Talley Street Update
July 29, 2021
Dear Talley Street Community,
We have had a busy week here at Talley Street! New teachers began on Monday and returning teachers returned on Tuesday. The remainder of our faculty and staff returned today. The entire Talley Team is so excited for the students’ return on August 3rd!
Meet and Greet
Teachers should have reached out to you to schedule a time to meet virtually tomorrow, July 30th. If you have not heard from your teacher, please reach out to me.
Lunch Procedures
I am aware of our parents’ concerns with lunch procedures. Below are the mitigation strategies for lunch from the school district. Talley Street will be following these guidelines. I want to emphasize that outdoor lunch will be prioritized. Whenever possible, students will eat outside. However, there will be times when students will have to eat inside. This includes during severe weather storms and extreme temperatures, both hot and cold. During the months of August and September, I will be using a heat index monitor to determine if outdoor lunch is appropriate. If the heat index is too high, recess will also be held inside. Therefore, at the beginning of the school year, lunch decisions could be made on a day to day basis. If inside lunch is needed, the district has provided additional mitigation strategies to keep the students safe. All classrooms have air purifiers. Our HVAC systems provide a high hourly air rate exchange. The HVAC systems are constantly recycling and filtering the air in the classrooms. When eating in the classrooms, an educational video will be shown. This should help to minimize talking while the students are having lunch. Students will all face in the same direction. Finally, the students will not have their masks off for more than 15 minutes. The safety of our kids is the most important job I have. We will be constantly monitoring the situation and making changes when needed.
Eating outdoors is preferred for lunch. Schools should identify outdoors locations to assign classes for lunch and develop a backup plan if weather does not permit eating outdoors. While eating outdoors, 3 feet of distance should be maintained between all students and staff.
If weather does not permit eating outdoors, the time students “actively eat” should be limited to 15 minutes. Students must wear masks at all times when they are not actively eating or drinking. Actively eating is defined as the time students are actually eating and chewing.
Students must wear masks while picking up their lunch, opening contents, clearing up their area and exiting and entering the location designated for lunch.
Students should wash their hands before and after lunch. If hand washing is not feasible, use of hand sanitizer is permissible. Students should also use hand sanitizer before taking their mask off and putting it back on.
The School Nutrition team will continue to provide pre-packaged lunches for at least the first 6 weeks of school.
When eating indoors, seats or tables should be assigned to assist in contact tracing if needed.
When eating indoors, 6 feet of physical distancing should be maintained to the greatest extent possible.
Schools should also discuss with staff the most appropriate schedule to allow staff to eat lunch.
Don’t Wait, Vaccinate Event
This is an invitation for you to come out and support the community by participating in the “Don’t Wait, Vaccinate,” Event held on Monday, August 2, 2021, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 310 McDonough Street in Decatur, GA 30030.
Join the City Schools of Decatur, Dekalb Board of Health, and the Decatur Education Foundation for the, “Don’t Wait, Vaccinate!,” event. This event will provide Free vaccinations and hearing, vision, dental, BMI screenings, and other immunizations/vaccinations for individuals. To receive an immunization or Vaccination the child’s parent MUST be present. Any child between the age of 12-17 receiving the COVID-19 must have proof of their age and a parent/guardian. Any child under 18 receiving all other immunizations must have a parent/guardian.
Several organizations within the community will be participating such as the City of Decatur, local Police and fire departments, the community YMCA, Children's Hospital of Atlanta, Beacon Hill, The Wylde Center, and more.
Sports Physicals will be available for individuals that attend the event. To register students can email Marie@decatureducationfoundation.org. Free Food and school supplies will also be offered for students heading back to school in the coming weeks.
Have questions about the event or any concerns? Be sure to contact Shonda Moore at Smoore1@csdecatur.net for more information.
Lane Closures
Portions of Decatur Roads to be closed for sewer pipe repair beginning August 2nd. For more detailed information, please use the link to the Decaturish article. https://decaturish.com/2021/07/portions-of-decatur-roads-to-be-closed-for-sewer-pipe-repair-beginning-aug-2/
PTO Corner
Mark your calendars for our Welcome Back Popsicle Social on the playground on Saturday August 7th.
3rd Grade - 9:30-10:30
4th Grade - 11:00-12:00
5th Grade - 12:30-1:30
Masks are encouraged when not eating and when not able to distance. Hand sanitizer will also be provided for hand hygiene.
A Room Parent Sign Up will be available on the Talley PTO website on Saturday July 31st. We're excited to share that you will no longer need to collect room parent funds for each individual class. We look forward to the Room Parent Kickoff meeting later in August to explain how we plan to use a single pool. Thanks in advance for your willingness to volunteer. Thank you to Dori Coblentz, India Epps and Lynda Kim who will be Room Parent Coordinators this year. Questions? Send an email to RPCoordinator@talleypto.org.
Other volunteer openings are available NOW on the TalleyPTO website under the Volunteer tab. Please consider joining one of the committees!
Social Media and Contact Information
Social Media and Contact Information
You can find more information on the following Facebook pages:
Talley Street Upper Elementary School PTO
Talley Street Upper Elementary School Parents
For news in the Media Center and from our school counselors, check out their websites:
For more about the Talley Street PTO, visit their website here: https://talleypto.org/