Rocketeer Newsletter
Rock Creek Elementary- January 27, 2022
NEWSLETTER FOR ROCK CREEK ELEMENTARY
Rock Creek Elementary School is a community on a mission to develop compassionate, responsible, lifelong learners. We strive to cultivate thinking, and inquiry that empowers students to engage in a changing world.
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Dates to Remember
FEBRUARY2/4- NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS- Grading Day
2/10- PTC Virtual Meeting 6:30 pm
2/11-Report Cards Available Online
2/21- SCHOOL CLOSED- President's Day
2/22-NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS-Staff Workday
Dear Rock Creek Families,
Thank you for continuing to support your students and our school. Your support makes a difference and we appreciate it.
Over the last week, we have had to transition two classrooms to temporary remote learning due to an increase of positive Covid cases. When a classroom has 5 or more positive cases, we are required to move them to TRL. We know that this is a disruption to family routines and it is very difficult. We ask that you continue to be vigilant with social distancing and mask wearing, as it will benefit your children in being able to stay at school in person.
During this time we have also been approved by the district for an additional teacher! We have a new 3rd and 4th grade blend class that is starting today. The district determined that we had insufficient spacing in our 3rd and 4th grade classes for safety, due to the number of students who have joined our 3rd and 4th grade this year. We want to thank all of the families who have reached out to share their enthusiasm for this move and their questions. We know that change is hard.
Here is a little about our new teacher, Monica Truman. Mrs. Truman is from Washington State. She went to school in Eastern Idaho and taught in the Bonneville School District. She moved to Oregon last summer and loves Oregon. She enjoys hiking, going to the beach with her husband and dog, and she loves to try new foods. Building relationships with students something that she is really looking forward to.
Our students who are moving into this new class had the opportunity to say goodbye to the old class and do some team building activities with Mrs. Truman this week. Today is their first day of class. Please join me in welcoming Mrs. Truman.
Thank you for all that you do to support your Rock Creek students and our amazing staff~
Tiffany
IMPORTANT ABSENCE INFORMATION
We are required to track all student absences and illness symptoms. When calling in your student's absence please leave detailed information ie. if your student is ill and has a fever or not, if they have a cough or not, vomiting, etc and the date symptoms started. Also, please contact us if students will be on vacation or have an appointment.If we do not have detailed information we are required to call parents. Our 24 hour attendance line is 503-356-2451 and our emails are jessica_vogel@beaverton.k12.or.us and Diana_carter@beaverton.k12.or.us. If sending an email please include both Jessica and Diana. Thank you so much for your cooperation!
IMPORTANT ENROLLED OHSU TESTING STUDENTS-PLEASE READ!!
With the omicron variant surging, we are seeing more students testing positive for COVID. Those students who test positive should not participate in our program for 90 days after receiving their results, as they will continue to test positive during this time period. These repeat positive tests consume testing supplies and staff time, and distract us from helping students who are healthy or are just being diagnosed with COVID for the first time. Students with a positive result do not need to opt-out of the program, but they do need to pause their participation until the 90-day period has ended.
We need to once again emphasize the importance of correctly labeling specimens. Labels must contain both the student’s full name and date of birth in order to be processed by our lab.
This is a program-wide issue, and we received 400 specimens within the last 10 days that were handwritten with no date of birth provided. These tests were all cancelled and discarded due to not including two unique identifiers. On Monday alone, we received 49 tests without a label of any kind. We want to avoid this unfortunate situation in the future and make sure that we can test all specimens that we receive.
Printed labels should be used whenever possible. All enrolled students should have received barcoded labels from OHSU. If/when handwritten labels do need to be used, please review the attached instructions again, and note the following.
- Names should be written in the format of ‘Last Name, First Name’ (with no abbreviations or initials)
- Dates of birth should be written in the format of ‘mm/dd/yyyy’
- Providing the school name is helpful, but not required
Best,
The K-12 COVID Screening Program team at OHSU
Oregon Health & Science University
Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd. | Portland, OR 97239
Just a reminder, as of January 10th, the District has reinstated the outdoor mask policy. Please wear a mask when on campus dropping off and picking up your student.
If you call the school and don't get an answer, please leave a message. We often have only one person in the office answering calls, the doorbell and escorting kids to and from class and may not always be able to answer right away. We are unable to answer the door or phone between 3:00 -3:10 pm. Your call is important to us and we will call back as soon as we can.
