Pence Press
November 16-20, 2020
Some Important Information and Reminders, Please Read:
Much has been said and communicated over the course of this school year when the only certainty seems to be uncertainty. Throughout it all, I can assure you that our desire to provided the best education and care for our students has remained unchanging regardless of the challenges placed upon us. We are excited to start the next phase of the transition starting tomorrow! Please take some time to review the following information and have a conversation with your student(s) about these items:
1. Below, you will find a video message from our administrative team that we emailed to students and a video message from Dr. Scheikl.
2. Masks worn properly and 6' distancing are the two biggest keys to making this successful. Please stress this daily. While we have many other protocols following the guidance from the VDOE, CDC, VDH, etc., these two are the most important things for students to keep in mind!
3. The Daily Home Screening Tool along with symptoms and exposure guidelines are below. In short, when in doubt, keep your student home. You can call the school and ask to speak with the nurse who will help walk you through the steps to follow. We cannot state this enough: IF your student is having symptoms, OR he/she has been exposed to someone else with symptoms, DO NOT send them to school. Call the office and ask to speak with the nurse or contact your physician.
4. The transportation department has also had a tremendous challenge getting the students scheduled following health and safety guidelines and protocols. MASKS are REQUIRED on the bus as well. Drivers will be learning new routes. Please be patient the first week of school. They may arrive a little sooner or later than scheduled.
5. Have your student bring his/her schedule to school. Anyone receiving a schedule change was notified by email. In addition, a letter went home to all families (whether there was a schedule change or not) with student schedules, a map, and information about the school day.
6. Required materials: Mask, Backpack, Water Bottle, Charged Chromebook, and Earbuds/Headphones. If you are having trouble obtaining any of the items, please contact the school.
7. A list of other required materials was sent out to families prior to the summer and during the summer. However, we understand that much has changed since then. If you do not have these items, that is OK. Teachers will be communicating with their students on the first day about what is necessary for class. If a student does not have any of these items or cannot obtain them, then the school will be happy to provide them. Of course, a notebook, pens/pencils, and paper are encouraged for the first day of school.
8. For those parents dropping of your student(s), drop offs may begin at 8:00 AM. DO NOT let them out of the vehicle prior to this time. This is for their safety! School staff will be out front providing prompts as to when you may allow your student(s) to exit the vehicle. Since drop-offs are not allowed until 8:00 AM, please do not arrive much earlier as this will only back up traffic and create frustration. The warning bell is not until 8:15 AM with the tardy bell to begin the day occurring at 8:20 AM, so it is OK if you come a little after 8:00 AM. This will all be a new process, so we appreciate your cooperation and understanding.
9. Also for drop-offs, please approach the school coming from the south on Ashby Street. The entrance on Bowman Road will be blocked off. If you are coming up Bowman and Ashby Street is backed up, you may want to go up to Westview Street and circle back around to Ashby. The Dayton Police Department will be on-site to help us with this process.
10. All students, whether they will be returning in-person, or continuing virtually through the Home Learning Academy, will be following both the daily bell schedule, and the A/B attendance schedule according to last name.
11. There will be no asynchronous work assigned on Monday or Tuesday as we take some time to re-organize, make connections, and get accustomed to the new schedule. Asynchronous work will begin again on Wednesday.
Thank you for taking some time to go over this together with your students.
Sincerely-
John Childs, Candice Ray, & Teresa Shank
Video Message from Pence Administration
Video Message From Dr. Scheikl
Spirit Days!
Just a reminder of our Spirit Days next week! Sporting their grade colors Monday or Tuesday next week (Monday for A students or Tuesday for B students)!
6th Grade - The Ready-or-not-Red team
Wear a red shirt
7th Grade - “Bringin-it-Blue-team”
Wear a blue shirt
8th Grade - The Go-get-’em- Green team
Wear a green shirt
Health and Physical Education
Students coming back to school and taking Health and PE should be prepared for physical activity each day. Proper clothing and tennis shoes are required for participation. Appropriate t-shirts, shorts, sweatshirts and warmup pants are acceptable. Students will be going outside as much as possible, so dress accordingly. Please bring a water bottle with your name on it. PE teachers will be abiding by the VDOE safety guidelines for Health and PE. These guidelines are listed below.
Athletics Update
As many of you may have seen, there are new guidelines (released on Friday) for the state of Virginia limiting the number of people allowed to gather in a location. It will take a little bit of time for us to sort out what impact this may have on the middle school athletic seasons. In the meantime, if you wish to participate, please make sure you have an up-to-date physical dated after May 1, 2020.
Note from our Nurse
To parents of children in 6th-8th grade planning to return to school in November --
Please let Nurse Weaver know of any health conditions regarding your child. This is to include any routine daily medications to be taken during school hours, if your student has asthma, diabetes, allergies to foods, bees, latex, seizure disorders and any other health concerns. Medication taken here at school must be brought in by a parent and counted with the nurse. Please call to make an appointment. Care plans need to be updated with new signatures from parents and the doctor. The doctor can fax them to 540-879-2179 or you as the parent can drop them off at Pence before the first day of school.
Parents and Guardians of 7th grade students that have not received their Tdap vaccination must have it completed before returning to in person learning. A copy of this immunization from the doctor must be presented to the school before returning. If you are unsure if your child's Tdap is on file at Pence please contact the school nurse
Please remember to evaluate your child daily for any symptoms of sickness prior to sending them to school. Make sure they do not have a temperature close to or above 100.4 and do not have any symptoms such as cough, sore throat, headache, diarrhea or vomiting. Please keep your child home if they are sick.
Make sure all of your contacts and emergency contact information is up to date in the office so if we need to contact someone to pick up your sick child, you can be reached promptly.
Please notify the school nurse with any positive cases related to the Flu, Strep or Covid-19, so we can work together to help your child back into school as soon as possible.
If you have any questions please feel free to call the school and speak with Nurse Weaver 540-879-2535.
I’m so excited for the kids to come back and I can't wait to see them.
Nurse Miranda Weaver
Meals
Drive up meal pick-up times have been adjusted. They will still be on Mondays and Thursdays, but will only run from 3:45 PM until 5:30 PM.
Thank you!
Share your pictures for the yearbook.
Share your photos of you and your pet during our "bring your pet to school" day or take one after the fact. You can upload your photos directly to the yearbook site: http://www.hjeshare.com/eShare/?code=pencems ! (If it asks your for a code, it's pencems)
Also, be sure to preorder your copy today! https://www.yearbookordercenter.com/general/homepage?portal=true (if it asks you for a code- it's 13754)
Get ready for Fall with some new Pence Gear!
About Us
Wilbur Pence Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1j84fxh9NC/?igshid=1ugnqkq1hn27l
WSPMS WEBSITE including "Parent Resources" & "Student Resources"
http://wspms.rockingham.k12.va.us/
Email: jchilds@rockingham.k12.va.us
Website: http://wspms.rockingham.k12.va.us/
Location: 375 Bowman Road, Dayton, VA, USA
Phone: 540-879-2535
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/penceknights/