Union Middle Weekly Update V2.19!
January 9th, 2022
A Message From Mr. Feinberg
Week 19.
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First off, I hope everyone is doing okay. COVID hit my family this weekend. Bryant had a cough Friday night and the girls weren't feeling well themselves. We took COVID tests the following morning and all of them were positive. Oddly, Tyson, my wife Kerry, and I were all negative, although we did have a few flu-like symptoms (cough, throat) earlier in the weekend.
This is a perfect segue into a very commonly asked question I receive from families: What do we do if there is a positive COVID result in our household (such as parent/elementary school student/high school student/etc)?
1) Is your UMS student symptom free for at least 24 hours prior to their return to school?
2) Has the UMS student not taken any medications that would reduce fevers or coughs in the last 24 hours?
3) Can the UMS student produce a negative COVID test that was taken the evening before or the morning of their return to school?
4) Is the UMS student vaccinated?
If your student can answer YES to all of the above, they can come to school.
If your student cannot answer YES to all of the above, they will need to stay home for school. In these situations, please contact our front office (Mrs. Wu and/or Mrs. Smith) for next steps. They will assist.
Also, if your student is experiencing any flu-like symptoms or just not feeling well, please have them stay home. It is incredibly important that we all take care of one another during these days and make decisions that best supports all of our families and school community.
If your student is staying home but is able to stay current with their classwork, please have them do so. Student can access the daily slides and google classroom to complete their daily work.
The guidance regarding returning to school after a quarantine for positive tests continues to shift. I've created a post below with our updated information; however, anything you receive AFTER January 9th at 4 pm would supercede the information I'm sharing now.
I know our families have a lot of questions about the protocols and guidance. The CDPH updates the K-12 School Guidance as necessary. It is available HERE.
Thanks for your patience.
As always, the usual short reminders are below. Please take a moment to review.
The Weekly Reminders:
Union Middle School now houses a covid-19 rapid response and PCR testing hub on our campus for the school community. It's placed by the bike cage in the parking lot. Community members will be able to stop by and get a quick 15 minute covid-19 result from 7:30 am to 7pm daily. And yes, it's completely free. Over the last few weeks, the hub has experienced long line and delays in returning PCR results. Please take this in account when selecting your covid testing options.
If you haven't already filled out the following link as soon as possible in indicate if your student has received their vaccination card or not, please take a look and consider doing so. This Google Form simply asks for their basic information and if they're vaccinated. You can also "decline to state" if you so please.
Don't forget to sign your student up for Grapefruit. Here's the link. If you haven't signed up your student previously and would like for them to be tested this week during their PE period, please do sign them up.
Please visit the sports website for athletics information.
Todd Feinberg, Principal
Upcoming Events
1/10 - First day of 2nd semester
1/10 - USD Board Meeting
1/11 - Parent Education Night - TUPE (see below)
1/14 - Last day for 8th Grade Yearbook Ads
1/14 - USD Staff Development Day - No School for students
1/17 - MLK Holiday - No School
2/1 - USD Registration open to non-USD families
News & Information @ Union Middle
TUPE-Tobacco Use and Prevention Education: Parent Night Tuesday, January 11th
The TUPE-Tobacco Use and Prevention Team at the Santa Clara County Office of Education is focused on what parents need to know about vaping nicotine and cannabis products. This presentation will provide you with ways to help educate yourself and your child on the harmful effects of vaping nicotine and cannabis products. Please join us for an hour long presentation on January 11th from 6:00-7:00 pm. Register in advance for this meeting HERE.
Support UMS Sports!
Thank you to everyone who participated in Sports Boosters holiday fundraisers. These local businesses gave back to our program as a direct result of your purchases: Sports Basement - $1,438 Kendra Scott - $170 Starbird Chicken - $163 The money raised helps to pay for uniforms, equipment and referees for our after school athletics program. The equipment purchased is also used in PE classes so every student benefits. Thanks for supporting Sports Boosters!
As shared above, these COVID guidelines are subject to change. We will continue to keep you up-to-date as soon as new information comes in. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
COVID GUIDELINES FROM PUBLIC HEALTH
Individuals with Symptoms
- Individuals with symptoms should stay home and get a COVID-19 test. At home tests are now acceptable for returning to school from symptoms (as of Friday, 1/7, 5 pm).
- Those with negative COVID-19 tests may return to school once their symptoms have improved.
- We ask that all sick students and employees stay home while sick even with a negative test result.
- Consider all inconclusive/indeterminate and at home positive tests as positive, and notify our front office immediately.
Positive Cases
- Everyone must be isolated for at least 5 days.
- If no symptoms and a negative COVID-19 test on or after day 5, they may return to school the following day. We recommend an antigen test, as you may continue to test positive on a PCR for up to 90 days.
- If they have symptoms or continue to test positive, they may return to school on day 11 if no fever for 24 hours or longer and other symptoms are improved.
