Dear Parents & Guardians,

I want to start this week's newsletter with a BIG shout out to all of our parents! Thank you so much for your cooperation, patience and assistance as we navigate the start of the school year with our new normal. We have had a very calm and safe start with our hybrid model. Arrival and dismissal have been running smoothly. Students have been doing an awesome job wearing their masks. It's totally impressive to see their cooperation and respect for each other's safety. One other reminder on this: please check your child's mask size. We are seeing a number of students (especially younger ones) who's masks are not fitting well. A poorly fitting mask with compromise the class's safety. We appreciate your attention to this.

We are prepping to get at-home assignments up and running along with our Wednesday morning meetings. Our district-wide Physical Therapist, TJ Mackay, put together a comprehensive guide for how students should be sitting when working from home. This is very valuable information! Check out his pdf below.

Farm-to-School Lessons start next week for students in Kindergarten and First Grade.

Stay safe, stay well, and take some time to read with your child.

Mark Trifilio

Quote of the Week:

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day,

saying, I will try again tomorrow."

~Mary Anne Radmacher

The Vermont Health Department mandates that we provide our vaccination rates for our school compared to rates among the state. The Orchard Community continues to demonstrate strong, proactive health actions. Check it out ... and isn't this a good segue to say "Don't Forget to Get a Flu Shot!" We all need to do our part to keep our school community healthy.

Student Information Updates - It is imperative for parents to update their student information (especially medical information). The annual update will be completed online this year. Please go to the District web page and drop down Registration.

Click on Registering a Returning student 2020-2021. This is where you will update your student's information for the school year.

If you recently registered a new student or your child is a incoming Kindergartener, you will not need to complete the forms again.

Please contact Allyson or Sue in the Office if you have any questions.

Thank you!

652-7302 or 652-7362

Parent Portal Account - Parents, the school district is moving toward communicating through the Student Portal: Over the summer, the District made Annual Student Update forms available via the PowerSchool Parent Portal. You will need this account when filling out your student’s form for the 2020-2021 school year. The online forms will replace the thick packet of papers that have previously been mailed home to families from the schools each summer.

All returning families should have an account.- you may have received an email from orch_reg@sbschools.net in June informing you that one was created for you, if you did not have a portal account at the time. Please check your email for that important information about your account.

New families should have created accounts when registering your students. If you have any problems please email orch_reg@sbschools.net.

Daily Health Screening - We will be starting a “live” test of our health screening system . This will help us find communication errors and make any necessary corrections. At 6 AM you will receive one text, and one email, or both, depending on your contact information in our system (PowerSchool).

The link in the text or email will contain questions for each of your children. Questions will need to be answered and submitted for each child separately. If you have not answered the questions by 6:30 AM, you will be prompted again to answer the questions.

If you are not able to complete the questions for each of your children by 7 AM, please do so as soon as possible prior to school arrival.

Vermont Department of Health: What families can expect when a student is sick.

If your student experiences any of the following symptoms: fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, runny nose, lack of smell/taste, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, muscle aches, headache, please have your student stay home and contact the school and your student's health care provider to determine next steps before returning to school.

Check out these UVM Videos: Spread Facts, Not COVID-19:

• How do I explain COVID-19 to my child?
• Wearing a mask the right way.
• Challenges with masks.
• Taking care of and cleaning masks.

Kara & Darcy

School Nurses

652-7303