Family Charger News
August 10, 2020
Message from Mrs. Haugen
Dear Charger Families,
We are SO READY to see your child back in school! Our teachers have already been busy preparing their classrooms and discussing how to best engage your child with learning this school year!
This year will present unique challenges for all of us. Patience and grace for others will be important things this year! We will work to communicate important information with you and keep you abreast of school happenings.
Please read this newsletter carefully as there is a LOT of information included about the upcoming school year.
Looking forward to seeing each of you soon!
Sue Haugen, Principal
Open House
Due to current guidelines, we will not be hosting an in person open house this year. Teachers will be in touch the week of August 17th to welcome your child to their class, introduce themselves and answer any questions you might have.
We can't wait to talk with you and are excited to talk with you!
Moreau Heights Elementary Re-entry Plan
Foundational Priorities
Our plan for returning to school is built around the following foundational priorities identified in the Jefferson City School District Re-entry plan that provide for layers of protection for students and staff at Moreau Heights Elementary:
Increased Sanitation Efforts
Social Distancing
Staff & Student Screening Measures
Personal Protective Equipment
Limited Visitor Access to Buildings
Virtual Education Options
Procedures for COVID-19 Infections
Moreau Heights Elementary School Opening Plan 2020-2021
As we begin the school year, there are several strategies that we will be implementing during the school day to provide the highest level of safety and protection for students and staff at Moreau Heights Elementary School.
Our Universal Strategies at Moreau Heights Elementary to Provide Safety and Protection
1. We will keep small, stable groups of students’ together throughout the day to create school families that minimize contact with other classrooms and students and exposure to infection.
2. We will provide students with skills necessary to socially distance themselves from others in the building and help in the sanitation efforts to minimize exposure.
3. We will follow district, state, and federal guidelines for sanitation, social distancing, staff and student screening measures, personal protective equipment, limited visitor access, and procedures for COVID-19 infections.
Specific Information
Our Daily Schedule
Arrival: New routines will be set into place to allow staff and students to socially distance and have temperatures checked as they enter the building. The building will open at 7:15. Students arriving as car riders must remain in their vehicles until given specific guidance to exit the vehicle by staff. Staff are present to support safe exit from cars and entry into the building. When students arrive, they will have their temperature screened (either through thermal imaging or with a handheld infrared thermometer) as they enter through the front doors from the bus or through the lower doors as a car rider. Any student with an elevated temperature will be immediately taken to the nurse for a temperature screening.
As students arrive, they will enter the school and go directly to their classrooms. Students who arrive on a bus must wear a mask while on the bus and keep their mask on until entering their classroom. Students who arrive in cars are not required to wear a mask when entering the building to get into their classrooms, but we encourage masks during this time since social distancing will be a challenge during arrival and dismissal. Students will proceed directly to their classrooms for breakfast. We will have staff stationed along hallways to support student movement through the building.
All classrooms will be equipped with hand sanitizers at the door. We will use a process called “Gel In, Gel Out”. Students and adults will use hand sanitizer to “Gel In and Gel Out” every time upon entering and exiting the school, classrooms, and common areas.
Breakfast will be served in individual classrooms. We will use the same procedures that we used last year for Breakfast in the Classroom.
Seating: Students will be spread throughout the classroom. Students will be assigned a seat in the classroom that can be reported daily for contact tracing if needed. At all times throughout the day, we will make our best effort to have students distance from each other.
Social Distancing: Social distancing is one layer among many in our Back to JC Schools plan, and it is an important element. Our social distancing guidelines are based upon the guidance from the State Health Department and DESE (https://dese.mo.gov/sites/default/files/COVID-MO-K12-Reopening-Guidance.pdf).
This summer JC Schools conducted an assessment of every classroom in the district, including room measurements and capacity. As a result of that assessment, and using projected enrollment numbers from last school year, we have reduced the capacity (number of people including adults and students) of every classroom by 30 percent in order to accommodate for social distancing. Social distancing efforts will also include keeping desks and student seats as far apart as possible (three to six feet where feasible), and keeping students all facing the same direction rather than facing each other when possible. Where necessary, non-essential furniture will be removed to create even more space in classrooms.
