Good evening, Owl Families,

This week marks an important week in our Term 4 planning process as we'll be holding individual grade level meetings Monday through Thursday of this week. Details, including times and links to the meetings are below in the Upcoming Key Dates section. Please also check Bloomz on Friday for a survey asking for your Term 4 preferences for your child.

As previously noted, CES meetings are not yet scheduled but will be held next week. Families in our CES programs will receive communication from me via Bloomz about a separate meeting for our CES programming in Term 4, given that the planning guidelines and constraints are different for CES and general education classrooms. In the interim, all families can use this form to elevate any Term 4 questions, concerns, and suggestions that you may have.

In partnership,

Jen

• Monday, March 8 - 2nd Grade Term 4 planning meeting, 5:00-6:00 (https://zoom.us/j/94110447104?pwd=blI2Qzd2WE43ZHd6VDEvMThON3Q3Zz09)
• Tuesday, March 9 - K Term 4 planning meeting, 5:00-6:00 (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88364807128?pwd=YlEyQ2Fab2tNaU4ydXNOMThyTnVnQT09)
• Tuesday, March 9 - 3rd Grade Term 4 planning meeting, 7:00-8:00 (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84522699083?pwd=SnhlZlp3bzlQSGdyMEVmUlNQNVdzQT09)
• Wednesday, March 10 - 1st Grade Term 4 planning meeting, 5:00-6:00 (https://zoom.us/j/92675897526?pwd=M0VCa204MHB4RHh3UXVHUVBIS0h5Zz09)
• Wednesday, March 10 - 5th Grade Term 4 planning meeting, 6:00-7:00 (https://zoom.us/j/93408740458?pwd=NUd6NHhWNDV1R203Z0NoQlBKNXRTdz09)
• Wednesday, March 10 - PK Term 4 planning meeting, 7:00-8:00 (https://zoom.us/j/99882983007?pwd=QmNBTUQ1UlYxMVFmTzNyUGl4RENhQT09)
• Thursday, March 11 - 4th Grade Term 4 planning meeting, 7:00-8:00 (https://jh.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0lcO6tpz0tEtLsKnXBz0lJrBnnlBk5OnMf)
• Wednesday, March 17 - RCC planning meeting, 4:30-5:30pm
• Wednesday, March 17 - PTA Meeting, time TBD
• Tuesday, March 23 - Term 4 Town Hall to share final plan with community, 7:00-8:00pm (link forthcoming)
• Wednesday, March 24 - Hearst Spring Picture Day
• Wednesday, March 24 - Term 4 Coffee Chat for Families to share final plan with community, 9:00-9:30am (link forthcoming)
• Monday, March 29 - Term 4 student offers start (tentative, awaiting confirmation from DCPS)
• April 12-16 - Spring Break for Students
• Friday, April 16 - Emancipation Day (no school for students and all staff; building closed)
• Monday, April 19- Term 4 starts

• DCPS has updated the School Planning blog with information around the new school planning process at the Foxhall & MacArthur sites in Ward 3. This is where they will share updates, meeting materials, etc., after the working group meetings in the coming months. Because the opening of these schools may impact the Hearst boundary and/or feeder schools in the future, please be sure to regularly review the site to stay up to date on the latest developments.
  
• Reminder: Because our building is open to students, any non-staff members who would like to come to the building to pick up materials, switch out a device, etc., must have an appointment in order to come into the building. Please email Ms. Johnson (kestaganer.johnson@k12.dc.gov) or call (202-282-0106) to set up an appointment if you need to come into the building for any reason. Thanks!
  

• Reminder: DC is publishing COVID data specific to DCPS and it can be found here: https://coronavirus.dc.gov/node/1506966. With both staff and students back in school buildings, please visit dcpsreopenstrong.com/health/response/ to learn more about DCPS' COVID-19 Response Protocol, including testing available for students and staff.
  

Yearbooks are on sale for pre-order! The early bird special is $22 until the end of March. In April and on each book is $25. Please see the attached flyer for directions to order your yearbook! The yearbooks will arrive near the end of the school year. This year, there is an option to ship the book directly to your home. Otherwise, it will ship to the school and we will find a way to do a safe and secure pickup.

The Hearst yearbook contains portraits of each homeroom class and some candid photos from the year. Thanks to the creativity of our families we've been able to collect a ton of photos for the book! Don't forget to attend school portrait day on Wednesday March 24th with Freed, to have your child's photo taken for the yearbook.

