The Monthly Mustang
The Official Newsletter for Wedgwood School Families
APRIL 2021
Washington Township Students Return For Five-Day School Week
CHANGES IN SCHEDULES
As shared in a March 12 letter from Superintendent Joe Bollendorf, Washington Township students in Cohorts A, B, and C will join one another for a five-day school week beginning April 12. From April 12 through April 23, Wedgwood will continue to follow our early dismissal schedule, with the school day ending at 1:30 p.m.Beginning Monday, April 26, our five-day school week will expand to include full days for students with a dismissal time of 3:50 p.m.
GUIDANCE FOR REMOTE LEARNERS
In the same way that we are working to continually improve for our in-person learners, we will be making some changes for our
Changes to Arrival and Dismissal Procedures
One of the more important considerations of our collapsing of cohorts is the impact it will have on our arrival and dismissal procedures. Our school parking lot was not designed to support the number of cars that our collapsed cohorts would bring during our daily drop off and pick up times. Our schools are requesting that our students utilize our district buses, when possible. These buses have available seating that would allow many more students to ride to and from school safely. In addition, walkers are encouraged to walk to school rather than drive. These steps will help keep the traffic around the schools safe and manageable as students begin returning to our schools.
Bus passes are currently being issued via email. Be sure to check your inbox for updated bus route information for your child. Feel free to contact our district's transportation department at (856) 589-9190 with any questions.
Arrival procedures will be changing slightly for students being dropped off beginning on Monday, April 12. Please see the map below for more information.
Guidance for Families Traveling During Spring Break
The New Jersey Department of Health continues to recommend that those traveling outside of the immediate region (New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware) self-quarantine following their return for 10 days after travel OR self-quarantine for seven days following their return with a negative COVID test result and no symptoms throughout quarantine. More information from the Department of Health about quarantine after travel can be found here.
If you are planning on quarantining your child following Spring Break, please email Mr. Zimmerman directly at czimmerman@wtps.org at your earliest convenience. In some cases, modifications may need to be made to students' instructional programs while in quarantine.
Coronavirus Health & Safety Reminders
Our students and families have done such an outstanding job of battling COVID-19 as a school community! Thanks to everyone's efforts, we're able to continue to move toward a return to a full five days of school per week. But there is still work to be done, and we need to remain vigilant as we move into the final months of the school year.
It is critical that we remember the COVID Pledge that all Wedgwood Families were asked to sign prior to the start of the school year. Families must continue to check all students for the following symptoms every day before school:
Please keep your child home from school if he or she is experiencing TWO or MORE of the following...
- Fever greater than 100
- Chills
- Shivers
- Muscle aches
- Headache
- Sore throat
- Nausea or Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Fatigue
- Congestion/Runny nose
OR at least ONE of the following...
- Cough
- Shortness of Breath
- Difficulty Breathing
- New loss of smell
- New loss of taste
In addition to staying home if your child is exhibiting the symptoms described above, please notify our Wedgwood Health Office at (856) 227-8110; press 2 when prompted.
Close Contacts and Potential Exposures
Please notify our Wedgwood Health Office is your child had close contact (within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of at least 15 minutes) within the past 14 days with a person with confirmed COVID-19. Likewise, please notify our Health Office if someone in the household is diagnosed with COVID-19.
Wedgwood Students Participate in One Book, One School No Place For Hate Project
Wedgwood School students and staff recently participated in a One Book, One School activity as part of our work as a No Place For Hate School. Wedgwood staff members collaborated on a video, creating a readaloud of the book The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson. This book explores themes of diversity, bias, culture, and acceptance. By sharing our stories with one another, we open pathways to recognizing that we're more alike than different. After viewing the video readaloud, students discussed the book and its themes with their teachers and classmates. We hope you enjoy our Wedgwood Staff's reading of The Day You Begin!