Household Close Contacts
- All household members should get tested immediately when there is a positive case in the home.
- Positive individuals should try to isolate themselves away from the rest of the household.
- Unvaccinated family members must quarantine at home for 5 days after the end of the positive individual’s isolation period.
- Vaccinated family members may continue to attend school if they have no symptoms.
- All family members who test negative, should continue to test on Day 5 and Day 15 from the original positive test.
Exposures Outside of School
- All individuals who are knowingly exposed to a positive case outside of school should get tested immediately and again on or after Day 5 from the exposure date.
- Unvaccinated individuals should quarantine at home for 10 days. If they have a negative test on or after day 5, they may shorten the quarantine period to return to school on day 8.
- Vaccinated individuals may continue to attend school and should monitor for symptoms.
8th Grade Information Night @ Leigh - Now Online!
8th Grade Yearbook Ads
Now is your chance to purchase ad space in the yearbook for your 8th grader! This ad space is where parents, family members, friends, etc. can include a PERSONALIZED recognition message for an 8th grade graduate. Please visit THIS LINK for information on how to purchase a yearbook ad for your 8th grade student.
The DEADLINE for orders is FRIDAY, January 14th, 2022 - Late ads will not be accepted under any circumstances. If you have any questions, please contact the UMS Yearbook Advisor, Ms. Wilcox (wilcoxc@unionsd.org)
HSC Updates!
Good news! The district has approved vaccinated volunteers on our school campuses and on campus in-person events. We are planning to begin some of our in-classroom volunteer programs, such as MPower and Art Vistas in early 2022. If you are interested in participating as a volunteer for MPower, Art Vistas or any other potential HSC events, please sign up using this link to let us know how you can help. A committee chair will reach out to you with more information and training.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSec8wR0MPBG-pBqnyjqqrMzrQK5wiCC8g815jtbJ-sCLSjSzw/viewform Thank you in advance for your support of UMS students!
San Jose Library Accounts!
USD Families,
Union School District and the San Jose Public Library have partnered to issue all of our USD students a digital library card that can be used to access books and more at San Jose Public Libraries, SJPL.org, and through the Sora app.
Your student's digital library card is a fourteen digit number, beginning with 211935 and ending in your student's USD student ID number, XXXX. Add however many zeros are needed to reach fourteen digits. For example, if my student's ID number is 675655, their digital library card number would be 21193500675655.
We've added two zeros so that the total number of digits in the number is fourteen. Your student's PIN is their four digit birthdate. For example, if their birthday is November 3rd, their PIN would be 1103.
If your student was given a library card number last year, the number is the same and they may continue to use it. If your student joined USD after September 1st, their digital library card will be available for use very soon.
For instructions on how to access SJPL resources via the Sora app on USD devices, please view these PDF slides. To sign in with Google, please use your student's USD Google ID and password.
For information on SJPL usage policies, please visit https://www.sjpl.org/studentcard. If you have any questions, please email Dina Rabago at rabagod@unionsd.org or open a support ticket.
Happy Reading!
Another way to support UMS Home & School Club!
Parents – The holidays are approaching! Did you know you can support UMS HSC with your Amazon holiday purchases? Follow these easy steps from your phone or tablet to select UMS HSC as your AmazonSmile Charity.
(1) Open the Amazon app, (2) go to Settings, (3) go to AmazonSmile and then select “Union Middle Home & School Parent Teacher” as your selected charity. Do this with all devices you use to order from Amazon as it’s specific to the device.
That’s it – now, UMS HSC will receive a % from AmazonSmile for all eligible purchases you make through the app on your registered devices. Thanks so much for taking a few minutes to continue to support UMS HSC. Happy Shopping!
SUPERINTENDENT'S UPDATES
Washington DC Trip
There is more information available on the Washington DC website: bit.ly/dcwebsiteums
Note: The Washington DC Trip is NOT affiliated nor sponsored by Union Middle School nor the Union School District. All communications should go directly to the Washington DC Trip coordinators; our UMS front office is NOT able to provide any information or reminders regarding anything related to the Washington DC trip. Again, please visit the DC website linked above for any/all information and utilize the contact information therein.
8th Grades! Important News!
You might have questions; that's to be expected. CUHSD has shared with me that all inquiries can be referred to their website: www.cuhsd.org. Please note that I do not have any other information that what I've shared here, so please do contact CUHSD if you have any questions. I'm the messenger...
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) @ UMS
This year our school is excited to implement a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum called Character Strong. In the spring, our district provided funding for all of the school sites to purchase SEL materials and we chose Character Strong because it matches with our school goals of promoting a collaborative school environment, explaining and supporting empathy & compassion amongst our students, developing goals for both social and academic growth, and establishing our values and purpose as part of the UMS community. Perhaps most importantly, this curriculum discusses leadership and teamwork and how to develop agency as we work together to support ourselves and one another. For more information on Character Strong please visit Character Strong. I will continue to update you throughout the year about the implementation of this program!