Every year we sell out of yearbooks; don't let it happen to you. Reserve your copy today!

We are excited to welcome back our students who are participating in in-person learning in Term 3.Please take time to review the In-Person Learning family guide for resources to help you prepare for your child's first day back to the classroom. It includes important forms that parents or guardians need to sign:

• Family-School Agreement
• Daily Health Screening Tracker
• COVID-19 Testing Consent Forms (symptomatic and asymptomatic)

We will send home these documents with students on their first day of school and ask that you return them as soon as possible. If you'd like to print, sign, and send them in with your students, we welcome that as well.

As you know, school will look a little different this year. There may be instances where class is cancelled for the day due to staff availability, quarantines, or building operations. In those instances, we will notify you via Bloomz as soon as possible.

There are many different ways that you can access physical and digital books for your child to read at home. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Ms. Vandivier or your child's homeroom teacher if you are having difficulty getting access to a wide variety of books and/or books at an appropriate reading level for your child. We are here to help!

• Option 1: Check out books from the Hearst library!

• Here is a video from Ms. Vandivier that explains the contactless checkout process at Hearst: https://dck12-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/elizabeth_vandivier_k12_dc_gov/ERNtXnO_LR9HrMDzI-EVVVMBdCv4z-DABr3KTyFhVMW8mg?e=fgUQ0b

• Option 2: Check out books from the DCPS library!

• As a Hearst student, your child can get a library card for DC public libraries! Please head over to the DCPS libraries website for more information on how to sign up and how book checkout/pickup works: https://www.dclibrary.org/

• Option 3: Purchase books from Scholastic!

• Each class has a Scholastic account. Due to the pandemic, you can currently purchase books and ship them directly to your home! It is very convenient. Website https://clubs.scholastic.com/home Please reach out to your homeroom teacher directly for a class code.

• Option 4: Sora

• You can access Sora for free via the Clever Portal. Sora offers a wide variety of books to read and to listen to!

• Option 5: Epic

• Epic is an extra website that you may have access to! Some classes have a class account. Epic provides TONS of books at all different levels. https://www.getepic.com/sign-in Please reach out to your homeroom teacher or Ms. Vandivier directly for a class code.

We'll be holding our Spring Portrait Day on Wednesday, March 24, from 9am to 3pm. Portraits will be outdoors and socially distanced and you can sign up for an appointment at https://tuab0xbvaa.timetap.com/#/. Please see the attached flyer for additional information.

Ms. Schiers and Ms. Boyle are getting started on the SY 20-21 Hearst Yearbook, and need your help collecting photographs! Please upload any candid or posed photos that you have of your child and Hearst children from THIS school year! Please know that by uploading a photo into this album, you are giving consent for that photo to be used in our yearbook. More information is forthcoming regarding how to order your yearbook, and about a socially distanced and outdoor portrait day with Freed Photography.

Though all meals will be served free of charge for DCPS students learning in school and through open meal sites for SY20-21, we strongly urge families with children who do not attend a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) school to complete the Free and Reduced Meal (FARM) application as soon as possible to ensure maximum P-EBT benefits are received once they become available. More information on FARM can be found here. Paper FARM applications can be picked up and submitted at any open DCPS site or school. For all questions related to the DC Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) program, please direct families to visit DHS’s P-EBT webpage and complete the web form to contact the Department of Human Services.

Join DCPS Family Engagement for their newest Family Engagement Program:

DCPS Family Cornerstones Live!

We are happy to announce that we will be hosting Family Cornerstone Parent University workshops! Fun and learning for the whole family.

Family Cornerstones Live are hosted on Thursdays at 5:30pm

Family Cornerstones - College Pathways Bingo

March 4th

Join the Latino Student Fund virtual event as they focus on Exploring Future Pathways with Your Child. RSVP HERE

Family Cornerstones - Standing Up and Speaking Out

March 11th

Join the Imagination Stage virtual event as they focus on Building a Sense of Advocacy in Your Child RSVP HERE

Family Cornerstones - Yoga Stories

March 25th

Join the Imagination Stage virtual event as they focus on Strengthening Your Bond as a Family RSVP HERE

Family Cornerstones - Banking On Our Future

April 8th

Join Operation Hope virtual event as they focus on Supporting Habits for a Financially Stable Lifestyle RSVP HERE

Family Cornerstones - Environmental Stewardship Starts on Your Block

April 22nd

Join Urban Adventure Squad's virtual event as they focus on Encouraging Community Involvement RSVP HERE

Family Cornerstones - Represent Yourself and Community through Public Art

April 29th

Join Urban Adventure Squad's virtual event as they focus on Celebrating Being Washingtonian RSVP HERE

What are Family Cornerstones?

