Hearst Family Update
March 20, 2022
Principal's Message
Good afternoon, Owl Families!
Happy first day of Spring and I hope that you've been able to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend.
As always, thank you for your continued support and I hope that you enjoyed the weekend,
Jen
About Us
Email: attendance@hearstes.org
Website: www.hearstes.org
Location: 3950 37th Street Northwest, Washington, DC, United States
Phone: (202) 282-0106
Facebook: facebook.com/hearstes
Twitter: @hearstes
News and Announcements from Hearst
Upcoming Key Dates
- April 1 - School Year 2022-2023 Enrollment Opens
- April 11-15 - Spring Break
- April 18 - PD/Records Day for Staff (no school for students)
- June 27 - Last Day of School for Students
- June 28 - Last Day of School for Staff
- July 5 - August 5 - DCPS Offers Summer Programming for Students (see Chancellor's 3/7/22 email to families for additional details)
- August 29 - First Day of SY22-23 for K-5
- September 1 & 2 - First Days of SY22-23 for PK
Follow Up on Unsafe Behaviors After School
Last week I posted on Bloomz about unsafe behaviors after school that I have observed and that have been reported to me by Hearst staff and families. This post has generated discussion among some members in our community and below are a few clarifications and responses to questions that were posed in the discussion.
First and foremost, it's important to note that Hearst Elementary School uses the Hearst DPR playground facilities during the school day and since the first day of school, staff have discussed with students our expectations around using the playground facilities safely. When we are monitoring kids on the playground or anywhere on school grounds, we continually reinforce these expectations when we see they are not being met. Most of these expectations (e.g. one person at a time on an individual swing; if a ball goes over the fence and outside of the playground, tell an adult and an adult will get it; do not throw rocks, sticks, acorns, etc. at anyone; etc.) have a goal of preventing students from being injured and allowing students to play safely together.
Additionally, since the first day of school we have taught and reinforced how we move around our school campus safely. There are areas on our school campus that we use regularly and areas that are off limits and we never use, for example the hillsides around the school building that lead to Tilden St and Idaho Avenue and the south and east sides of the trailers. If kids express an interest in going into these areas, we explain that those areas are not safe places for them to play or be in. If students are unsafe and do not follow expectations on the playground or campus, we provide logical consequences for these behaviors and can also use consequences as outlined in Title 5-B Chapter B25 of the DC Municipal Regulations (commonly referred to as “Chapter 25”).
DCPS student discipline rules outlined in Chapter 25 do apply to negative behaviors and events which occur off campus and after school. According to Chapter 25, DCPS student discipline rules can be enforced by school officials when, among other things, “a student has committed a prohibited offense off school grounds or outside regular school hours that results in a significant disruption to the school environment.” 5-B DCMR § 2501.1(e).
DCPS guidance to schools is that student discipline can be enforced when, as the rule above explains, the incident results in a significant disruption to the school environment. This disruption to the school environment can be demonstrated in several ways including, but not limited to, the following: 1) Creating a hostile environment on campus; 2) Creating a threatening environment on campus; 3) Creating an environment of fear on campus; 4) Causing students, staff, volunteers and/or community members to feel unsafe on campus: 5) Causing students, staff, volunteers and/or other community members to feel intimidated on campus; 6) Posing an immediate threat of igniting or re-igniting another negative event on campus; 7) Posing an immediate threat of igniting or re-igniting a retaliatory event on campus; and 8) Using social media to intimidate, threaten or incite others to violence on campus. As outlined in Chapter 25, school officials can apply a variety of consequences when students are engaging in the behaviors outlined above up to and including suspension.
As stated in my original Bloomz post, it is a liability and safety issue for kids to engage in the unsafe behaviors examples that were listed and we are also seeing these unsafe behaviors after school sometimes spill over into conflicts in school the following day(s).
