I want to thank you for another great month! I am extremely proud of our students and their resilience over the past year. While I could focus on a lot of negative things that have happened this past year, but I am focusing on the positive of resilience. This is a lifelong skill that our children have developed over this past year

The students are working hard in the classroom and have done many wonderful things. They have completed the MAPS (Measure of Academic Progress ) assessment. As we wrap up the 3rd marking period, I will be looking at the student's grades, MAPS scores, and attendance to plan Academic Improvement Conferences. . Please continue to stress the importance of having your child read 20 minutes every night. Please continue to practice your child's math facts with them.

Greetings families,

I am writing to remind you that participation in Virtual Wednesdays, Flexible Instructional Days, or any other remote learning day (this includes quarantining) is mandatory. If your child fails to complete their work during this time, it will be marked as an unexcused/unlawful absence. If your child is unable to complete the work, please communicate this with the teacher and send in/email an excuse to the office @ Brooke.McCardell@tus.k12.pa.us for the reason why your child was unable to complete their work. We will then try and treat the day like any other absence. The absence will be marked excused, but the work still needs to be completed (just like we would any other year). If the child does not complete the work within one week of the absence, the child will be given a zero for the assignments that were not completed. Please understand that we are held to the state’s attendance polices whether we are remote or in person. If a child received 3 unexcused/unlawful absences, an Attendance Improvement Conference will be scheduled and at that time recommendations could be made to Children and Youth Services or the Magistrate.

All we ask is that you communicate with the school like you would with any absence. Our goal as a school is to have children in person as much as possible. We hope that as a community, we will be understanding and continue to remind all those working and learning within our buildings to wear their masks appropriately and remain steadfast in our efforts to protect our children, our staff, and our educational environment!

Thank you for your patience and support during this time.

Thank you,

Ryan Kaczmark

It is IMPERATIVE that you please contact the school and notify us if your child is exposed, has symptoms or has a confirmed case of the COVID-19 . Please let us know that if anyone in your house has COVID-19 symptoms. Helping us keep an accurate count will help us ensure that we are bringing back students to a safe environment and allow us to stay in school longer once we return. I am confident if we all do our part this will allow us to return from the virtual learning environment. Please see below for some information to document.

• Date of the exposure
• The date the symptoms started
• Has the child or family member been tested for COVID-19

Students will not be permitted to wear a face shield to school

Per the updated order, TSD staff, students, and visitors are required to wear a face-covering indoors and outdoors. This is a change to the previous expectation due to the recently revised mask order. Also, per the strengthened masking order, “face covering” means covering of the nose and mouth with a material that is secured to the head with ties, straps, or loops over the ears or is wrapped around the lower face. This new order requires face shields be an alternative only as a medical/disability accommodation. This updated order strengthens the initial April 15 order with the following inclusions:

1. Masks are required to be worn indoors and outdoors if you are away from your home.
2. When outdoors, a mask must be worn if you are not able to remain physically distant (at least 6 feet away) from someone not in your household the entire time you are outdoors.
3. When indoors while at work, masks will now be required even if you are physically distant from other individuals. This means that even if you are able to be 6 feet apart, you will need to wear a mask while inside unless you work alone.
4. When indoors at home with individuals not in your household, masks will now be required even if you are physically distant from the individuals not in your household. This means that even if you are able to be 6 feet apart, you will need to wear a mask while inside if with people other than members of your household.
5. This order applies to every indoor facility, including homes, retail establishments, gyms, doctors’ offices, public transportation, and anywhere food is prepared, packaged, or served.
6. The mask order specifically carves out “face shields” from the working definition of “face coverings” and identifies them as “alternatives to face coverings” that can only be used as a medical/disability accommodation.

• Include the child's FIRST AND LAST NAME on any notes sent from home.
• When your child is absent from school, a note stating the reason for the absence must be submitted within 3 days upon their return to school. PLEASE CONSIDER EMAILING ABSENT NOTES TO THE SECRETARY AT brooke.mccardell@tus.k12.pa.us
• Notes should be sent anytime you are planning to pick up your child for an early dismissal.
• No bus passes will be given for a change in transportation unless prearranged through the transportation department.
• Please remember if you are going on an educational trip, please see the state quarantine list linked in this newsletter. Please complete your educational trip request two weeks prior.
• If you are a Rocketedge student please notify the office if you are ill and can not complete your work for the day.

The board voted on Monday, January 11th to extend virtual Wednesdays through March 24th. Students will have online or paper and pencil assignments and tasks to complete. Our students will be taking a device home with them. If you need any assistance connecting the device to your home wifi, there will be instructions posted on the Rocket Edge section of the website, which is located under the “Schools” tab on the TSD district website. Please help your child care for the device and ensure they return to school with the device on Thursday.
Please see the list of cyber Wednesdays below.

March 31st

April 7th

April 14th

April 21st

April 28th

May 5th

May 12th

May 19th

May 25th

Dear Parents/Guardians:

You gave us your children each and every day expecting us to facilitate their personal growth and development. We need, more than ever before…thanks to COVID, to evaluate whether or not this is happening. Is your child growing academically? Is this growth at the same rate as other children his/her age? Is your child proficient on the State standards? Is your child performing at the same level as other children his/her age? Our measures of success will be for each of our students to achieve a “Personal Best” score in every subject area and to have shown growth equal to or above the average growth rate. This year, we will be administering the PSSA Assessments to grades 3,4 and 5 as follows:

English Language Arts (grades 3,4,5) – April 19, 20 and 22, 2021

Math (Grades 3,4,5) – April 26 and 27, 2021

Science (4th Grade) - April 29 and 30, 2021

ROCKETEDGE Students will be assessed on virtual Wednesdays .