SEPTEMBER 10
#WilburInspired
QUARANTINE Q AND A
- The CDC is the one that makes the call when we have to quarantine a whole bus or classroom. We will try to avoid this whenever possible, of course, but unfortunately, they don't let me argue with them. ;)
- The length of quarantine (usually 10 calendar, not school days) and return date are decided by the Department of Public Heath and CDC.
- Your child will not be moved to Colonial's Virtual Program when quarantined. The Colonial Virtual Program is a year long program, not a response to COVID-19, and Wilbur's staff is 100% in person this year so no zoom classes are occurring. Instead, our staff is creating ELA and Math assignments that can be done to continue your child's learning. These will be emailed to the parent after notification of a quarantine. No assignments done in the face to face classroom will be held against a child's grade when they are in quarantine and we will catch them up with the content when they return.
- Except in the cases of full bus quarantines, students must have a clearance letter from DPH. You can get this by putting in a request here: DE COVID-19 CLEARANCE LETTER REQUEST. Clearance letters can be emailed to Nurse P at laura.prucyk@colonial.k12.de.us.
IMPORTANT ARRIVAL AND DISMISSAL UPDATES
We are able to start our bus dismissal as soon as we have at least 19 of our 22 buses present at the school. Because of the bus driver shortage, our drivers are doing triple runs in order to drive high school, middle school, and elementary school students. If there are any issues on any of the earlier runs, it slows our dismissal down. I know this has made it hard for many families to predict when their child will get home on the bus. What we are starting to do is to put out a text as soon as the bulk of our buses are leaving the lot. We then list any buses that may be a few minutes later leaving due to delays. I'm hoping that this increase in communication helps and, am really hoping that within a short period of time, we will be able to have buses leaving Wilbur close to our 3:45 target time.
CONSISTENT DISMISSAL FOR ALL:
If your child is a bus rider, they need to be a bus rider every day. The only time you would use the PikMyKid app to change dismissal is for an emergency. This is not something that can be done multiple times a week or even several times a month. Since we are dealing with almost 1200 students, changes like this can stretch out dismissal for all of our families. Like I mentioned last week, from this point on, if a parent arrives to pick up a bus student and this change has not been made in the system by 3:00 p.m., even if you sit in the line and get 'checked in' by my staff in the car line, you will need to pick your child up at the bus stop. We will not hold up the car line and bus dismissal by pulling students off buses when we had no advance notice.
PLEASE TALK TO GRANDPARENTS/OTHERS THAT PICK UP ABOUT THIS ISSUE: We are still getting many people that are giving staff a hard time about being asked to pull all the way up to the farthest area along the sidewalks before stopping. The reason that we have to do this is that we have several hundred cars dropping off and picking up every day. Someone stopping closer to the door where their child may end up going in instead of pulling all the way up eliminates the chance for us to pull up as many as 20 or 30 cars. This stretches out the entire process longer than needed. Please understand that we have staff along the sidewalk who will help your child if needed and pull all the way up. I thank you in advance for your cooperation in helping us have an efficient drop off and pick up.
ARRIVAL "GETTING THE STUFF"
During the time that you are stopped and waiting in our car line, it is the perfect time to get your child's bookbag ready, help them with their mask, get stuff out of the trunk, and get your child unbuckled. Doing this in line instead of once you pull up to drop off will help us to get arrival done by our target time of 9:00 a.m. so we can get instruction started on time......
DISMISSAL - BUCKLING UP: Again, in order to have an efficient dismissal, I must ask that you pull into a parking spot in the lot if your child needs help buckling up. The quicker we all get in cars and pull away, the better it will be!
RESPECTING PROPERTY
The owners of the ballfield are graciously letting us use their property for our car line. PLEASE make sure you are using caution when in the line - not driving over grass or making three point turns. By using the field, we are able to avoid blocking up the main highways and having you all be a part of major traffic jams every single day. Please keep this in mind!
CUTTING IN LINE
Although it may not be intentional, if you don't go all the way down the drive and make the U-turn at the very end of the ball field area, you could be cutting off parents who are doing the right thing AND you may not be actually checked in so our numbering system is messed up. As I mentioned last week, from this point on, if you were not checked in by my staff member on the iPad because you cut the corner, I will have to send you back to the line to be checked in. Again, I'm not going to hold up the entire line while we reorder and find students. Starting next week, we will be posting a staff member halfway back to the ballfield U-Turn to remind everyone.
DAILY HEALTH SCREENER: A REQUIREMENT!
Each morning, families should review the daily health screener prior to coming to school. If your student has tested positive for COVID-19, has been identified as a close contact to a COVID-19 case or is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, your child must not report to school until cleared by the school nurse. Please notify your building principal and school nurse as soon as possible with this information. IF ANYONE IN YOUR HOUSE HAS TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID, YOUR CHILD MUST NOT COME TO SCHOOL. (This is part of the daily health screener questions!)
Colonial School District Voluntary COVID School Testing Program
https://my.primary.health/l/colonial-school
Hello Colonial School District Parents, Students and Staff!
In partnership with the Delaware Department of Health and Quidel, your school is offering COVID-19 testing. We recommend everyone pre-register through Primary.Health’s platform: https://my.primary.health/l/colonial-schools
This link is specific for Colonial School District Parents students and staff. This registration will take no longer than 5 minutes and is only done one time!
Here is a little more about the testing program and process:
· Testing is voluntary but highly recommended. It is free of cost to you so no insurance information is needed, or will you ever be asked to pay for these tests.
· Testing will primarily be done through self-swabbing and monitored by medical staff on site - school staff will not be doing the testing.
· The test being used for this program is the Quidel QuickVue. For more information on the test, please read the fact sheet here: Quidel QuickVue Fact Sheet.
· Results and communication will be shared electronically to the email and contact information used for registration. Results are primarily shared every 15-30 minutes.
· If your child tests positive, the school will contact you directly.
· The schedule for when your school will be testing will be shared soon.
Thank you for helping us stay safe and prevent outbreaks! For questions, please contact one of our school nurses.
ALL PARENTS SHOULD DOWNLOAD PIKMYKID
THE DAILY HEALTH SCREENER QUESTIONS
The Delaware Department of Education and Delaware Department of Health and Social Services’ Division of Public Health have requested that we provide you information regarding practices related to COVID-19.
We request that students and/or their families complete a health assessment consisting of a self-screening every morning before leaving for school.
Please answer the following questions EACH MORNING:
- In the past 14 days, have you been near(within 6 feet for at least 15 minute) a person who has a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19, or have you had direct contact with their mucus or saliva?
- In the last 48 hours., have you had any of the following symptoms
- Fever of 100. 4 For above ( or symptoms like alternating shivering and sweating)
- New cough
- New trouble breathing, shortness of breathe or severe wheezing
- New chills or shaking with chills
- New muscle aches
- Sore throat
- Vomiting or diarrhea
- New loss of smell or taste
- Nausea
- Fatigue
- Headache, congestion, runny nose (with no other known cause such as allergies}
If you answered YES to any of the questions above, DO NOT send your child to school today. Instead contact your child’s primary health care provider.