This week has been SO much better than last week, not just on our campus but across the district. Leaders have shared that Tarrant County believes we may have hit the peak of the Omicron outbreak and we're now on the downside of the surge.

We have had coverage for all classrooms every day this week but we have had to do some creative scheduling with specials still because Coach Maupin has been out. We've had 2-3 students every day report positive, but the numbers are much better than last week.

Thank you all for your understanding, support and encouragement. We're hoping February is a much healthier month!

Valentine's Day parties will be similar to last year's and the holiday parties in that they will be "parties in a bag" without visitors. However, students will be able to exchange Valentine's cards!

However, we hope that we're able to do Lunch with a Loved One on Thursday, Feb. 10 (for K, 3rd, 4th) and Friday, February 11 (for 1st, 2nd, and 5th). You can plan to bring lunch to your student and eat with them on the front driveway, similar to last year's end of year Lunch on the Lawn event.

Two things will determine our ability to hold the Lunch with a Loved One. The first is weather because if it's too cold or too wet, we won't be able to do this. The second would be an unexpected surge of COVID cases. By end of next week, we should have a better idea about the predicted weather as well as how we're doing on the COVID front.

If you plan to come on either of those days, please carefully consider the parking situation. There will be periods of time when parking will be very difficult so if you pull up right at lunch time, you'll be late. Students have 30 minutes for lunch and then they will go to recess or back to class!

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is transitioning all state assessments to be administered online by the 2022–2023 school year. To support this change, GCISD will be administering all state assessments online this Spring and is encouraging students to visit the practice tests site released by the TEA to prepare for online testing. For upcoming testing, students will be using district issued devices.

The online practice tests familiarize students with the general tools, designated supports, and accessibility features that may appear in online tests. In the practice site, there are features that may be turned on and off for students with identified accommodations such as text-to-speech and spelling assistance. Organized by grade level and subject, all 2018, 2019, and 2021 STAAR released tests are also available on the online practice site . Please visit this link for instructions on how to access the practice site.

To view upcoming online STAAR testing windows and dates, please visit our website.

More specific information about student testing days will be coming soon. Please submit a help desk ticket if you are having trouble launching a test.

STAAR tests for GCISD Elementary students will be Tuesday, May 10 for Math; Thursday, May 12th for Reading and Tuesday, May 17th for 5th grade science.

We were very sad to say goodbye to Lauren Dickinson in December when she accepted a new job with the city of Euless. However, we were really fortunate to find someone to take her place and I wanted to introduce her to you.

Rachel Keyser (pronounced Ki zer) just moved back to the area from Oregon with her family. She has previously taught 4th and 5th grades but wanted to find a position that provided more family time. She started last Tuesday, which was a whirlwind of a day and then Wednesday we closed for two days. Fortunately, she came back Monday of this week and we've loved getting to know her. A fun fact: Rachel was actually a student at Glenhope when she was in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades!

The GCISD Council of PTAs Awards Committee is seeking nominations from each campus in the GCISD School District for 4 awards to be presented at our annual Founders' Day Event on February 17, 2022.

Below are 2 links to 2 Google forms. If you have individuals that you want to nominate for these awards, now is your opportunity to submit their name for consideration.

All completed nomination forms must be submitted by 11:59pm on Saturday, January 29, 2022.

Form 1 of 2:

Jim Thompson Award:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSco_D_MKqj3shFaXMB_FshUndI2jW14nZpPl5B9owyEL4RGug/viewform?usp=sf_link

Form 2 of 2:

FOC, Lifetime, Extended Svc:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0mJX00o-NL7kq_iCIMHYAvIB7amEYq0nfCRqXisaSBwP2ZQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

If you have questions, please contact Rena Arnold at Delegate@glenhopepta.org

This is a link to the counselor's newsletter that has all the information regarding Middle School transition like dates for course selection: https://www.smore.com/a6pvm

The ECDC is a childcare center available to employees of GCISD for children ages 6 weeks to 3 years. We have part time and full time positions available with flexible schedules. The District is offering quarterly retention payments of $500 to full time employees, childcare benefits and competitive compensation. Full time applicants can apply here. Part time applicants can apply here.

The GCISD Nutrition Services Department is looking for volunteers! Come get to know the students while serving them a nutritious lunch in the school cafeteria. You can volunteer at your child's school or any school in the district. You must be registered as a volunteer in the district, or get signed up as a volunteer today so you can join the amazing kitchen staff serving the students. Please see the flyer for details and a link to sign up!

Please see your child's teacher's newsletter for a link to the Sign Up Genius for lunch visitors.

Also, please remember to email the teacher so they know you are coming and can have your child ready for you when the class goes to lunch.

When we have a positive case on our campus, everyone in the building will receive a notification of a positive case.

