The Hardy Herald Week 2
September 11, 2021
We Will Never Forget September 11, 2011
Dates to Remember
- 9/11- Patriot Day
- 9/14- Third Grade Reading Growth Assessment
- 9/15- Fourth Grade Reading Growth Assessment
- 9/16- Third Grade Math Growth Assessment
- 9/17- Fourth Grade Math Growth Assessment
- 9/24- Early Dismissal for Students @ 1PM- Smithfield High School Homecoming
- 9/27- School Picture Day
- 10/7- Progress Reports Issued
- 10/11 - Student Holiday/ Staff Development- No school for students
- 11/11- Veteran's Day- All Schools and Offices are Closed
- 11/12- Student Holiday/ Staff Development- No school for students
- 11/19- Report Cards Issued
Remind Notification App
WELCOME BACK MUSTANGS!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!
We Made It!
Hardy families, words cannot express the immense gratitude and appreciation we have for your patience and flexibility during the first week of school. Thank you for allowing us to revise a few procedures regarding our dismissal process in hopes for a smoother process. As you are aware, we are experiencing a severe bus driver shortage in IWCS and Hampton Roads. As such, the impact is taking a toll on us all due to bus drivers taking on additional stops, which ultimately impacts the length of the bus ride home. However, as educators, we are resilient and welcome our unexpected challenges by revising, remaining flexible and starting the next day with a new mindset. With that said, last week is in the past and we look forward to a new week.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs. Laura Dewees (Assistant Principal) @ ldewees@iwcs.k12.va.us or myself Shante Denson (Principal) @ sdenson@iwcs.k12.va.us should you have any questions or concerns. You may also contact our School Office Manager, Ms. Shelby Matthews @ smatthews@iwcs.k12.va.us or our Bookkeeper, Mrs. Miriam Arnett @ marnett@iwcs.k12.va.us for questions regarding attendance, PowerSchool, financial needs, etc. Welcome to our new "normal" and again...welcome back!!!
IMPORTANT: Arrival and Dismissal Updates
- Students cannot be dropped off prior to 8:35 am.
- Please display your blue car tag in on your dashboard. Once you have your child, please remove the car tag from the dashboard. This will inform us that you have received your child.
- When in the drop-off lane for dismissal, please turn your engines off when your number is called. A staff member will direct you to turn off your engine. This is for the safety of ALL students.
- Parents MUST remain in the car at all times! Staff members are available to assist students exiting and entering the car on the Passenger side.
- PLEASE DO NOT PASS IN THE CAR DROP-OFF LANE UNLESS DIRECTED BY A STAFF MEMBER. We will give a signal to dismiss cars once students are safely loaded.
- Please ensure your child’s teacher is aware of ANY dismissal changes PRIOR to 12:00 pm. A preferred method of communication is Remind or email.
- If you cannot find or lost your blue car tag, please email your teacher and we will send another tag home with the child.
The Education Foundation Gala
Pull out your formal wear because we are getting "All Dressed Up With Somewhere to Go - Finally" this November! Your ticket includes an open bar, a live band, food catered by Smithfield Station, and a silent and live auction!
Go get your tickets TODAY!
DAILY HOME SCREENING
We wanted to take this time to remind you about the symptoms related to COVID-19. We've included all the symptoms identified by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) related to COVID-19.
If your child is experiencing ANY COVID symptoms, please call the school, contact the teacher or speak with the nurse. Parents are urged to keep their child at home if he/she is showing any of the symptoms below. ALSO, if a parent or family member in the household is COVID Positive, please contact the school nurse immediately.
The goal for Isle of Wight County Schools is to remain OPEN for all students and staff. However, we need your support in order to be successful. Help protect your community and your school by keeping your child home when they are sick.
Thank you for keeping our schools safe!
Important Reminders
Masks are REQUIRED for all students and staff in the building.
MASKS ARE REQUIRED TO BE WORN ON SCHOOL BUSES TO COMPLY WITH A FEDERAL ORDER.
Please click on the informational document below for specific guidelines on health and mitigation protocols.