Thanks for your understanding!
Hello Rock Creek Families!
A friendly reminder that we now have a permanent coat closet at our school due to the generosity of a community member and family donations. If your child needs a coat, please complete the Google Form found here. If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach me, Michelle Schimpke, via ParentSquare or by calling the front office. Thank you!
COVID VACCINATION UPLOAD INSTRUCTIONS
Vaccination Upload Instructions
We strongly encourage all students to get vaccinated as it’s the most effective way to mitigate the risk of COVID-19.
After your student receives the second dose, it’s critical that you take the time to upload the vaccination card as part of the Online Verification Process. Even if you completed the process at the beginning of the year, you can go back and upload. Otherwise, our staff has to spend a substantial amount of time determining vaccination status when doing contact tracing. Vaccinated students who are asymptomatic do NOT need to quarantine even if they’re determined to be a close contact.
To input your vaccination dates and upload your student’s card with both doses recorded, login to ParentVUE. Select “Family Updates and New Student Enrollment” in the upper right hand corner. You’ll then select “2021-2022 Vaccination Card Upload” from the dropdown menu in the blue box at the bottom of the screen.
Thank you for doing your part to keep your child and our community safe.
AUTHORIZATION FOR COVID TESTING IN SCHOOL
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) supports COVID-19 testing in public and private K-12 schools in Oregon for students and staff who display symptoms of COVID-19. The Beaverton School District has registered to have Abbott BinaxNOW rapid antigen testing available for students and staff who develop primary symptoms of COVID-19 at school. Primary symptoms of Covid-19 include:
New or different than usual shortness of breath
New or different than usual coughing
Fever of 100.4 or higher
New loss of taste or smell.
The Abbott BinaxNOW test will only be administered to students who have consent from their parent(s) or legal guardian on file. The student must be capable and willing to perform a nasal swab test independently. The parent(s) or guardian can decline testing and opt to test their child with a healthcare provider. If there is any doubt as to whether a specimen may be safely self-collected by an individual, they should be referred to their healthcare provider for COVID-19 testing. Positive test results will be shared with the Local Public Health Authority to assist in contact tracing.
If you would like your child to participate in this testing program, please complete and return the consent form to the school office. For further information on the the Abbot BinaxNOW rapid antigen test see the following link: FDA information on BinaxNOW test
If you wish to enroll your student. please click on the link below, go to Covid-19 testing consent forms and choose language. Please fill out the form and return it to the school office or email it to
Jessica_Vogel@beaverton.k12.or.us
ROCK CREEK PARENT-TEACHER CLUB (PTC)
With much gratitude we want to put the spotlight on our incredible 2021 Rocket Week sponsors! We could not have reached our goal without them and we thank you for your support!!
CAR/WALKER ARRIVAL TIME 8:20 AM- CLASSROOM DOORS LOCK AT 8:30 AM
For the safety of our students, students that are parent drop off, walkers and bike riders are not to arrive before 8:20 am. Bus riders arrive at 8:15 am because the school buses need to leave earlier to pick up middle school students. Classroom doors do not open until 8:20 am. We do not have space or the supervision for all students to safely line up outside the doors until 8:20 am.
Classroom doors shut and lock at 8:30 am. If your child is not in the classroom by 8:30 am, please walk them to the main front doors and ring the doorbell. Staff will escort them to class.
BIRTHDAY TREATS AND INVITATIONS
Birthday treats /prizes not to be brought to school.
Due to student allergies, equity and the number of birthdays we celebrate each month we do not allow birthday treats/prizes at school. We will however, be recognizing and celebrating birthdays on their special day in other special ways!
We also ask that private birthday party invitations or other type of private invitations NOT be delivered and distributed at school. This can lead to hurt feelings among students. Please make an effort to deliver these important messages in another manner.
Thank you for your cooperation. It is greatly appreciated.
Please notify the school if your receive positive test results from OHSU
Just a reminder for OHSU authorized enrolled students, test kits go home on Friday and need to be returned on Monday by 8:30 am. We cannot accept late test samples. All late test samples need to be discarded. If your student signed up after 10/7 it will take 3 weeks or more to get all the labels and test kits from OHSU.
Just a friendly reminder- No parking along the red fire lane or along the cones.