Covid-19 Testing @ UMS via Grapefruit
As shared in that letter, our health partner Grapefruit and their direct partner Predicine will perform the no cost COVID testing at all our school sites and our Community testing pod at Dartmouth school. Students will only participate in the no cost COVID testing if families have submitted the one-time consent form at least 24 hours prior to your school’s testing day. I would like to encourage families to sign their child up for Grapefruit no cost COVID testing through the following link: http://bit.ly/usd-testing.
Aside from being free for all involved parties, our partnership with Grapefruit also takes the burden off of our families from having to either attend early mornings at UMS for any close contact warnings or address finding a local provider for a covid-19 test. When you sign your student up via weekly Grapefruit, they'll be escorted to the cafeteria during their PE period to take the covid-19 test. It is a short process that won't disrupt their physical education class. It will be seamless as possible. Please note that for close contact situations, we may have those students test during non-PE periods, based on testing availability. Also, just FYI, we no longer test early in the morning; everything is handled during the school day.
And if you have signed up your student but for whatever reason do not want your student participating, simply have your student inform their PE teacher that they do not want to be tested that day. If your student provides that response, they will be excluded from having to participate. Simple as that.
If you have questions, please reach out. If I can't answer them, I'll find someone who can.
Morning Clinics
Morning Clinics are a place to:
1) ask a UMS teacher specific questions on the previous night's homework
2) ask a UMS teacher questions regarding an upcoming assessment
3) get re-teaching of the previous day's instruction
Morning Clinics are NOT a place to:
1) hang out with friends
2) play on your cell phone
3) stay warm because it's cold outside
There are limited spots in these clinics, so we do expect students to be using the time effectively to participate.
Here is our schedule:
ELA: Monday & Thursday in Room 4
MATH: Wednesday & Friday in Room 3
SCIENCE: Tuesday & Friday in Room 30
All clinics are held from 8:05 to 8:25 in the morning.
UMS Daily Announcements
As many of you know, we start to keep our UMS community updated on all things UMS. As one parent said in the Help Desk Zoom from back to school night, "there is so much information and everything is so long and there's no way I can read it all." One way to keep updated in a daily digest is to read the daily announcements... and starting soon, we will begin emailing a copy of the student morning announcements to all parent/guardians listed within PowerSchool.
To keep emails clutter down in your inbox and help with organization, we suggest that you create a folder for UMS Announcements and then create a rule/filter directing ALL emails with UMS Announcements in the subject line be sent to that folder. Read, delete, ignore as you wish. Please do not unsubscribe as doing so will end all email communications from the school and district - not just the daily announcements.
If you have questions, contact Mrs. Adams adamsj@unionsd.org.
UMS Sports Website
As the seasons progress, more information will be added for whatever after-school sports become available. Please visit the website for tryout information and other key topics. Questions: Mr. Barbara is our athletic director and would love to hear from you: barbaraM@unionsd.org is his email.
Parking Lot Reminders Below
1) Only drop off against the curb or from the parking spot areas.
2) Always pull forward. When done pulling forward, pull forward some more.
3) There are two lanes to enter the parking lot. Please use both.
4) Only use the crosswalk to get from the parking lot to campus and visa versa.
5) Exit from the curbside of the car at all times (right side).
6) Drive slow. Phones down. Eyes up.
7) No scooters, e-bikes, skateboards, etc.
8) See #2
9) Don't cross the entrance or exit of the parking lot by bike or walking
10) Please consider walking the last lap to get to school tomorrow; the parking lot will be full.
Thanks everyone!
Teacher Team Websites
This means that thought one click, you'll be able to see the daily slides of what happened in each of your student's classes. This will be helpful as often homework assignments and due date reminders are included in these daily slides. I believe it is a lot easier for parents to stay current with assignments coming due rather than dealing with the aftershocks of the inevitable "0" put into PowerSchool because your student didn't complete the work.
The links are available through Teams & Staff on our homepage (via unionms.unionsd.org) and listed below. Your student should know which team they're on. And of course, please bookmark the below link for usage throughout the school year.
Have you visited the UMS Store yet?
1) PE Uniforms, Sweats, & PE Lock
2) Donation Requests for HSC
3) ASB Kit (includes yearbook & planner & more)
Please do take a minute to venture to the store and place your order so your student can start day 1 with everything they need.
Also, there's a glitch where you can only use a credit card if you go through PayPal first. I'm working to correct this... Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Tech Help?
Got Texts?
7th grade families: text @ums2023 to 81010
8th grade families: text @ums2022 to 81010
UMS FAQ
Union Middle School
Email: feinbergt@unionsd.org
Website: Unionms.Unionsd.org
Location: 2130 Los Gatos Almaden Road, San Jose, CA, USA
Phone: (408) 371-0366
Twitter: @goteamums