Hearst Family Update
June 20, 2022
Principal's Message
Dear Owl families,
Thanks for a great Field Day on Friday and happy last week of school! There's alway so much happening in the last week and many, many moving parts including 5th grade promotion, end of year celebrations, and our final day of school with the kids. A few notes about the last day of school, Friday, June 24. June 24 is a full day of school for kids. We'll end the day with a community meeting led by our 5th graders, giving them the opportunity to share their goodbyes with their peers and our staff. We'll also be celebrating our departing staff during this meeting. The community meeting is followed by a dance party that ends at 3pm. After the dance party, kids will be dismissed at 3:15pm to you or Flex, if they are in the after school program. Additionally, please know that hard copies of report cards will go home in backpacks on June 24 and any report cards not taken home on June 24 will be mailed home the week of July 5. Grades will be also available in Aspen after June 27.
As we head into our final week of school, we're hopeful that we can continue to keep our community as safe and healthy as possible. If any at time your child tests positive for COVID this week, please remember to immediately email their teacher, attendance@hearstes.org, and me at jennifer.geoffroy@k12.dc.gov so that we can alert close contacts and DCPS/DC Health.
Hope you've all enjoyed the lovely weather this weekend,
Jen
About Us
Email: attendance@hearstes.org
Website: www.hearstes.org
Location: 3950 37th Street Northwest, Washington, DC, United States
Phone: (202) 282-0106
Facebook: facebook.com/hearstes
Twitter: @hearstes
News and Announcements from Hearst
Upcoming Key Dates
- June 20 - Juneteenth Holiday Observed (no school for all)
- June 21 - 5th Grade Promotion, Gym, 10-11am - doors open at 9:45am to families and guests; 5th Grade Promotion Reception 11:00-11:45 (front of school); 5th Grade Party 1:00-3:00 (front of school)
- June 22 - Lock Down Drill
- June 24 - Owl Gear Day; Last Day of School for Students
- June 27 - Last Day of School for Staff
- July 5 - August 5 - DCPS Offers Summer Programming for Students (see Chancellor's 3/7/22 email to families for additional details)
- August 29 - First Day of SY22-23 for K-5
- September 1 & 2 - First Day of SY22-23 for PK
Classes That Should Be Masking
If you have received notification that your child is a close contact, your child must wear a mask for 10 full days from the date of exposure. This means wearing a mask both inside and outside school as well as in the community. We appreciate your support and assistance in reminding kids of their responsibility to keep our community safe.
- Dawkins PK HR - through 6/23
- Halpern 3rd HR - through 6/24
- Burleigh 3rd HR - through 6/24
- Thompson 2nd HR - through 6/24
- Dilley 5th HR - through 6/24
- Clark K HR - through 6/24
- Duvall 4th HR - through 6/24
SY22-23 Information
Our goal is to send out the information we have available about the upcoming school year to all registered families on July 29, one month prior to the start of the SY22-23 school year. In addition to receiving an update like this one, families will receive an invitation from Bloomz, our family communication platform. Each family will be connected to the school wide Hearst Bloomz site, as well as the page for their child(ren)'s homeroom. Be on the lookout for these invitations as this is how your family will receive notice of homeroom assignments for your child(ren).
Please note that we remain unwavering in our dedication to equity and closing opportunity gaps. Therefore, students will be scheduled and placed in homerooms in ways that promote equity, including some grouping based on current academic needs as well as whole group academic opportunities. Due to the complexity of scheduling and class list creation, we will not be taking homeroom requests from families.
Additionally, it's important to note that the vast majority of our staff, including teachers and partner teachers, are on summer break from June 28 until August 19. While you're welcome to reach out to staff before August 19, please know that after June 27, they will likely not respond until they report to work on August 19.
If you have questions the upcoming about the upcoming school year that are not answered in the information you receive on July 29, you're welcome to reach out to me (jennifer.geoffroy@k12.dc.gov), Ms. Johnson (kestaganer.johnson@k12.dc.gov), or Ms. Hinchey (manik.hinchey@k12.d.gov). Please note that Dr. Chen will be on maternity leave this summer and unavailable to respond to emails. Thanks!
Reminder: Goodbye, Farewell...