Thus, when students endanger their safety and the safety of others after school and this behavior is observed by Hearst students or staff or reported by students (X hit me with bamboo sticks repeatedly after school and so today at recess I pushed X to the ground and X was hurt) and verified by staff and/or student witnesses, we will follow up with the individual families of students involved to report this behavior and ask for the individual families support in reinforcing that these unsafe behaviors are not acceptable. Please note I am not asking other families to report unsafe behaviors of other people's children to me or other Hearst staff. If students continue to engage in unsafe behaviors after school that impact the school community and/or campus, we will again follow up with families of individual students and request their support in addressing these behaviors with students. We also may use additional consequences as outlined in Chapter 25.
If the student engaging in unsafe behaviors is unsupervised by an adult after school because they self-dismiss and continues to engage in unsafe behaviors and remain unsupervised by an adult, in line with Responsive Classroom practices, we will revoke the privilege for the individual student to self-dismiss, a logical consequence. We will always seek a logical consequence first rather than jumping to consequences outlined in Chapter 25 such as suspension.
Logical consequences also mean that consequences may look different in response to different unsafe behaviors and thus, for example if one self-dismissal student intentionally and seriously injures another student after school, that self-dismissal student will likely immediately lose the privilege of self-dismissing for the rest of the year. If another self-dismissal student repeatedly engages in an unsafe behavior and, for example, jumps off the highest blue piece of the climbing apparatus and breaks a different bone each time, I may revoke the privilege of self-dismissing for a specific time period, for example until the students' broken bones heal.
In terms of questions raised about Flex and Rec students and other non-Hearst, non-Flex, non-Rec kids on the playground , Flex and Rec have their procedures for implementing consequences for students who engage in unsafe behaviors, up to and including removing kids from their programs. If kids continue to engage in unsafe behaviors and are Hearst students, then the logical consequences and Chapter 25 consequences will be applied to them. For non-Hearst students who engage in unsafe behaviors, my suggestion is to speak to the adult supervising them and if there is no adult, speak to DPR staff, who do have the ability to enforce DPR-specific consequences on their facilities.
Finally, several commenters on the Bloomz post have called for a community meeting about safety on the school and DPR grounds after school. At the April PTA meeting, the Hearst team will be discussing how we can all support students' social emotional learning (SEL) needs and we're happy to talk through supporting SEL needs of students after school as well. If caregivers would like to engage in more specific conversations with one another about after school behaviors and using the DPR facility safely, I'd ask that those who are interested organize that conversation and invite DPR staff and me to attend.
FAQs from Families
Q. Could you please provide an update on the status of provision of picnic tables under the tents in front of the school and any shelter to be provided in the back seating area?
Q. We understand there may be some plans to install more permanent shade/shelter structures for the back seating area. Could the school provide temporary tents (like the ones the school used in the fall) in the back seating area while we wait for the permanent structures?
A. Given the expense of the tables and the limited funds in the PTA's current reopening budget line, rather than ordering additional picnic tables for the front of the school, we'll be ordering temporary shade structures for the rear plaza in the coming days using these funds. This will allow us to continue to use this area for multiple lunch periods for multiple grades as the weather gets warmer. I'm not sure if this is a spoiler alert but at this year's auction, we'll be fundraising for a permanent shade structure over the rear plaza and hopefully there will be enough funds raised that we can also purchase additional picnic tables for the front of the school.
Enrolling for School Year 2022-2023
Reminder: Support Students' SEL Needs
Since the start of the pandemic, we have seen an increase in the number and types of SEL supports that students need and we support students' SEL needs through a variety of programming. We use Responsive Classroom as our SEL foundation and this school year, have layered on additional supports through a program called Zones of Regulation.
In the same way that some students require more intensive academic supports that others, we know that some students require more intensive SEL supports. For students for whom this is the case, Ms. Sartin, Hearst social worker, and Ms. DeWerd, Hearst school psychologist, meet with them in smaller groups/individually to provide those supports. Additionally, after conducting focus groups and empathy interviews with students our Hearst Design Lab Team is piloting additional SEL supports across the school.