Wedgwood Fifth Graders Awarded Honorable Mention in 2021 NJ Bar Association Mock Trial Competition
The fifth-grade students in the ELEMEnTS Program (Elementary Learners Engaged in Mathematics, Engineering, New Technologies and Science) at Wedgwood Elementary, under the direction of teacher Diane Jablonowski, recently won Honorable Mention in the New Jersey State Bar Foundation Mock Trial Law Fair Competition. For this contest, the students had to write an original mock trial case. Their winning case, The Case of the Piping Hot Patron: State of New Jersey vs. Noah Mask, resulted from an alleged violation of a New Jersey Executive Order requiring a facial mask for entrance to a New Jersey retail store.
Students who teamed on the projects included: Quinn Broadbelt, Alycia Dymond, Kinsley Fischer, Alexa Howley, Simone McGlinchey, Judah Nalbandian, Maggie Petrelli, Noah Raberi, Kit Ridgeway and John Waysome.
The New Jersey State Bar Foundation annually invites elementary school students and their teachers to submit original mock trial cases to the Law Fair every year. The Wedgwood students will receive certificates from the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and will perform their case remotely before a judge on May 21, 2021. In addition, the students’ winning case will be published on the New Jersey State Bar Foundation website during 2021-2022.
Pictured are members of the Wedgwood Elementary School Fifth-Grade ELEMEnTS class winning Mock Trial team (top row left to right) - Alycia Dymond, John Waysome, Judah Nalbandian, Kinsley Fischer, Kit Ridgeway; (bottom row left to right) - Maggie Petrelli, Noah Raberi, Simone McGlinchey, Quinn Broadbelt, Alexa Howley.
Tech Support
Wedgwood's Homework Helpline is Here!
Additional Reminders
Signing Students In Late/Out Early
All students being signed in/out of school must be accompanied by an authorized adult. After being buzzed into the building, the parent/guardian will remain in the vestibule, asked to present ID, and will sign out the student out without entering the main lobby. Please know that students who arrive tardy or leave early for in person instruction may be marked absent for the day as the schedule is already abbreviated. We ask that families make every effort to arrive and leave Wedgwood on time.
Parent Resources
- Learning from home is definitely different than learning at school. It requires students, families, and teachers to work together like never before in order to overcome challenges and make instruction happen. Check out these helpful tips for establishing virtual meeting etiquette with your children at home.
- Here is a one-stop shop for information about how to support your student's use of programs like Schoology, ClassLink, Seesaw, FlipGrid, and PowerSchool! Be sure to bookmark this EdTech Resource Guide For Parents
PTO Reminders
SUPPORT WEDGWOOD WITH EVERY AMAZON.COM ORDER
Each time you shop with Amazon.com, It's super-easy to help raise funds for our Wedgwood PTO! Follow these simple steps to set it up:
- Go to smile.amazon.com.
- Click on the three horizontal bars in the top left corner to open your Settings.
- Scroll to the bottom of the Settings menu and click Your Amazon Smile.
- Under "Pick Your Own Charitable Organization, select Wedgewood School Parent Teacher Organization (and yes, it is misspelled).
- Be sure to bookmark smile.amazon.com in your browser. Note: Amazon Smiles will not work through your phone or tablet app. Amazon will donate to our PTO with every purchase made through the Amazon Smiles page.
We want to add photos of your child learning from home to our yearbook! Send your pictures to wedgwoodyearbook@aol.com. Be sure to identify the Wedgwood students in the pictures.
JOIN OUR WEDGWOOD PTO
The Wedgwood PTO is an organization made up of parents, teachers and administrators who work together to enhance the learning environment at Wedgwood School.
For just $5.00 per family you can become members of our PTO and help us provide our students and staff with the resources we need for a successful school year. For more information, please see the Membership Form, linked below.
Click here to access the 2020-2021 PTO Membership Form.
WEDGWOOD PTO REMIND
Due to changes with the Remind system, we must archive our old Remind account from which we used to send text message reminders. We are now limited in how many people we can have in a group, and therefore we must create individual grade level groups. You will need to sign up for your child’s individual grade level group. School-wide PTO messages will go out to all groups.
It is important to note that the old Remind account will be archived soon so please sign up for the new accounts as soon as possible.
