JJ Hill Montessori
2021-22 September Newsletter
Update from Dr. Beard
Teachers are back in the building and we are already planning for an incredible school year! We are excited to welcome back your children soon and look forward to seeing many of you in person for the first time at our Open House! This year, I will be sending out monthly newsletters to the JJ Hill community with shorter messages in between when needed to keep you up to date on JJ Hill happenings.
This Month's letter has updates and reminders about our COVID policies, other beginning of the year logistics, our community events calendar as well as invitations to meetings with our BIPOC family group and PTO. I hope that you feel welcome to join us in community at some of these opportunities! Feel free to reach out if you ever have any questions.
Thanks,
Andrew
Beginning of year information
COVID-19 Student and Family Guidelines
Families should familiarize themselves with these guidelines, which are updated regularly and cover prevention strategies, health screening and monitoring, exclusion guidance and the SPPS COVID-19 Reporting System.
Health Screening Guidelines and Expectations
Families should conduct a health screening for COVID-19 symptoms every morning before sending their student to school or the bus stop. School staff will also monitor for symptoms throughout the school day. If your child is exhibiting any symptoms, do not send them to school. Please report the absence and submit a report to the COVID-19 Reporting System as soon as possible.
Eating
Students will be eating in assigned seats with 3-feet social distancing whenever possible. All classes will eat breakfast-to-go in their classrooms. For lunch, Children's House classes will eat in their home rooms and E1/E2 classes will eat in the cafeteria. When students eat, they will be seated with at least 3-feet between them and other students per SPPS recommendation and will be seated in seating chart per SPPS requirement.
Volunteers
At this time, we will not have classroom volunteers in the building so that we are limiting our COVID exposures for students and staff. In the event that volunteers are needed for specific building needs, we will be in touch about this request.
Conferences for the year
Mark your calendars for JJ Hill conferences! At this time, we are planning on offering in-person conferences with virtual options for families who would prefer to meet virtually!
Nov 16 2:15-5:15, Nov 18 3-6, Nov 19 during school hours
March 22 2:15-5:15, March 24 3-6, March 25during school hours
Staffing
We have two open E1 Teaching positions and two open Teachers Assistant positions at this time. If you know anyone who would be interested in this kind of a position, please have them contact Dr. Beard (Andrew.Beard@spps.org).
Open House
We will have a shortened in-person Open House this Thursday, September 2nd from 4-5pm. Due to COVID, families are encouraged to limit their total amount of time in the building and focus this time on supporting students finding their class and connecting with the teacher. Families are encouraged to join us in one of two time bands based on the first letter of their last name (4:00-4:30 A-M, 4:30-5:00 N-Z). This will help us to also limit the total number of people in the building. *All visitors to JJ Hill, age 2 and above are required to wear a mask this year when in the building.
The PTO and BIPOC Family groups are hosting a free ice cream social in the garden during the Open House- teachers will have tickets for a free treat!
Our school health office team, Jennifer McFarlane, LSN and Nhia Yang, HA will be at the open house on Thursday. If you would like to bring in medications and orders and sign paperwork for medications to be given at school. They will be available to receive your medications at this time or email jennifer.mcfarlane@spps.org to arrange another time to drop off meds and complete paperwork. Thank you!
*Ms. Anna, Ms. Jess, and Ms. Diedra's rooms will not have a staff member available, but families are welcome to still come to the school to see other staff and enjoy an ice cream treat!
Transportation
Bussing
Families should hear by next week about their bus route. A notification will come from our district transportation department. If you need to update your bussing information, please fill out iUpdate HERE or contact Gail Ross (Gail.Ross@spps.org).
Family Drop-off & Pick-up.
Please see THIS LINK for our arrival and dismissal protocol! We had an efficient and safe system last year which we will use again this year. We all play a part in support student, family, and staff safety and we look forward to this again!Transportation Changes?
If you are planning on changing your transportation status from last year (moving from bussing to family drop-off OR from drop-off to bussing), please contact Gail Ross at Gail.Ross@spps.org
Community Events Calendar
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eyka56BC00ohPKn0t4Q2Kbp0ijjIZW-R569-Kj3o3rA/edit?usp=sharing
Meet more of our New Staff!
Intisar Babiker - CH TA
Jenelle Hill - CH WINN Teacher
Suzanne Rekow - WINN Teacher E1
Geoff Freeman - Academic Support
Hello, my name is Geoff Freeman. I have been teaching at JJ Hill Montessori for eight years as an upper elementary teacher and this year I will be serving in a new role as an Academic Support teacher. I am so excited to be serving in this new position where I will be focused on leading professional development, working with teachers to nurture student growth in literacy and math and the development of culturally relevant materials, and to empower a school culture that embodies our values as a Montessori school. I am also thrilled to be serving as the coordinator for the Reading Corps program this year. I am passionate about building relationships and creating a more equitable and just learning environment for all students. Please feel free to reach out if you need anything, I can be reached at geoff.freeman@spps or by phone at 612-314-5099.
Upcoming Community Events!
BIPOC Family Meeting
Questions? Feel free to contact the BIPOC Family group Co-Chairs:
Paola Sánchez paola@4rmula.com
Farhiyo Abdulkarim fabdulka1@gmail.com
Monday, Sep 13, 2021, 06:30 PM
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PTO Meeting
Questions? Feel free to contact the PTO Co-Chairs, Deepa McGriff and Katie Kleinjung at chair@jjhillpto.org.
Tuesday, Sep 21, 2021, 07:00 PM
J. J. Hill Montessori School, Selby Avenue, Saint Paul, MN, USA
Montessori Learning Night
*This event, while currently onsite, is subject to change based on SPPS COVID policies and current safety guidelines. Another communication will be sent if the event is moved to a virtual event.
Thursday, Sep 30, 2021, 05:30 PM
J. J. Hill Montessori School, Selby Avenue, Saint Paul, MN, USA
Dr. Andrew Beard - Principal
Email: Andrew.Beard@spps.org
Website: spps.org/jjhill
Location: 998 Selby Ave., Saint Paul, MN 55104
Phone: (651) 293-8720