Hello Miner Families,

We are less than ONE WEEK away from starting the new school year! While we know this year will present a number of new and unique challenges, we will approach it with patience, understanding, and grace. As a school community we will work to address hurdles as they arise and, as always, we will use out collective strength to overcome whatever obstacles we face together.

In order to ensure that your student has a smooth start to the school year it is essential that they are fully enrolled no later than this Thursday. Enrolling after Thursday may result in difficulties accessing the virtual learning platforms next week. Our K-5th Grade students begin Virtual Instruction on Monday, August 31st. Our ECE (Pre-K 3 and Pre-K 4) students begin Instruction on Thursday – September 3rd. We want to ensure a smooth start for all of our students so please enroll now! You can email mineresenroll@k12.dc.gov if you need assistance.

This week, on Thursday, we will hold our traditional Meet and Greet events with teachers - albeit virtually. On Thursday from 1pm-2pm teachers will be available in Microsoft Teams to meet families and introduce themselves. They will each run a session from 1pm-1:30pm and then a second session from 1:30pm - 2:00pm. Links to join these meetings can be found here: Teacher Meet and Greet Links We hope you can join us to meet the staff!

During the course of the summer you have gotten a Bears Bulletin weekly. That will now shift to follow our school year communication plan so allow me to let you know what you can expect as far as communications goes from this point forward.

Individual Teacher/Staff Communications:

Emails – Teachers and staff will be checking email each workday and responding to inquiries within 24 hours or the next business day.

Remind App – This year we have subscribed to the Remind App as a way to communicate with families. This will replace the traditional emails sent from Blackboard. Families will be provided with sign up information on Thursday of this week from individual teachers/grade levels. It is completely free for families and lets you choose to receive messages via text, email, or the application to fit your preference.

Newsletters

Families will receive newsletters on Fridays on the following schedule:

1st Friday of the Month – Teacher/Grade Level Newsletter

2nd Friday of the Month – Leadership Team Newsletter

3rd Friday of the Month – Special Subjects Newsletter

4th Friday of the Month – Leadership Team Newsletter

Newsletters will be shared via the Remind App and the school website for families. Class Dojo will not be used this upcoming school year but will remain operational until after Back to School Night to allow families to transition to the Remind App.

Other Engagement Opportunities

Monthly Town Hall Meetings with the Leadership Team – The Leadership Team and I will hold a monthly town hall style meeting for members of the community. Each month we will post and advertise the event and the topic of discussion and encourage families to join us virtually to engage in the discussion as well as questions and answers.

Events – We will continue to work with the PTO and other partners to host school wide virtual events. We will work on communicating those dates/times out each month in the newsletters so that families can schedule to join us whenever possible to ensure we stay connected as a school community.

This year is shaping up to be like any other we have experienced but with the hard work of our dedicated staff and the support of our amazing families I know that we will meet and exceed expectations this year.

As a leadership team, our vision this year is to create a connected community that fosters academically prepared and socially conscious citizens who persevere through challenges to become leaders in a 21stcentury society. As our families, you have always been critical partners but maybe never as much as this year. Please stay connected to us – even though we are distanced – so we can work to support you and your student this year.

As always, we miss you and we miss our students! Tell them hello from us and give them the big hug/high five that we are unable to share at this time!

Respectfully,

Principal Jackson

If you need anything from the school, here are the best contacts to use:

Enrollment: MinerESEnroll@k12.dc.gov

Principal Jackson - bruce.jackson@k12.dc.gov

Ms. Offor - uchenna.offor@k12.dc.gov

Stay safe and let the school know if we can be of any assistance.

Respectfully,

Principal Jackson

Students are required to attend virtual learning each day, Monday through Friday. Student attendance is tracked by logging into Canvas each day.

While logging into Canvas marks the student present, please be reminded that student participation in live sessions and asynchronous work are counted as participation on the students report cards and progress reports.

If you have technology issues logging in each day be sure to email your child's teacher immediatly so we can try and support you.

Miner has begun to hand out technology to families based on when they completed the Technology Survey. Our second shipments of devices is running behind and will not arrive until early next week. If you haven’t been given a date/time for pick-up it is because we are waiting to receive these devices. Once we have them in hand, we will get them to families ASAP!

If you need a device or hot spot for your students and you have not done so already, please email bruce.jackson@k12.dc.gov and uchenna.offor@k12.dc.gov to let us know you need technology support!

For those who havent looked at them, here is a high-level overview of a student schedule for this coming school year by grade level:

Early Childhood (PK3/PK4)

Kindergarten/1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th/5th Grade

Pay online and pick up/delivery is contactless!

If you have questions or need support with enrollment please email MinerESEnroll@k12.dc.gov.

Here is a link to the rosters for next year:

Rosters SY 20-21