All COVID related reports must be communicated to the school nurse.
Please see nurse Nancy Cowan or send her an email ncowan@iwcs.k12.va.us for prescription medicine intake. All medicine must be accompanied by a parent and include a physician’s prescription. Students are not allowed to transport medicine to school.
Arrival and Dismissal Procedures
- Parents may drop students off starting at 8:35 in the front of the school.
- Parents will not be allowed to enter or leave the parking lot between 8:35 and 8:55.
Parent Drop Off:
- Starting at 8:35 am, parents/guardians will drop students off in the morning in the front of the school.
- Staff members will assist with unloading students from the car. There is no need for parents/guardians to get out of the car.
- Students must exit the car from the passenger side and enter the school through the designated front doors.
- Parents were assigned a unique number on a large car tag and given 2 car tags during open house. If you have more than one child, you will need more than one pass - one pass per child/student being picked-up.
- One pass will be used to hang on the student’s book bag (clip provided) and the other passes are to be used at the parent’s discretion to share with family and carpool friends.
- Parents must have the large car tag clearly displayed on the dashboard during arrival. The assigned staff member will verify the number on the student’s book bag, with the car tag on the dashboard for accuracy.
- If both numbers match, students will be released to go to class. Students being dropped off after 8:55 am must be signed in by a parent/guardian in the front office.
- ALL students will be assigned a car tag number regardless of their transportation status. This will assist with future student dismissals.
Bus Dismissal:
- Students are not permitted to ride a bus other than the bus they were assigned to according to their home address by transportation.
- Students attending the YMCA program at school will report to the cafeteria.
Parent Pick-up:
- Parents will park one after another in the front of the school starting at 3:45 pm.
- Students who are designated as parent pick-up are dismissed from the through the assigned door.
- Once students are dismissed, the assigned staff member will verify the car tag on the dashboard with the number on the student’s backpack.
- If the number on the dashboard matches the number on the child’s backpack, the student will be released to the parent/guardian.
- Once in the parent-pick up line, the parent/guardian must stay in the line as it is extremely dangerous to pass a car waiting in line.
- All parents will be released to leave once the staff member gives the signal.
- If there is a change in your child's dismissal plan, please contact the office BEFORE 3:00 PM.
Car Riders Safety Instructions:
In an effort to maintain the safest possible environment for our students and families, please read and follow the expectations below for drop-off and pick-up of students in the car line:
- All vehicles must be turned off while waiting for their child to report to the car.
- Please help us keep the parent pick-up/drop-off line moving by displaying your car tag on the dashboard each afternoon for our staff to clearly see. For student safety, cars not displaying this sign and/or cars with parents/guardians that are unfamiliar to our staff will be asked to park and go to the main office to sign a child out.
- Stay in one line and pull your car up as far as you can along the bus ramp at the direction of the staff member. Even if there is not a car directly behind you, chances are one will be soon. It is courteous, efficient, and safe to pull up as far as you can to allow the maximum number of cars to line up along the bus ramp.
- Allow your child to exit and enter from the PASSENGER SIDE of the car, directly onto the bus ramp. A staff member will directly assist your child as they exit and enter cars onto the bus ramp. It is very dangerous to exit and enter on the driver’s side and walk through traffic.
- Never pull around a car that is unloading. Cars passing other cars actually create situations that slow traffic down. Oftentimes the few seconds that may be saved, lead to stops in traffic that actually lose time and create dangerous situations. This arrival/dismissal process is new and we are all learning together. We will work to expedite the unloading and loading process as quickly as possible.
- Never park your car or leave your car unattended on the bus ramp to come inside the school for any reason.
- Above all, please model cooperation, patience and teamwork for your child/children at all times in the parking lot and car line.
Device Insurance Options
Child Nutrition Services for the 2021-2022 School Year
A Message from IWCS Food Service Department:
We are thrilled to be back serving your child for the 2021-2022 school year! After adapting our service last year, we are extremely excited to be back serving all students and grade levels in the cafeteria. To kick off the new year, we wanted to share a few things you and your child can look forward to when it comes to mealtime and get an inside look at the new recipes, concepts, and programs we’ll be
introducing this fall.
