Wolf Creek Weekly
Building Pathways To Success
From The Principal's Desk July 2, 2020
Greetings!
Happy Summer and Happy 4th of July!
I hope this correspondence finds everyone doing well and staying safe and healthy. I hope that you are enjoying your summer vacations in spite of all the "Real World Stuff" that is going on. We are in trying times right now and there are so many unknowns. This can be a very stressful time. Please remember to practice self-care during these times. We have to stay strong for our families and loved ones. So, take care of you as you go about the day to day tasks of taking care of others.
As you have heard by now, students will return to school on August 17th. The Fulton School district will return in a Face To Face model. There are Individual Virtual Learning options available for elementary students in 1st - 5th grade. Many of you have opted for this option already. Please see https://www.fultonschools.org/enrollment for more information regarding enrolling in the Individual Virtual Learning session. Be reminded that this is a 1 semester commitment for your family.
We are working vigorously behind the scene to prepare to re-open with a safe and healthy environment for all stakeholders. We are in a new norm and it will be different. Know that we understand your anxiety, and we share that with you. We want to assure you that we will do our very best to provide the most optimal learning environment for our students. We are only in the beginning stages of developing our local school plan that align to the Face To Face Re-open announcement from Monday's board meeting. We have a road map and now we are filling in the gaps. I will try to provide a few examples in this correspondence along with some sample questions and answers from inquiries we have received. My goal is to host a Virtual Parent Meeting the week of July 20th and provide updates that we have at that time. We will then provide regular weekly updates as we have in the past to keep you informed as we enter the 2020-21 School Year.
I am including two documents that highlight the COVID 19 Prevention Strategies for the 2020-21 school year. We are developing local school processes aligned to these listed strategies. Also included is my first Return To School parent correspondence sent earlier this week.
Stay tuned for more updates as we move through the next several weeks.
Thanks so much, in advance, for your support. We will get through this together and be stronger because of it! We will continue to “Build Pathways To Success” for our Wolf PACK.
***Please be reminded to check Class Dojo and the school website regularly for school information and updates.
***No updates on yearbooks yet but we are watching closely.. We will alert you when they arrive.
Stay safe and stay inside if you can.
Thanks for all you do! Let's Go Wolves!
In Partnership,
Principal Glass
WCES school website: https://www.fultonschools.org/wolfcreekes
Return To School Parent Letter #1
June 30, 2020
Greetings parents,
I hope all is well and you are enjoying time with your families during these trying times. I know you are receiving several pieces of information regarding Back To School and it can make us all a bit anxious. Please know that we are working vigorously behind the scenes to prepare a safe and healthy environment for our students. School will begin on August 17th for students. This is a change from the initial August 10th return date. We are working on our local school plans for our Face To Face return aligned to the information received at the Board Meeting on June 29, 2020. As we develop plans for our school, we will share information via Class Dojo, our school website and email. Our first priorities are to design systems and processes following the CDC and district guidelines to enable us to have a safe and healthy environment. While we are planning, we are encouraging everyone to think about what additional steps you will need to take as a family to stay healthy.
Examples:
If your preference is to wear masks as a family, begin to practice that strategy now with your child. How will you label your child’s masks?
Begin to talk with your child about the sharing of personal items. As we will limit communal sharing as much as possible. It is natural for all of us to share, however, considering these times, this must be limited.
Begin to talk with your child about being safe in school and following the safety guidelines we will put in place. We will add safety signage throughout the building to help with this as well.
School visitations by non-school personnel and non-enrolled students will be very limited. Parents will be unable to access the building beyond designated entry points. (Front lobby/cafeteria). This will be different for us. Our drop off procedures, sign in procedures, lunch schedules/procedures will be different to help us all stay safe.
Many of our Back To School events will be virtual and/or online. This includes Sneak Peek/Open House, registration (which is also available by appointment), parent meetings etc.
Again, please know that we are working on the specifics for each area so that we have a safe environment and an efficient return to school. We will send information as we finalize it.
Thanks so much, in advance, for your support. We will get through this together and be stronger because of it!
We will continue to “Build Pathways To Success” for our Wolf PACK.
Stay tuned for updates. Please log in to hear district updates as often as possible.
Sincerely,
Your Proud Principal Mrs. Glass
Sample Parent Inquiries/Questions and Answers
Below are a few examples of Q & A's from stakeholders as well as steps we are using implement a safe and healthy environment. I know that the answers below may not answer all of your questions or address all of our stakeholder concerns. I hope that it provides clarity on where we are and some of the steps we are taking at the local school to keep all stakeholders safe and healthy. As we finalize our processes, we will share them with parents.