If your child is attending Wedgwood this year, please identify his/her grade level for 2020-2021 and sign up for that specific group. If you have children in multiple grade levels, feel free to sign up for each group. The information is as follows:
- Send a text to the number 81010.
- In the body of the text message, type the following information (PLEASE BE SURE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CORRECT GRADE LEVEL FOR 2020-2021!):
- Grade 1 - @wedgpt
- Grade 2 - @wedgpto2
- Grade 3 - @wedgpto3
- Grade 4 - @wedgpto4
- Grade 5 - @wedgpto5
Arrival and Dismissal Procedures
Please review the following information regarding Wedgwood School's arrival and dismissal procedures. For the safety of all, it is critical that both students and families practice social distancing during arrival and dismissal at Wedgwood.
Walking Students
- Walking students are to arrive at the school not earlier than 9:20 AM
- The dismissal of walkers will be staggered in the afternoon. Students whose last name begins with letters A-L will be dismissed at 1:20 p.m. Students whose last name begins with M-Z will be dismissed at 1:25 p.m. This includes those who will be picked up by a parent/guardian. Beginning April 26, these two times will switch to 3:40 p.m. (A-L) and 3:45 p.m. (M-Z) respectively.
- Students walking home will exit down the walkers' path at the back of the school, toward Dorado Avenue.
Students Dropped Off
- All traffic must enter the Wedgwood parking lot through the entrance designated in the diagram above.
- Cars are to move all of the way forward in the drop off line before releasing students for arrival.
- Students who are dropped off to school will enter the building via the door by the playground.
- Students are to be dropped off to school no earlier than 9:15 a.m.
- Parents/Guardians who are dropping students off must do so by allowing them to exit the vehicle along the sidewalk on the side of the building. Please do not park your car and drop off your child from the parking lot. Once your child has exited the vehicle, please continue on the drop-off loop as detailed in the illustration above.
Students Picked Up
- Students who will be picked up by a parent will exit the school from the door by the playground. Wedgwood staff will supervise all students until a parent comes and personally escorts the child to the vehicle.
- The dismissal of walkers will be staggered in the afternoon. Students whose last name begins with letters A-L will be dismissed at 1:20 p.m. Students whose last name begins with M-Z will be dismissed at 1:25 p.m. Beginning April 26, these two times will switch to 3:40 p.m. (A-L) and 3:45 p.m. (M-Z) respectively.
- All parents/guardians who wish to pick up their students at dismissal or who require alternative arrangements for pickup must notify the main office in writing. All written notification should be directed to your child's classroom teacher as well as our main office secretary, Mrs. Crosby, so that your child's needs can be met. She can be reached at bcrosby@wtps.org. Students are not permitted to verbally tell Wedgwood staff that they require alternative arrangements for pickup; all requests must be made in writing by the student's parent/guardian. If a teacher does not receive a note about the change in the child’s regular dismissal, the child will be sent home on his/her assigned bus.
- Students who are scheduled to be picked up and do not have a parent/guardian present at the time of dismissal will be brought to the main office. As per district policy, we will attempt to contact the parent(s) and/or emergency contacts on file. If no contact can be made within 30 minutes following school dismissal, the main office will coordinate efforts with the Washington Township Police Department to make contact with the student's parent/guardian.
- Parents/guardians are responsible for reviewing the school calendar and complying with all school dismissal times and procedures.
Regular Dismissal
- Students will board the buses in the loading area at the front of the school. Parents who are picking students up must their child’s teacher and the main office prior to the start of that school day.
- Parents must personally sign their child out of school.
- If a teacher does not receive a note about the change in the child’s regular dismissal, the child will be sent home on his/her assigned bus. Students are not permitted to ride any other bus but the one that is assigned to them.
Wedgwood Elementary School
Email: czimmerman@wtps.org
Website: wtps.org/wedgwood
Location: 236 Hurffville Road, Sewell, NJ 08080
Phone: (856) 227-8110
Facebook: facebook.com/wedgwoodwtps
Twitter: @wedgwoodwtps