Ms. Boone
I will not be returning to Hearst next school year, as my husband and I have decided to take some time to travel around the country. Hearst has been such a welcoming community and I have really enjoyed my time here. It has been a privilege to work with Hearst families, students, and colleagues- thank you all!
Ms. Hargrove
Hello Hearsties,
After more than 12 years here at the “Best Little School in the District” I’ve decided to retire. It’s been quite an awesome journey, and I’ve met some wonderful, talented people along the way. I will definitely miss my students as they go on to be great. Of course, I’ll miss you all as well. Many of you know that I am raising one of my granddaughters. I’m excited to say that Jordyn will graduate from high school on June 13th and she turns 18 later this month. I can now spend more time with family and travel where ever and whenever I want! I wish all the best to everyone. Have a GREAT Summer.
Best,
Janice
Ms. Madzongwe
No matter what was happening in my life, just seeing our sweet scholars and hearing "Ms. Madzongwe, I want to tell you something!" from them always put a smile on my face.
I have learned so much from so many kind, hardworking, and patient colleagues. Hearst's greatest stength is its loving and ambitious teachers. I'm proud of the challenges I met head-on and the personal and professional growth I made.
I hope you all remember me as the woman and educator who embodied the meaning of my Shona name - "Be Happy!"
Farai
Mr. McCright
Last August I came to Hearst Elementary as my first retirement adventure. My next retirement adventure begins in July when I house-sit for my oldest child in Philadelphia. Then I'll return to Iowa and ride my bicycle every day. My wife and I will take a cycling trip in 2022 as well. I look forward to spending much more time with my family; I have missed them a lot. Among my favorite Hearst memories will be the hundreds of times the younger elementary students and I laughed together, and the older students begged for specific online games to practice their vocabulary in Spanish. Thank you for welcoming me to your community.
Ms. Potter
It was such a pleasure being a part of the Hearst community this past year. I learned so much from everyone I had the opportunity to work with. I loved working with all of the students in the CES classrooms and learned a lot from each classroom. I also enjoyed getting to know the students and staff in the aftercare program. Thank you to everyone who encouraged me while I was finishing my degree and deciding what my next step would be! Next year I will be a special education teacher at Loiederman Middle School in Silver Spring. I am so grateful for my time here and will miss Hearst next year!
Ms. Solms
Thank you for welcoming me this past year into the Hearst community. I enjoyed partnering with the families of my students and teaching the bright, compassionate, and curious children in my 2nd grade class. It is with mixed emotions that I’ve decided to transfer to the elementary school that my boys attend. As much as I’ve loved my experience at Hearst, this decision makes most sense for my family.
I’m so grateful for all of the relationships I’ve made here at Hearst, all that I have learned from my colleagues and the joy that your kids have brought me this past year in the classroom and on the playground.
I hope to bump into you in the neighborhood and wish you all a summer full of fun and adventure.
Oda Solms
Teacher of the Smart Serpents
Ms. Vandivier
Good morning Hearst family! I want to share with you my exciting news. After 24 years as a teacher and a parent of grown up Hearst Owls, I have decided to retire. I will be spending time with my 4 children and my granddaughter Tessa.
It has been a privilege to be a part of the Hearst community for two and a half decades. Much has changed, including the development of a new campus with a modern library, cafeteria, gym, music and art spaces. But much has stayed the same. The guiding spirit of respecting and teaching the whole child is as strong as ever.
I want to thank every member of the Hearst community, past and present, for allowing me the opportunity of providing library services to you.
It doesn't get much better than dressing up as Cruella de Vil and leading 40 PreK puppies around the neighborhood to celebrate literature and literacy.
Thanks for everything and please stay in touch.
Much love, Ms. V
Reminder: Follow Up From Step Up Meetings
- While the DCPS budget for next year is technically more money than our budget this current year, with rising position costs next year we could not maintain our current staffing model. Thus, changes and cuts had to be made.
- The SY22-23 Hearst budget provides for 3 homeroom teachers in K and 2nd grades. PK and 1st will have 2 homerooms given the smaller number of students in those grades. 3rd, 4th, and 5th will continue to have 2 homeroom teachers per grade.
