NES WEEKLY UPDATE
SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2020
Latest Information
Dear Families,
Tomorrow, Monday 10/5/20, is the start to our first part of in school instruction for students in Cohort A only. As with everything in this challenging time, we will be working collaboratively to be sure things go as smoothly as possible for everyone. We need to reiterate to all that none of this is ideal. We are in a pandemic and please know that all staff at NES and in all schools are truly doing the best we can. There have been changes that seem to occur almost daily and this has caused the staff to make changes daily. This has not been easy. This is when I continue to ask all for Patience, Grace and Kindness.
Dr. Hallett has shared an email to clearly define Cohort A. It is important that everyone review this as I believe it helps to answer some questions that are being raised in social media. While A starts this week, B & C are slated to start on the 19th and 22nd respectively. I am so hopeful that the health metrics continue to go down as they have for the last two days. This may assist us in bringing more students in sooner.
As we start to bring students back for in person instruction, it will be very necessary for each family to do a check in with their child to review their health everyday. The document has been shared in our mailing and is posted on websites. It is also linked here. Home Screening Protocol Please know that we are working with our tech department to have each family receive an Aspen email and a remind message telling you to do this screening each day. I have done the mask wearing reminder. This is a mandate. It is required for all staff and students.
Once again, the remote instruction will be shifting for students in Cohorts B and C. Our primary focus in all instruction has been about building a community, supporting technology use, sharing safety information to reassure students, reviewing formal foundational instruction (as students have been away from the traditional schooling since March), and attending to any of their social and emotional needs. As of this week, teachers will be sharing times to be connecting with students in cohorts B and C whether individually or in small groups. Students in B and C will be joining in for morning meeting daily. There may be other times where the teacher asks students to sign on line to join for other content instruction with the rest of the class. However, there will be other connections with B and C kids that will not include students in Cohort A. While we are very concerned about too much screen time for our younger learners, it is the means to imparting instruction right now. The teachers are working to balance this screen time with connection time and instructional goals. For students who are remotely learning right now, there will be a list of asynchronous tasks for students to complete independently. This is work that is assigned to children that they may have heard about during their online time, but they must do this independently. This independent work will be added up to equal a school days equivalent of 6.5 hours (with lunch and recess scheduled by you). As we being to get into instructional standards, the teachers will be sharing videos of content teaching. These videos will not be of them live teaching the class in the building. Rather, it will be similar to what was shared in the spring time with students each week. We hope that these will be helpful to you, as the parents and guardians, to see the instruction and be able to refer back to it. As we get students all back in for Cohorts A, B and C, students will be required to do work daily so they are caught up when they come to school for their assigned days and have the work available for any remote days. You will begin to see this over the next couple of weeks.
If your child is having difficulty with their devices, you must log on to the District Website - www.npsk.org. Once there, please go to Departments, then click on Technology in the drop down menu, and you will see the link for the NPS Technology Help Desk. This is where you put in your help requests. The tech department has been wonderful in replacing devices or fixing devices that have difficulties. The turnaround has been very quick.
We will again have a Professional Development Day this week. We will have no school on Wednesday, 10/7/20. While it may be hard for you to understand these days off (they have been front loaded for all staff to support the hybrid, remote, synchronous, and asynchronous planning), these have been in the calendar. There will be no online times for your child to join. They should keep doing their weekly asynchronous (independent) work.
I recognize that this is a lot to manage. This is not easy for any of us, and we understand that for you, too. It is so important to work together to support the students. We need you. You will want to set a schedule you can live with in your homes or the settings where your children will be. You decide when they are completing school work, when they are eating lunch, when they are doing recess, etc. They will need to join their online synchronous times. They will need a place to complete their work. They will need to share their work completed with the teacher. The classroom teachers will be supporting you in helping to clarify these expectations.
Please reach out to your child's teacher should you have questions. Please know that remote learning is required. There will be attendance taken for all students each day. We will be moving to more rigorous work in remote this year compared to this past spring.