Example of WCES steps to align building wide Prevention Strategies with CDC and district guidelines
I have attached two graphics that outline overall Prevention Strategies for the 2020-21 school year due to COVD 19. Currently, we are taking each category noted in the COVID Prevention Strategies flyer and devising school wide schedules, systems and processes that align.
For example, below is a draft of one category:
School Logistics
- Assemblies limited to smaller groups of students with information broadcast live for students in classrooms
- All assemblies and school wide gatherings will be done virtually and we will broadcast via classroom white boards
- All back to school events will be held virtually - Open House, School Tours, Curriculum Night, Parent Meetings, etc. (Held via the district approved platform Microsoft TEAMS)
- Space out desks and tables in classrooms to improve social distancing
- We are reviewing square footage of classrooms to determine the number of desks, table, chairs needed to align to this recommendation
- We are researching and pricing various desk study carrels that will reasonably support the learning environment
- We are preparing a list of essential classroom furniture to allow for more space and reasonably support the learning environment, all other items will need to be removed
- Stagger class changes
- We are solidifying our specialists schedules to allow for limited movement and/or staggered schedules
- Lunch schedules will allow for meals to be delivered to classrooms where possible and staggered to allow limited movement where needed
- Limit distribution of school lockers - NA in ES
- "Mask Down Zones" in classrooms where students can safely, but temporarily, remove masks
- We are exploring this area
- What does this look like?
- Building visitors will be restricted
- We have designated the front lobby and cafeteria as designated drop off points for points if entering the building
- We are strongly encouraging that students only be dropped off in the car rider lines or placed on the school bus
- Visitors will not have access to the building pass the two designated areas
- Masks required for all entering adults is an area we are working on
- Plastic barriers for front desks are being installed in the lobby areas
- Hand sanitizing stations are being installed throughout the building
We have not finalized anything at this time but we are working vigorously through the process. Our goal is to implement as many safety precautions as possible to ensure a healthy and safe environment for all stakeholders.
- Do you plan on engaging parents directly about Wolf Creek’s response to the new District mandates (i.e. how we’ll accomplish the requirements)? Yes, I am planning to host a Virtual Parent Meeting the week of July 20th. This will hopefully allow time for the district to share final numbers from Individual Virtual Learning registration (closing July 17th ) and the impact on the Face To Face enrollment as well as any updates.
- If not, would you be open to having periodic touch points with parents specifically about the school’s plans to address the changes? I am open to touch points to answer questions. My preference would be to post using Dojo, email or the school website. Right now, I am posting a few times per week or as information comes in.
- Perhaps the touch points could be in the form of a virtual town hall, conference call or even just an email/Dojo update. See last bullet. My first Return To School correspondence was posted on Class Dojo yesterday and should be posted on our website by Friday as well.
- The touchpoint could address questions that parents submit to you beforehand, so you have time to research them; as I expect some questions might be complex. This is a great idea. My thoughts are to allow parents to submit questions throughout the week and I can post a response to questions on Mondays. I am working on a simple questionnaire that I should be ready to send out next week. Right now, we are in the early stages of creating systems and processes. The entire team is on vacation right now. However, we are communicating offline often and working behind the scenes daily. So we don't have final answers just yet. I have been answering questions from parents directly thus far and will continue to do so as needed.
- Details of these touchpoints could be stored in one repository, so parents could easily access the comments later, as needed. No problem.
- I think it might be helpful to have one touchpoint before school starts (maybe early August) and at least one per month thereafter for the foreseeable future. Not a problem. I have tentatively scheduled the first one the week of July 20th. We can manage this.
.....will the school put in place to ensure that students are social distancing
- reduced class sizes - no guidance has been shared with schools regarding reduced class sizes, we are working as noted above on social distancing efforts
- the spacing of desks - see above example
- the flow of traffic - directional signage will be in place as while as staggered scheduling
- use of the common areas - staggered scheduling and intermittent cleaning schedules will be put in place
- Is there a plan that has been developed and vetted that outlines what the school day would look like for students? - not at this time but it will be developed
- If so, when will that plan be shared with all stakeholders? - Our goal is to host a Virtual parent meeting the week of July 20th. We will share as much information as we can and answer questions from stakeholders
Wolf Creek Elementary School
Check out our school website for our school calendar and school updates.
A. Nicole Canty, Assistant Principal
Website: http://school.fultonschools.org/es/wolfcreek/Pages/default.aspx
Location: 4440 Derrick Road, Atlanta, GA 30349, United States
Phone: 470.254.2760
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wolfcreekwolves/
Twitter: @wolfcreekwolves