Discover activities to try as a family on our Family Cornerstones page!

All DCPS Families can and are supporting their child's education in many unique ways. Family Cornerstones provide a roadmap for families from Pre-K to Graduation that highlights a few key shared learning experiences. These key experiences are essential to the partnership between DCPS schools and families.

DCPS submitted the Impact Aid application on January 13, 2021 for all surveys received to date. Please continue to encourage all DCPS families to complete one survey per child in their preferred language as eligible surveys collected through Sunday, May 30 will be included in our application amendment to generate additional federal funds for DCPS. Surveys can be found on our Impact Aid webpage. For additional questions, please contact DCPSImpactAid@k12.dc.gov.

The DC Health and OSSE Immunization Policy for In-Person Attendance requires school health teams to check immunization compliance status before a student returns to the building. With certain exception, including student experience homelessness, all students must be up to date with their childhood immunizations to attend any in-person activities. OSSE's website has resources available for schools and families to support meeting immunization requirements. For questions about the Immunization Policy for In-Person Attendance, please contact osse.schoolhealth@dc.gov. For questions about immunization information, data, and locations where families can receive immunizations, schools can visit DCPS ReOpen Strong or contact DC Health at doh.immunization@dc.gov or visit the DC Health Immunization Program webpage.

We recognize that some staff working in person and families attending in-person programming may be traveling over the spring break. Per the Mayor’s Order 2020-110, individuals who have traveled to any place other than Maryland or Virginia are required to either (1) self-monitor and limit daily activities—including not attending school—for 14 days after returning to the District (or coming to work for a District agency), or (2) self-monitor and limit daily activities—including not attending school—for three to five days and then receive a negative COVID-19 PCR COVID-19 test.

All DCPS staff members who are working in person, whether they are a District resident or not, can show their school ID to be prioritized at any District public testing sites.

See DC Health’s Guidance for Travel for more information and the flyer below for easy-to-follow dos and don’ts on this topic.

The next meeting of the Ward 3 - Wilson Feeder Education Network (W3EdNet) is on Monday, March 8 at 7pm via Zoom (link below). We are very happy to host Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn. They will be on hand to update us about reopening, school budgets, and overcrowding. Mr. Kihn will begin with some remarks and then we will have a Q&A session.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Melody, Karin, and Brian

******************************************************************

The Ward 3 - Wilson High School Feeder Pattern Education Network (W3EdNet) is a group made up of PTO Board and LSAT members as well as other interested community members. We aim to work together to support schools in the Wilson feeder pattern, host community events of common interest, and advocate for better schools across the city.

Website: https://www.w3ednet.com/

Twitter: @W3EdNet

Email: w3ednet@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.co

You are invited to a Zoom meeting.

When: Mar 8, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://interactivestrategies.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tc-mspj4oHdJjQujXH-JETTBO90AOk9H7

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Future W3EdNet Dates:

Monday, April 5 -- TBD

Monday, May 10 -- Council Chair Phil Mendelson

Monday, June 7 -- DC Education Research Collaborative

Greetings!

As a valued partner, I wanted to contact you directly to inform you that our Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) Student Application is OPEN! I am asking for your support to help promote the program within your network as we work to increase the pipeline and supply of minority and female engineers. We do that through the SEEK — an engineering immersion that exposes under-served students to STEM.

SEEK Program:

• 100% Virtual
• 100% Free
• All students will receive a tablet for program access and all supplies needed to participate

Program Dates and Curriculum:

• June 14 - July 2 (Virtual Program 1)
• July 19 - August 6 (Virtual Program 2)
  
• Drone, Robotics, and Coding

Registration is Now Open:

• To register for the #SEEK2021 program, visit our landing page at https://seek.nsbe.org/. Feel free to share this link with parents and leaders within your communities.

Follow Us on Social Media:

• Facebook: NSBE.SEEK | Instagram: @SEEKNBSE | Twitter: @SEEKNSBE

In addition, I have attached a few flyers for distribution.

Thank you and feel free to reach out with any questions.

David Varnado

Manager, Pre-College Programs

National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)

205 Daingerfield Road

Alexandria, VA 22314

703-966-6793 mobile