,

As part of our mission to provide students with equitable, inclusive, safe, supportive, and secure learning environments, we have created a district-wide initiative to transform bias-based harm in our schools. Bias-based harm is the harassment or discrimination of protected classes such as race, gender, age, disability, or sexual orientation. In addition to strengthening our non-discrimination policy, this initiative builds pathways for reporting,investigating, and responding to bias-based behaviors, enabling us to provide more support to students facing harassment and discrimination..

If you or one of your peers has experienced bias-based harm, consider reporting it to your school’s administration or the district’s Office of Student Protections and Title IX (OSP). Under our non-discrimination policy, most cases will be handled at the school level, with oversight from the district, for investigation, resolution, and transformation. When bias-based behaviors are severe or pervasive, or where there is a lack of trust, OSP will handle investigations at the district level.

If you need to report bias-based harm or related complaints to OSP, you can do so using one of the following processes:

• Online: Report Form

• Email: civilrights@cps.edu

• Phone: 773-535-4400

• Mail/In Person: 110 N. Paulina St, Chicago, IL 60612

Sincerely,

Office of Student Protections and Title IX

Chicago Public Schools

110 N. Paulina St., Chicago, IL 60612

773-535-4400

osp@cps.edu

Open House is scheduled for Tuesday, September 21st at 5:00pm.

After a great deal of thought and consideration, our Open House will be held virtually. This decision was not made lightly and is a result of our inability to maintain social distancing given the number of students and family members that would be in attendance along with limited staff availability.

Teachers will share more information on how to access their open house along with classroom agenda by September 17th.

• Students in 2nd through 8th grade do not need to line up on their dots in the morning, and can use the entire turf area to wait for the doors to open at 7:58am - please help keep the walkways clear as much as possible by using the turf.
  
• Rain will eventually be here, interrupting morning entry - but we have a plan! On days when it rains or is below 15 degrees, students will still enter through their regular entry door. We have locations throughout the building where staff will be stationed to wait with students between 7:50 and 8:00am.
• While we love family pets, Dogs and Animals in general are not allowed on school grounds - please help us keep our students safe!
• Students are the only ones that will enter the building through the Gregory side of the building, Visitors to the school will enter at door #1. Due to COVID 19, most inquiries will be handled at the door and not in the school building.

Accommodations for School Meetings
Peirce strives to make meetings as accessible as possible. For this reason, we routinely include the following accommodations for meetings:

Virtual Meetings

• Video and chat functions optional for participants
• Live transcript is on (for English)
• YouTube streaming for those who prefer that platform (during LSC Meetings only)
• Spanish-English interpretation
• Closed captioning

• Spanish-English interpretation
• Use of microphones as appropriate
• Printed copies of materials as appropriate

September

14th Friends of Peirce Meeting, 6:30pm

21st Open House, 5:00pm

23rd Local School Council Meeting, 6:00pm

24th Restorative Practices Information Session, 9:00am

School Year 22 Calendar