When social distancing is not possible, then staff and bus riders will be required to wear masks.
We know that it is not enforceable to keep our students six feet apart at all times. Our goal is to keep our small, stable cohorts of students together as much as possible, and minimize contact with other classes. We will adhere as much as possible to the 3 feet guidance above when in our stable, small class families.
All soft surfaced items (anything that cannot be sprayed or wiped down to sanitize): couches, soft chairs and classroom rugs have been removed from the classrooms. This has a two fold purpose: to create more space and eliminate areas that cannot be easily sanitized and wiped down.
Classroom libraries will continue to be used, but procedures are in place for allowing materials that have been used to be returned to an area where they can be can be wiped down at the end of each day. We will minimize shared supplies.
Students will help with responsibilities for wiping down their own desk surface, chair back, own supplies, chrome books, and other personal belongings in the classroom. Staff will have set schedules for sanitizing common materials and high-touch surfaces within the classroom and school.
A restroom schedule will be developed. Our restrooms will be sanitized on an ongoing basis. Students will be sent out to individually use restrooms for emergencies only.
We will minimize movement throughout the building throughout the day.
Lunch will be eaten in individual classrooms. Students will report as individual classes to “stations” set up to retrieve food for lunch.
Music and art will travel to homeroom classrooms. PE will be outside or in the gym in a grid style set up to provide for distancing.
Library: The district is still working on guidelines for library use and book check-out.
Recess: Small, stable classroom groups will participate together during recess to minimize exposure to other students.
The water fountains will be turned off except for the water bottle fillers. Students are encouraged to bring a water bottle with a lid. Students will have scheduled breaks to fill bottles.
Dismissal procedures will allow for social distancing. Students will remain in their classrooms until their car is in the car line and will be called out as small groups. We will all need to have patience and grace as this process is likely to take longer than it previously has in the past. Students who will be dismissed to the car line are not required to wear a mask, but we encourage masks during this time since social distancing will be a challenge during arrival and dismissal. Walkers will be dismissed last for safety reasons, at approximately 2:50.
First Day of School
We will have staff to welcome students into the building and help them get to classrooms.
If you wish to park and walk your child toward the school, please be sure to find an appropriate parking place. Our car rider line and front curb are for buses and car movement, not parking.
Notes from Nurse Judy
● Students will be sent home with a temperature of 100.4 degrees or greater.
● Students must be fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications (such as Tylenol, Acetaminophen, Motrin, Ibuprofen etc.) if accompanied by a Dr. note with a diagnosis not related to a respiratory illness, influenza or COVID-19
● Students must be fever free for 72 hours without the use of fever reducing medications (such as Tylenol, Acetaminophen, Motrin, Ibuprofen etc.) if not accompanied by a Dr. note.
The following conditions require a student to be home from school until 24 hours after conditions subside without medication.
- fever of 100.4 degrees or higher (see specific note above)
- vomiting
- diarrhea
- strep throat (following a positive throat culture, child must be on antibiotics and without fever for 24 hours before returning to school)
- untreated ringworm
- undiagnosed rashes
- red inflamed eyes/pink eye (excluded until diagnosed to rule out pink eye and/or test for 24 hours with antbiotic eye drops)
- Impetigo
- head lice (excluded for 24 hours to allow proper treatment and live lice are no longer present)
- Scabies
- Fainting spells
- Chicken Pox (Excluded until all blisters have dried into scabs)
- Common childhood diseases (as regulated by the State)
If you ever have any questions, please call Nurse Judy at 659-3184.
Have a student riding the bus?
Students riding the bus will be REQUIRED to wear a mask to due inability to socially distance.
There are 2 new programs we are using to help to tracking students on the bus.
- Z-pass that will attach to student backpacks and will be scanned when they enter and exit the bus. This will allow us to easily determine whether or not a student is on the bus and when he/she gets off.
- First View is an app that will be eventually be available to parents to be able to track the location of the student's bus.
After School Care - Boys and Girls Club and Y-Care
Space is limited due to social distancing. Registration is open through August 14th. Once spots are filled, they will begin a waiting list.
Connect with us on Social Media
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