Our mantra at NES is patience, grace, and kindness. We are modeling this, practicing this, and providing it to each other regularly. You have shared this with us and we are so grateful. We need you and your partnership, along with your patience, grace, and kindness!
Best,
Kimberly Kubisch, Principal NES
Arrival and Dismissal (Transportation)
We know that arrival and dismissal will be a little awkward at first, we are again asking for your patience. We will be working closely with our School Resource Officers, the NPD, and the NFD to iron out the kinks.
- When we can finally come back into school for in person learning, please keep in mind that the children will be lining up outside the school. There are dots with teacher names on them. We will have line spaces for each class. PreK and second grade will be lining up in front of the main entrance to NES. First Grade will line up by the cafeteria doors and Kindergarten will line up outside the kindergarten door. Teachers will be coming outside to pick up their students and take them into the building safely and maintaining 6 feet distances. It is important for you to know that there will be no before school supervision, and breakfast buddies is also not available at this time. I share this with you because it is important that no student arrive at school much before 7:40. There will be a few adults outside to supervise students. We will be blocking off the Kindergarten circle. No one can drive through there, but the cross campus drive will be open. We will ask that no parents stand with students outside for arrival and dismissal. Our goal is to have students maintain social distances and this will be challenging with additional people standing nearby.
- Dismissal will be done by drive through pick up from Backus Lane. Students will be lined up with the youngest student in their family. Kindergarten will come out the K door, First will come out the Cafe doors, and Second will come out the Front doors.
Bus students will be picked up to go at 2:05.
Walkers and Bus Riders will go with Bus Riders at the back of their line.
Parents who are riding bikes or walking with students should meet them at the front of the school.
Once the buses clear, then teachers will walk students to their dismissal spots. Radios will be calling students to hopefully reduce the parents parking or standing outside of their cars.
Second Graders out to their line spots in the front of the building (if it is raining, they will go out the gym doors).
First Graders will go out the Cafe doors to their line spots.
Kindergarten will go out the Kindergarten doors to their line spots.
- There are very few students who will be riding the school buses. These students have been identified through the surveys, follow up phone calls, etc. There will be labeled seats on the buses for each child and the students will get a matching tag from their classroom teacher. No adults will be allowed on the bus.
Parent/Community Advisory Committee
Dr. Hallett has convened a group of community and NPS parent members to meet weekly to discuss all re-entering information. Should you have any questions or concerns feel free to email them. They will share your ideas with the entire committee. Our next meeting will be held on 10/5. Here is the link for the Frequently Asked Questions document.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nAYvRtpntrrEcIshDwGEqFziyXIZqJZtJhxMsdX7-WE/edit?usp=sharing
Members to Contact
Rocky (Anthony) Fox
Nantucket native, business owner, substitute
Vanessa Rendeiro
NES bilingual parent
Jean Witt
NES/SNAC parent
Micajah (Wiley) Mastriano
NES parent
Food Service
Free and Reduced Lunch Application (English)
Free and Reduced Lunch Application (Spanish)
ABOUT NES
Principal
Kimberly F. Albertson
Assistant Principal
Email: kubischk@npsk.org
Website: www.npsk.org
Location: 30 Surfside Road, Nantucket, MA, USA
Phone: 508 228 7290
Covid - 19 Relief fund through Immigration Resource Center
If you need a helping hand through this difficult time, please click on the link below!!
Traveling to and From Massachusetts
Remember to be mindful of any travel you may have planned for August. You will be required to follow the regulations that went into effect on 8/1. These include:
All visitors and Massachusetts residents returning home — including students returning to campuses this fall — must fill out a “Massachusetts Travel Form” and quarantine for 14 days. People can also text MATraveler to 888-777.
Exemptions include travelers from lower-risk states and people who can show a negative COVID-19 test administered no more than 72 hours prior to arriving in the Bay State. The current low-risk states are New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Hawaii.
People must remain in quarantine until they receive negative test results, except for when going to get their test.
Failure to comply can result in a $500 fine per day.
Exceptions include people passing through or commuting across state lines for work, military personnel, critical infrastructure workers, and people seeking or receiving medical treatment.