Scituate Elementary Newsletter
Summer Update: August 24, 2020
From the Principal's Desk
As promised, weekly newsletters are being sent in an effort to keep our school community up to date with the latest school reopening information. Included in this week's newsletter are resources to help prepare students and families for the start of school. The Governor will make her announcement on Monday, August 31st regarding how school will open this September.
Governor Raimondo and Commissioner Infante-Green announced the two-week delay of the first day of school. The decision was made to give districts more time to put plans in place, and for the RI Department of Education (RIDE) to further engage with RI communities. It was also announced that three professional development days have been scheduled for September 9th-11th. Scituate Schools will include an extra PD day, which means our staff will start on September 8th. Students first day of school will be September 14th. Please see below for the revised state-wide calendar. Please note, the extra professional development days for Scituate Schools have not been added. We will send out our district calendar once it has been updated.
Our reopening task force and our administrative team continues to work on our reopening plans to ensure we are ready for the start of the 2020-2021 school year. As always, please reach out with any suggestions, questions, or concerns. Thank you for your ongoing support.
Best,
Courtney Francis, Clayville School Principal
Courtney.Francis@ScituateSchoolsRI.net
Dana Morel, Hope School Principal
Dana.Morel@ScituateSchoolsRI.net
Kaitlin Soccio, North Scituate School Principal
Weekly Update from Commissioner Infante-Green
August 21, 2020
Back-to-school season is usually full of a mix of anticipation, anxiety, and curiosity. I remember feeling all three of these when I was a kid, when I was a teacher, and more recently as a parent. This year, of course, the anxiety is getting a lot of attention, with good reason.
No matter who you are, from RIDE staff to school district leaders to teachers to students to families, we are all bearing an increased emotional burden as we prepare for the new school year. I have been especially aware recently of those families who may be facing some tough choices in a few weeks — families where Distance Learning wasn’t an easy fit, despite the concerted efforts of our teachers.
Our multilingual learners really struggle with online-only instruction, for example. Our students who are differently abled need focused, one-on-one teaching that is impossible to replicate via the Internet. And many, many families have to make a punishing choice to stay home from work – and jeopardize putting food on the table – or leave their kids alone, unsupervised – and hope for the best.
Not everyone has all the options that other families have. That is real. We have a responsibility to everyone. That is why we are giving parents options as we prepare to go back to school. We owe it to those families who count on us to make room for their children. It is not a one-size-fits-all situation.
I have been incredibly impressed by the care and attention our LEAs are paying to all their communities. They are reaching out to families to find out what their hopes and expectations are, so they can include those perspectives in their final plans. While we will never have a learning plan that makes everyone happy, especially during a global pandemic, we can and will listen to our families and explain how we are working to address their concerns.
We at RIDE will continue to work with our districts, charters, and state-run schools to make sure that we maximize the excitement, address the anxiety, and spark the kind of curiosity in our kids that gets us off on the right foot this year.
Responding to COVID-19 Scenarios
Free & Reduced Lunch Application
Stopping the Spread
Social Stories for Students
Social Story on Social Distancing
For more social stories, visit here.
*Please see below for information and resources that have been previously distributed*
Scituate School Department's Reopening Plans
Scituate’s Reopening Task Force consisted of a team of educators, school nurses, principals, administrators, parents, and students. They worked to review the RI Department of Education’s (RIDE) reopening guidelines. This team met frequently to construct a plan which was submitted to RIDE. We are proud to announce that Scituate’s plan was commended for its focus on student and staff safety. The plan includes four possible scenarios including in person, 50% in person, 25% in person, and full distance learning. The Governor will make an announcement on August 17th letting us know which plan we will reopen to.
Distance Learning Option
As discussed during our Town Hall meeting, Distance Learning is an option for all Scituate students. Parents/guardians who wish to opt their child into Distance Learning for the upcoming school year are asked to email Superintendent Andries (Laurie.Andries@ScituateSchoolsRI.net) and her administrative assistant (Jennifer.Carnevale@ScituateSchoolsri.net). As of right now, there is no minimum time commitment for the Distance Learning option. More information about Distance Learning will be communicated to all families over the next few weeks.