3rd Annual Walk + Roll Art Contest
Safe Routes to School invites all Beaverton Elementary School Classes, Kindergarten through 5th grade, to participate in our January Art Contest. Each elementary school teacher has been sent the instructions for students to create a Safe Routes to School piece of art depicting why they choose to walk or roll to school. A winner will be chosen for each grade, K-5th across the district. Each winner will receive a prize bag with items to help safely travel to school. A grand prize winner will also receive a full day art class from Gilchrist Art Camp. All submissions are due by January 31st. Ask your teacher for more details.
Welcome back to school! January is a perfect time to try walking or biking to school -- for your health, your community and the planet! 1 mile of walking each way to school equals 2/3 of the daily recommended 60 minutes of physical activity. Get your steps in while decreasing the traffic and air pollution around your school and neighborhood.
• Does your school have a walking or biking school bus? If so, join in the fun. If not, find your school's preferred walk/bike route on our interactive Safe Routes to School maps.
Elementary School Maps, Middle School Maps, High School Maps
• When you're out and about, keep your EYES and EARS OPEN, phones down and heads up. Know what’s going on around you. Have fun with your active commute!
• Need more tips and inspiration? Follow the Beaverton Safe Routes to School Facebook page.
¡Decídase a ser más activo!
¡Bienvenido de nuevo a la escuela! Enero es un momento perfecto para ir caminando o en bicicleta a la escuela, ¡por su salud, su comunidad y el planeta! Caminar 1 milla de ida y vuelta a la escuela equivale a 2/3 de los 60 minutos diarios recomendados de actividad física. Sea activo mientras disminuye el tráfico y la contaminación del aire alrededor de su escuela y vecindario.
• ¿Su escuela tiene un grupo de walking o biking school bus? Si es así, únase a la diversión. Si no es así, encuentre la ruta preferida para caminar/andar en bicicleta de su escuela en nuestros mapas interactivos de Rutas Seguras a la Escuela.
Mapas de escuelas primarias, Mapas de escuelas secundarias, Mapas de escuelas preparatorias
• Cuando esté fuera de casa, mantenga la cabeza hacia arriba, los OJOS y OÍDOS ATENTOS y guarde su teléfono celular. Esté alerta a lo que sucede a su alrededor.
• ¿Necesita más consejos e inspiración? Sigan la página de Facebook de Baverton Safe Routes to School.
Very Important: Please label your students coats, hats, lunch boxes, water bottles etc with their names.
We cannot stress how important it is to have students in class all day, with as little interruptions as possible. Please schedule appointments before or after school whenever possible.
School closure or delayed start decisions typically will be communicated to media outlets and posted on the District website, ParentSquare, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter by 5:30 a.m.
Inclement Weather Information for families can be found on the Inclement Weather Information webpage.
Rock Creek does not have snow routes.
NO DOGS ALLOWED ON SCHOOL CAMPUS EXCEPT FOR CERTIFIED SERVICE ANIMALS
Click on the link to find Important Information we've included in previous Rocketeers. Here are the topics:
DISTRICT AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITY LINK
The District has a community flyer page that list all approved extra curricular flyers such as chess clubs, soccer camps, childcare etc. It is updated monthly. Please Click on the link below to find approved extra curricular activities for students.
Approved After School Activities Link
WEBSITE TRANSLATIONS AVAILABLE
COVID-19 HEALTH & SAFETY GUIDANCE
Rock Creek School
4125 NW 185th Ave
Portland OR 97229
Main Office-503-356-2450
Attendance-503-356-2451
Fax- 503-356-2455
Principal: Tiffany Wiencken
SAFEOREGON TIP LINE
Keep Rock Creek safe: report any student safety threats to SafeOregon. Tips can be reported by phone or text (844-427-3367), email (tip@safeoregon.com), or online (safeoregon.com). For more information, visit safeoregon.com.
The District prohibits discrimination and harassment based on any basis protected by law, including but not limited to, an individual's actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national or ethnic origin, marital status, age, mental or physical disability, pregnancy, familial status, economic status, veteran status, or because of a perceived or actual association with any other persons within these protected classes.
Call for Volunteers - 5th Grade Send-off Committee
Help give our 5th graders a send-off as fabulous as they are!
Contact leann
_gentry@hotmail.com for more information.
5TH GRADE SEND-OFF COMMITTEE
