Scotty Updates
A Newsletter from Scotland Elementary School
November 8, 2021
Scotty Updates
The Scotty Updates has been created to provide families and staff with information regarding upcoming events, happenings, and programs at Scotland Elementary School. Please take time each Monday to review our newsletter. Thank you!
A Message from Mrs. Katkocin
Dear Scotland Families,
I hope you are all well, and had a great weekend! It was so nice to have an extra hour of sleep on Sunday! Just a reminder that there will be no school on Thursday in honor of Veterans Day. As the days get shorter and the weather gets cooler, please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately. Students go outside for recess and fresh air when weather permits!
Please find some very important updates, as shared by Dr. Da Silva on Friday.
PreK- Gr 6 COVID-19 Screening Program
We had another successful week of screening tests at RPS. On Monday, Quest ran close to 500 screening tests of unvaccinated pre k-6th graders. One of these tests came back positive and was confirmed positive by a 2nd PCR test. Contact tracing for this case was done. So far this school year we have not had a case of confirmed student to student COVID-19 transmission in an elementary school.
Next week screening will be conducted on Monday and Tuesday according to the following schedule.
Tuesday, November 9
- Scotland Elementary School: 8:50 am
Health and Safety
5-11 year olds are now eligible to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. To schedule a vaccine for your child visit https://portal.ct.gov/vaccine-portal or https://www.vaccines.gov/.
RPS has reached out to the state of CT to schedule a mobile vaccine clinic to visit the district in the coming weeks for parents who would like to utilize that option. We will share more details as soon as we have them.
Screen and Stay
On Thursday the commissioner of the DPH and the Governor announced a transformative change to COVID-19 protocols for CT schools called “Screen and Stay.” Here is a link to the press conference. CT schools and families will be given the option to end the practice of quarantine after exposure to COVID-19 at school as long as the exposed individual remains free of COVID-19 symptoms and completes a daily screening tool. Students and staff with symptoms of COVID-19 and no known exposure will still be required to get a negative COVID-19 test or isolate for 10 days before returning to school.
The following information is from the CT DPH:
Students and staff are eligible to participate in Screen and Stay if the close contact with a COVID-19 case occurs under the following circumstances:
- Exclusively during the school day. (no extra curricular or social contact)
- If indoors or on a school bus, other school transportation, and both the contact and the COVID-19 case were consistently masked during the exposure even if brief unmasked periods ( e.g. snack time, cafeteria) occurred , as long as six feet or more of space was consistently maintained.
- If outdoors, the individuals were masked or unmasked but were supervised by staff (e.g. mask breaks, physical education, recess).
- The close contact remains asymptomatic (any symptoms revert to regular isolation/quarantine).
Examples of close contact scenarios that do not support a Screen and Stay approach would be:
- Contact with a case during interscholastic or other athletic activities (other than during supervised outdoor physical education and recess)
- Contact occurring during social interactions or similar activities outside of school ( e.g. birthday parties, dining out, sleepovers)
- Contact where the individuals were not consistently and correctly wearing masks indoors and six-food distance was not maintained
- The contact occurred between members of the same household (e.g. the contact lives with the case)
- If, upon return to school, the contact cannot consistently and correctly wear a mask.
Families will not be required to participate. Families may still elect to have children quarantined after exposure to COVID-19 if they chose to do so. Our health and safety team including Ridgefield Director of Health, Ed Briggs, RPS Medical Advisor, Dr. James Ahern, and Aaron Crook, RN, Director of Nursing have reviewed this new option. This information will be shared at the BOE meeting Monday evening.
Kind regards,
Jill
Honoring our Veterans 🇺🇸
Pumpkin Carving Winner!
Snaps around Scotland! 📸
Events and Happenings 🗓
WEEK AT A GLANCE:
Monday, November 8th:
- D Day
Tuesday, November 9th:
- E Day
Wednesday, November 10th:
- F Day
Thursday, November 11th:
- No School - Veterans Day
Friday, November 12th:
- A Day
*****************************************************************************************
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Thursday, November 11th:
- Veterans Day - No School
Friday, November19th:
- Early Dismissal 11:40am
- Parent/Teacher Conferences
Monday, November 22nd:
- Early Dismissal 11:40am
- Parent/Teacher Conferences
Tuesday, November 23rd:
- Early Dismissal 11:40am
- Parent/Teacher Conferences
Wednesday, November 24th:
- Early Dismissal 11:40am
- Day before Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 25th:
- No School
- Thanksgiving Day
Friday, November 26th:
- No school
- Day after Thanksgiving Day
A Note from Our PTA
Scotty Spirit Wear Store NOW OPEN!
We’re excited to launch a new Scotland Spiritwear store in partnership with Custom T’s and More located right here in Ridgefield! ❤️🖤
You can access the shop via our PTA website as well as through this direct link: http://shop.tsandmore.com/ses/shop/home
Order online by November 15th for an estimated arrival date of November 30th. Please note, the arrival date may change due to different vendors and ongoing supply chain challenges. We appreciate your patience!
Key Highlights:
-Orders will be delivered directly to your child’s classroom
-All orders will be placed online, goodbye to paper forms!
Please reach out with any creative ideas you may have. We’re always open to explore new apparel ideas!
Questions?
The PTA Needs You! Volunteers Wanted!