If your child was in the same class with a COVID positive individual, you will receive an additional notification saying that they were in the same class so that you can be on the lookout for the development of any symptoms.

Want to get Involved? PTA has many opportunities available for the 2022-2023 school year and they want YOU!

https://forms.gle/cou3areooKiAZmuU8

For students that wear masks:

Please put 5-6 masks in a ziplock bag and place it in your student's backpack. We know masks provide comfort for some students and we wouldn't want them to worry if they get lost, soiled or forgotten. Thanks to a generous donation from Mr. Wang, we have some replacement masks in the nurse's office. However, some kids are resistant to accepting a mask they aren't used to wearing, so please plan accordingly.

GCISD 2021-2022 COVID-19 protocol highlights:

· Students, teachers, and staff who have symptoms of infectious illness, such as influenza (flu) or COVID-19 symptoms should stay home and be referred to their healthcare provider for testing and care.

· If the individual has symptoms that could be COVID-19 the individual must obtain a medical professional's note clearing the individual for return based on an alternative diagnosis or obtain an acute infection test at an approved testing location that comes back negative for COVID-19.

· In the case of an individual who has symptoms that could be COVID-19 and who is not evaluated by a medical professional or tested for COVID-19, such individual is assumed to have COVID-19, and the individual may not return to the campus until the individual has completed ALL three-steps listed below:

• At least 24 hours passed since resolution of fever without using fever reducing medications.
• The individual has improvement in symptoms
• At least 10 days have passed since the first symptoms began.

GCISD COVID-19 Resources

Please visit www.GCISD.net/COVID19 for lots of resources from the District pertaining to COVID-19. There you can find updated frequently asked questions, current GCISD COVID-19 protocols, information on the GCISD COVID-19 Testing Center, information on remote conferencing, statistics regarding COVID-19 cases in GCISD and more.

GCISD school cafeteria follows a calendar-cycle menu at breakfast and lunch. This menu begins on September 13th, 2021. During the first 4 weeks of school, all schools will follow a simplified lunch menu to allow all students to adjust to the new school year and to re-familiarize themselves with the cafeteria and their PIN number. The simplified menus can be viewed online using our menu system MealViewer. Printable copies of all menus can be downloaded here. If you have questions please contact child.nutrition@gcisd.net. GCISD Nutrition Services looks forward to serving your family in the upcoming school year!

To support strong communication with our families beyond the school day, we are pleased to introduce a new resource available to our parents. Parent Internet Reporting is an on-demand tool for parents that allows guardians to view their children's online activity and increases the measures already taken to protect our students while using a District device. Through this platform, parents will receive weekly email reports summarizing internet activity on District devices, as well as the ability to access real-time reporting of what their students are doing online. In an effort to help our parents control screen time while students are home, the system will also allow for a guardian to pause the internet on a GCISD device.

There is an online course that will explain the Parent Internet Reporting that will be launched on April 21. If you cannot attend the virtual training on April 20, you must complete the course to receive access to the parent internet reporting tool. The course can be found at www.gcisd.net/ParentInternet.

GCISD partners with the I Love U Guys Foundation and uses the Standard Response Protocols (SRP) to respond to any situation or emergency that takes place at school or in the district.

• Each campus will conduct drills throughout the school year. These drills are based on the Standard Response Protocols of Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate, Shelter, and Hold. GCISD developed one additional protocol known as Clear.

• Completion of the drills is mandatory for each campus during the first two weeks of school, so that students and staff are prepared. Drills help us learn and know how to respond in the case of a real emergency at school. Our drills also help us to check certain equipment and responses. Our emergency management leaders on each campus will work with students and staff to complete our drills and document the results.

I have included the SRP Posters that are displayed in your student’s classrooms so that you can review with your student at home and discuss with them when they take part in the drills during the first two weeks. More information about Safety and Security in GCISD can be found at www.gcisd.net/our_district/safety_and_security.

We had our first lockdown drill today. It was very low key. MRs. Vise said over the intercom, "Lights, Locks, Out of Sight." The children went to a corner of the room, and the teachers turned off the lights and made sure the doors were locked. The hall quickly became empty and quiet as we checked for locked doors.

We have added so many barriers in the last few years to protect students, from the locked entry (when I first came to Glenhope a locked door was considered "unfriendly") to the locked doors into the hallways and finally locked classroom doors. Our district has worked hard to implement all the recommended protocols designed to keep campuses safe, including having our children practice these drills on a regular basis.

Please remember to email the office (mailto:elizabeth.giblin@gcisd.net

mailto:rachel.keyser@gcisd.net) if your child is ill and will be out. It would be helpful to include your child's teacher(s) as well.

Also, please try to call early in the day with changes to after school pick up arrangements. The later you call, the greater the chance that something might be missed due to the level of activity that occurs around dismissal.