If you have a specific concern about issues that your child has raised or raises, please be sure to reach out to your child's teacher(s) to discuss these issues. Feel free to also loop in Ms. Sartin, Ms. DeWerd, Dr Chen (grades PK, 1, 3, 4), and me (grades K, 2, 5, CES) as well so that we are aware of the situation and if your child reports bullying, definitely loop us in so that we can conduct a bullying investigation. Know that in our April PTA meeting, we'll be sharing additional SEL resources and information with families. In the interim, below are helpful tips for supporting kids who have experienced trauma. Additionally, following are links to a helpful article to support families in understanding the difference between bullying and rude or mean behavior: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bullying_b_2188819 and the difference between bullying and conflict: between https://www.verywellfamily.com/conflict-and-bullying-difference-460495.
Reminder: Health Certificates and Medication Orders
Reminder: Hearst Yearbooks on Sale
Yearbooks are on sale for pre-order! The early bird special is $25 until the end of March. After that, each book is $30. The yearbooks will arrive near the end of the school year. Please do not pay for shipping; click the free shipping to the school! The Hearst yearbook contains portraits of each homeroom class and some candid photos from the year. If you have any questions, please reach out to Mrs. Boyle and Ms. Schiers at ashley.boyle@k12.dc.gov and sarah.schiers@k12.dc.gov
Every year we sell out of yearbooks; don't let it happen to you. Reserve your copy today!
https://freedphotography.simplephoto.com/prepay/44607122?code=HEARST22YBEB
CODE: HEARST22YBEB
Reminder: The Return of the Hearst Auction- Volunteers Needed!
Reminder: Asymptomatic Student Testing on Wednesdays
Starting the week of 11/8, our asymptomatic testing time will move to 9:45am on Wednesday. During a typical week, we will pull test a random sample of approximately 25% of students who have not opted out of testing. Knowing that some students in this group will not be able to produce a sample or their saliva sample will be rejected, this will allow us to ensure we are hitting the goal of testing 20% of our students each week. Know that we will attempt to test at least one student from each homeroom each week. Here are a few things to know about asymptomatic testing :
- Teachers will be provided with names of students to be tested and those students will be escorted by staff to our testing location.
- Because the test is a saliva test, students identified for testing cannot eat, drink, chew gum, or have on chapstick an hour before their testing window.
Families of kids who are tested will receive notification that their child was tested and information on how to access the online portal where they will be able to view results. Your child may indicate that they were pulled for testing but they were not given a letter with online portal log in information. If this is the case, this means that your child did not produce enough saliva to fill the test tube. Please reach out to Ms. Johnson (kestaganer.johnson@k12.dc.gov) with any questions and/or if you would like to opt your child out of asymptomatic testing. If you wish to opt-out your student from receiving any COVID-19 test at school, you must complete the available at osse.dc.gov/page/school-based-covid-19-testing and email it to the school at kestaganer.johnson@k12.dc.gov.
The website to access results is: https://shieldt3k12.pointnclick.com/ and our Agency Code is: HearstES and the website . As a parent, you should be able to enable notifications be sent to you if a testing result is available for your child.
We believe that the email you use to register on site has to be the primary contact's email used to enroll your child. You will also have to wait at least 12 hours until after the student was tested for the agency code to work.
News and Announcements from DCPS
Mask Mandate Update: Nurse Health Suite and Health Isolation Rooms
Two Weeks Left in Spring 2022 Panorama Survey!
Elementary Summer Acceleration Registration – Now Live
Calendar Updates to this School Year and Beyond
Impact Aid Survey – Amendment Deadline (4/30)
Food & Nutrition Services Invites Students to Participate in the 2nd Annual #MyTrayMyWay Campaign! (4/4-5/6)
Reminder: DCPS Parent University
You are invited to join DCPS Parent University virtual sessions this spring RSVP and explore all the sessions at bit.ly/dcpsparentursvp.