We're so excited to get parents involved again at SES! We're so LUCKY to be able to offer opportunities for you to help our kiddos and our school!!
Volunteering with the PTA allows you to contribute your skills and knowledge for the benefit of both your own children and the greater school community. You’ll also meet and make new friends!
Please fill out the form and you'll hear back from us soon!
CLICK HERE to find out all the ways YOU can make a difference this year - opportunities available for those with extra time and those with little time!)
Important Information to Keep Handy! 📝
Cafeteria Snack!
Quarantine Learning Information
If an entire class is placed in quarantine, students will be logging into their Google Classroom, and will participate in daily lessons with their classroom teacher. Our essentials teachers will also be logging into the Google Classroom to provide virtual instruction for students.
If individual students are placed in quarantine (perhaps due to an outside exposure, or an exposure on the bus, sports, etc), students will be invited to join our Quarantine Learning Classroom. You can view the Quarantine Learning Parent Handbook here. During their time home, students will receive grade level appropriate instruction provided to all students in their grade level district-wide who have also been placed in quarantine. You can find additional information about Quarantine Learning, shared by Dr. Da Silva on September 10th.
Our virtual learning expectations in either situation remain the same as last year.
- Students will be visible to the teacher and other participating students (please remind your child to have their camera on throughout the lessons).
- Parents are encouraged to have their students independently participate via a location that is quiet and free of distraction, to the extent possible. Other individuals in the home are not permitted to participate in or be visible on the video conference, or otherwise observe the lesson, other than reasonable adult supervision of the student.
- Parents and students are prohibited from recording video conferencing sessions. The district will also not be recording any classes/sessions.
- Depending on each student’s individual circumstance, teachers or service providers may request the facilitation of the supervising adult to assist the student in engaging in the session.
- In addition, if your child needs to leave for a period of time during instruction (i.e. doctor or dentist appointment), kindly notify the quarantine learning or classroom teacher ahead of time, just as you would if they were in the building.
As always, I thank you for your partnership and support as we continue to navigate this school year together.
Health & Safety Update
The CT CSDE and DPH released updated quarantine and isolation guidelines for schools this week via Addendum 5. RPS will be following this guidance, please take a moment to read it. Key components that families need to know are:
Vaccinated and unvaccinated students and staff should stay home from school if you have symptoms; and contact your school nurse. You may return to school with a negative COVID-19 test after symptoms have resolved. Vaccinated and unvaccinated students who come to school with a symptom of COVID-19 will be sent home by the school nurse. Students who are sick should tend to their health and will not access quarantine learning.- Fully vaccinated students and staff who have been exposed to COVID-19 and have not developed any symptoms may continue to come to school. Unvaccinated students and staff who have been exposed to COVID-19 must quarantine at home. They can get a test on day 5 after exposure, and return to school on day 8 if they remain free of symptoms. Students who are required to quarantine and are symptom free will have access to quarantine learning.
Welcome Back Library Volunteers!
Click on the links here or find them on the SES PTA WEBSITE:
It's not scary to help out in the LIBRARY!
Schedules
School Lunch
- School Lunch will be available from the first day of school. Chartwells is the District-wide food service provider. The school lunch menu is available online on the RPS website; click District Offices and click on Food Service, as well as below.
- School lunch will continue to be free during the 21-22 school year. Snacks and additional items will be available through The Lunch Time POS system that allows students to purchase their lunch by entering a 5-digit code at the cash register. These items can be prepaid online at School Payment Portal Powered By LunchTime Software and at the school kitchen.
- Questions in regard to Lunch Time POS can be directed to John Morris, RPS Food Service Director at 203-894-5550 x1127 or john.morris2@compass-usa.com
We will follow a similar drop off / pick up procedure that we did last year.
Arrival
- Drop off begins at 8:30am. Please do not drop off your child prior to 8:30am as there will be no supervision at this time.
Dismissal
- Pick up will begin at 3:20pm.
- Each day, please have your child(ren)’s first and last name displayed on your passenger visor, and have it remain visible until your child is in the car. This needs to be bold and large enough to be visible at a distance. This is a very important step to ensure we have your child ready when you arrive.
- For the safety of both students and staff, proceed carefully and slowly through the lot.
- Please have your child exit/enter the vehicle when your gear is in the park position and is one of the cars at the front of the line designated for drop off.
- Students must exit the vehicle on the passenger side (building side) of the vehicle. Multiple children must exit on the passenger side. It is dangerous to exit/enter on the driver's side of the vehicle!
- Students need to have all of their items ready in hand and will then exit the car immediately.
- Parents, please stay in your vehicle at all times so that the process will prevent backups on Barlow Mountain Road.
- If you miss the drop off time (after 8:45 a.m.), please park in the front lot and walk your child across the designated crosswalk to the main entrance of the building. If you arrive after the drop off window and must park in the parking lot, we ask that you kindly use the crosswalk.
School Dismissal Manager
We will continue to use School Dismissal Manager this year at Scotland. Please click below for information regarding this system. This system will be available to families in late August. A welcome letter will be emailed to families when the system is available. If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us!
Contact Us!
Email: jkatkocin@ridgefieldps.net
Website: https://ses.ridgefield.org/
Location: 111 Barlow Mountain Road, Ridgefield, CT, USA
Phone: 203-894-5825
Twitter: @Scotland_Elem