- There will be dedicated partner teachers supporting each of the PK, K, and 1st grade classes and one partner teacher assigned to each of our 2nd-5th grades. Additional adults (full-time reading and math specialists, ELL and Special Education teachers, etc.) will also continue to support focused academic and SEL instruction for students. This means that kids will receive targeted instruction consistently across the days and weeks with an adult, allowing us to target that SEL and academic instruction to specific student needs.
- We hope to partner with Urban Teacher Residents for at least 2 of the partner teacher roles so as to also build a pipeline of potential Hearst teachers for the future.
- We are cutting World Language (Spanish) from the Hearst budget in SY22-23. DCPS only funds 3 special subject/Inner Core classes along with library. For several years, we've used funding for a 4th ELL teacher to hire a dual certified ELL and Spanish teacher who predominantly teaches Spanish while also working with a small number of ELL students. Unfortunately, DCPS cut the funding for the 4th ELL teacher while simultaneously eliminating the requirement that elementary schools required world language exposure for students. These issues (plus Senor McCright's re-retirement) all were factors in the difficult decision to cut Spanish. Know that we continue to have a goal of exposing kids to world languages next year through a variety of blended learning programs (which may provide additional language exposure for kids above and beyond Spanish), after school enrichment classes, and potential partnerships with community organizations. Know also that Hearst is not the only school in the Deal feeder pattern that is cutting their World Language position for next year as many of our schools had to face similar budget cuts for the upcoming year.
- Health/PE is moving to a 1.5 Full Time Employee (FTE) position from a 1.0 FTE position in order to provide our students with additional opportunities for movement across the days and meet the DCPS required 90 minutes per week of PE. What this means for your kids is that rather than having Spanish next year, all kids will have Health/PE two times per week with one of those classes replacing the time they would have gone to Spanish.
- Non-personnel spending (spending on materials and supplies) will predominantly come from PTA, allowing us to spend the majority of our DCPS budget for personnel.
Reminder: Enrolling for School Year 2022-2023
Reminder: Health Certificates and Medication Orders
Reminder: Asymptomatic Student Testing on Wednesdays
Starting the week of 11/8, our asymptomatic testing time will move to 9:45am on Wednesday. During a typical week, we will pull test a random sample of approximately 25% of students who have not opted out of testing. Knowing that some students in this group will not be able to produce a sample or their saliva sample will be rejected, this will allow us to ensure we are hitting the goal of testing 20% of our students each week. Know that we will attempt to test at least one student from each homeroom each week. Here are a few things to know about asymptomatic testing :
- Teachers will be provided with names of students to be tested and those students will be escorted by staff to our testing location.
- Because the test is a saliva test, students identified for testing cannot eat, drink, chew gum, or have on chapstick an hour before their testing window.
Families of kids who are tested will receive notification that their child was tested and information on how to access the online portal where they will be able to view results. Your child may indicate that they were pulled for testing but they were not given a letter with online portal log in information. If this is the case, this means that your child did not produce enough saliva to fill the test tube. Please reach out to Ms. Johnson (kestaganer.johnson@k12.dc.gov) with any questions and/or if you would like to opt your child out of asymptomatic testing. If you wish to opt-out your student from receiving any COVID-19 test at school, you must complete the available at osse.dc.gov/page/school-based-covid-19-testing and email it to the school at kestaganer.johnson@k12.dc.gov.
The website to access results is: https://shieldt3k12.pointnclick.com/ and our Agency Code is: HearstES. As a parent, you should be able to enable notifications be sent to you if a testing result is available for your child.
We believe that the email you use to register on site has to be the primary contact's email used to enroll your child. You will also have to wait at least 12 hours until after the student was tested for the agency code to work.
News and Announcements from DCPS
Reminder: Clearance Update for End-Year-Field Trip and Event Volunteers
For the remainder of the school year, volunteers serving at a supervised, off-campus one-day event (e.g. field trip) will be permitted to do so after DCPS receives their fingerprint-based background check clearance. Supervised field trip volunteers do not need to wait for their CPR/SOR check to clear if they are under the supervision of DCPS staff or other fully cleared volunteers. As a reminder, one-time volunteers or visitors at supervised, on-campus events are not required to complete the DCPS background check process.