- 3/22- 9th-11th Grade Guide: Using the Guide to Reach Your Goals
- 3/29- Worry and Anxiety in Children and Adolescents: Strategies to Help Kids Cope
- 4/5- Transition Planning: Preparing for Life After High School
- 4/19- Summer Learning: Going Beyond the Classroom
- 4/20- Stronger Together: Moving from Fear-based Parenting to Social Justice Parenting
- 4/26- Assessment Guide for Families: What is my Child Taking this Spring
- 5/3- Finding Ways to Recharge and Support Your Child's Learning
Reminder: Pre-K Test to Stay Pilot Expands
Over the last few weeks, we have been utilizing a test-to-stay protocol for a limited number of positive cases in classrooms with our youngest learners who are not yet eligible for the life-saving vaccine.Beginning this week, if any positive COVID-19 case is reported in a Pre-K classroom, all students in that classroom will be participate in the test-to-stay pilot.
Through a mix of at-home and in-school testing, Pre-K students will be tested at least two times within a week should there be a positive case reported in their classroom.
The test-to-stay pilot program is designed to keep our youngest learners safely in the class with rigorous testing and limit the disruption that classroom closures have on families. However, there may be times when operational impacts may require a class to transition to virtual learning for a period.
As a reminder, all students who are fully vaccinated may continue to attend school in-person if they are identified as a close contact. We encourage all eligible students to get vaccinated as best way to avoid serious illness and to be able to continue to attend school in-person.
Reminder: Ready for Pre-K! Sessions Hosted By Dr. Traci Baxley (2/16, 3/16 & 4/20)
News and Announcements From Other Organizations
April 30th Friendship Place Walk to End Homelessness
Friendship Place is proud to be re-launching our in-person Friendship Place Walk to End Homelessness this April 30th, on the National Mall!
DC Public School faculty and families have been such generous supporters of Friendship Place over the years – this is a great community engagement opportunity for your families.
To sign-up, all you need to do is go to friendshipwalks.org.
There you can create a team, join an existing team, or just register as yourself.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you again for all you do! We look forward to seeing you on April 30th!
Chris Rutledge
(he/him/his)
Chief Development Officer
3655 Calvert Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Cell: 202.957.7834
The Chemical Society of Washington: Poem Contest and Celebrating Earth Week
I’m writing on behalf of the Outreach committee of The Chemical Society of Washington (your local section of the American Chemical Society). We have two upcoming, chemistry-themed education opportunities we would like to share with your community at Hearst Elementary School.
The first is “Celebrating Chemistry” a pamphlet published by the American Chemical Society (ACS) around the theme of Earth Week. The pamphlet is aimed at kids ages 9 to 12 and is full of and wonderful information about chemistry, combined with simple and safe activities for students. The theme this year is “The Buzz about Bugs: insect Chemistry”. Here is a link to the pamphlet: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/outreach/celebratng-chemistry-editions.html
The second opportunity is the “Poem Contest”. This activity gives students of all ages an opportunity to be creative around the theme of Insect Chemistry. Students are invited to create poems and illustrations around the theme. Local submissions are judged based on grade categories (k-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 grades). Local winners advance to the national level where ACS awards cash prizes. It is a highly engaging activity which merges science and arts. Further details about the Poem Contest cab be found here: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/outreach/ccew/plan-an-event/illustrated-poem-contest.html
The Poem Contest submission deadline is April 24, 2022. Poems should be submitted by sending them to CSW@acs.org
Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to connect further with The Chemical Society of Washington.
All the best,
Stephanie L. Moffitt, Ph. D.
ACS Councilor, CSW Outreach Committee
Materials Research Engineer
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 8615
Engineering Laboratory, Building 226, A323
Gaithersburg, MD 20899