Breakfast and Lunch are FREE for ALL Students in the 2021-2022 School Year!
Thanks to flexibilities provided by the USDA’s National School Lunch Program, students will have the opportunity to enjoy a breakfast and a lunch at no cost throughout the academic year. It is important to note that even though applications are not required to receive free meals this year, Isle of Wight County Schools/Chartwells K12 would encourage all of our parents/guardians to complete the free/reduced lunch application by following https://www.lunchapplication.com/. During a non-pandemic year, the USDA requires that we have current applications on file since the old application expires at the beginning of the new year.
As your Food Service Director I am extremely proud to announce that your Food Service Managers along with their team members have worked very hard to customize their own menus for their returning students. I could not think of anyone better to care for the food being served to the children. We strive to treat each and every child in Isle of Wight County Schools as if they were a part of our extended family and to bring even more variety to our menus featuring new recipes with child-approved foods.
Menus, Nutrition, Menu Changes
Through Nutrislice, an innovative app, students, parents and faculty have access to school menus, including nutrition information, allergens and photos. Nutrislice can be downloaded for free from the App store (iOS) or Google Play (Android) and is available on desktop and mobile devices. Menus are also available at https://iwcs.nutrislice.com/.
We are also excited to announce that we will be offering A la Carte items for purchase in cafeteria lines. As to limit points of contact we highly encourage the use of the K12 Payment Center located at https://www.k12paymentcenter.com/ however checks and cash will be accepted. Please note our cafeterias will not be making change and all payment in excess of the A la Carte purchase price will be applied to the individual lunch account
Instructional Tips for Device Applications
Returning to School Safely in IWCS
Hardy Elementary PTA Updates
The PTA would like to extend a great big welcome and welcome back to all our students near or far! We are working on new and exciting ways to support our Mustangs this year.
In this new normal, HES PTA has all our mustangs, teachers, parents, and sponsors close to our hearts.
We are also working on an online payment option and will announce
when that is available. We are keeping our PTA Facebook page active to stay in touch with the HES parents @ https://www.facebook.com/IWCSHardyPTA. You may also email hardymustangs@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.
We cannot thank you enough for supporting our Hardy Mustangs.
We love our Smithfield community and hope to be able to thank you in person soon!
Good Luck in the 21/22 school year!
Mustang Behavior Expectations
Hardy Elementary is implementing a new systematic school-wide behavior program this school year. We are continuing our behavior expectations of Growth, Respect, Empathy, Accountability and Trustworthiness; however, we are specifically defining how these characteristics look in each location within the building (such as hallways, restrooms, offices, cafeteria, playground/school grounds, bus etc.).
- The G.R.E.A.T expectations document is based on a proactive behavior model approach which teaches the behaviors, reinforces and recognizes students who are able to model these behaviors and has systems in place to support students who have a difficult time or may present with more challenging behaviors.
- Behavioral expectations are clearly defined- GREAT- Growth, Respect, Empathy, Accountability and Trustworthiness- for various settings and taught to all students in the school.
- Once appropriate behaviors have been defined and taught, they are acknowledged in various ways on a regular basis. Specifically, the stable to purchase items or house points.
- Every person who works in the school is aware of the behavioral expectations and works to ensure students are consistently getting the same message, regardless of the setting they are in or the adult they come in contact with.
- Individual support is provided for students not responding to the school- wide system. Our school has a system for developing plans for individual students who may have a difficult time and need more support in a school setting. Parents will be notified if their child is in need of the above support(s)
Active support by all stakeholders is imperative. The entire school community is needed in order to make this system successful. Our new behavior system is a building-wide behavior program for establishing a positive school culture.
Cub Scout Information
Recreational Opportunities
Hardy Elementary School
Website: http://hes.iwcs.k12.va.us/
Location: 9311 Hardy Circle, Smithfield, VA, United States
Phone: 757-357-3204
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IsleofWighCountySchools/
Twitter: @HardyElementary