Hearst Family Update
January 1, 2022
Principal's Message
Good afternoon, Owl families, and Happy New Year!
I hope that the winter break has been a chance for you and your families to relax and recharge from the first months of a school year that continues to throw curve balls at us. We know that the coming weeks will continue to test our flexibility and resilience in many ways, especially as guidance and protocols from DCPS continue to be updated in response to the number of positive COVID cases that are being reported in our area. In that spirit, below is our updated return to school plan:
· To ensure appropriate time for testing, DCPS is adjusting the school calendar in January. Monday, January 3 and Tuesday, January 4 will now be non-instructional days for students. This means there will be no classes, and staff and families will use those days to pick up rapid antigen tests. Rapid antigen tests for students will be available for pick up at Hearst under the tents on the front lawn on the following days and times:
o 1pm-4:30pm on Monday, January 3rd
o 8:30am-4:00pm on Tuesday, January 4
· All students must complete a COVID test within 24 hours of their first day returning to school from winter break, whether that day is 1/5 or another day. Testing kits will be available at all DCPS schools, and families can select the location that is most convenient for you, if you are unable to pick up from our school on January 3 or 4.
· If you’re able, we’re hoping families pick up test kits, test kids, and upload results before 3:00pm on 1/4 so that we can determine which classes, if any, may need to switch to virtual on 1/5 and teachers can be ready for this before the end of their workday on 1/4.
· Staff will be completing rapid antigen testing on Monday, January 3rd. Adjustments may be needed for Hearst’s opening based on the results of staff tests, and if this is the case, we will communicate those adjustments as early as possible. Families should currently plan for schools to reopen on Wednesday, January 5.
· While DCPS schools are not required to track test kit distribution on 1/3 and 1/4, we will do so at Hearst. If kids have not picked up a test kit on 1/3, we will be contacting families to remind you to pick up kits on 1/4. If students arrive on 1/5 and have not picked up a rapid test prior to that day or uploaded test results, we will have rapid tests available for parents to give to students at arrival. Because the rapid test results can take up to 30 minutes to appear, we will also be waiving all tardies up until 10am on January 5 in an effort to encourage testing before coming to school.
· If students have not picked up a test on 1/3 or 1/4 and do not come to school with a parent or guardian who can administer a rapid test on the morning of 1/5, students will not be allowed to participate in their normal school day activities until proof of a negative test.
· We won’t know for sure how many kids will be in person or virtual on 1/5 until late in the day on 1/4. If more than 25% of a class is quarantined, the quarantined students will be able to access robust virtual instruction starting on 1/6, with 1/5 being a day for community building and (re) learning virtual instruction routines. This shift will also give us time to get students devices for virtual learning should they need them.
· If a family prefers to test in other ways, there are resources available to do so across the District. Coronavirus@dc.gov provides all information about pop-up testing sites, firehouse testing sites, and test yourself options. PCR Rapid Testing is open to anyone. Test Yourself Express will require DC proof of residency.
Thanks for your flexibility and your continued support during this ever-changing school year and know that any updates to our return to school protocol will be shared in the coming days via Bloomz.
With appreciation,
Jen
About Us
Email: attendance@hearstes.org
Website: www.hearstes.org
Location: 3950 37th Street Northwest, Washington, DC, United States
Phone: (202) 282-0106
Facebook: facebook.com/hearstes
Twitter: @hearstes
News and Announcements from Hearst
Upcoming Key Dates
- January 3-4 - Rapid antigen tests distributed for students at Hearst, no school for students
- January 5 - First day of instruction after winter break
- January 17 - MLK Holiday, no school for all
Quick Updates
- Thanks to our PTA for the yummy staff breakfast on the last day before break and thanks to all of our families for their generosity during the holiday season!
- Reminder: For the safety of our kids, dogs are not allowed on school or playground grounds, particularly at arrival and dismissal. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation!
Staffing Updates (Updated)
As we transition back from winter break there are a few staffing updates to share with you. Rachel Wiggins has resigned from her role, effective 12/17/21. Post-winter break, Amanda Liberman will step into the 4th grade math/science role and Farai Madzongwe will step into the 4th/5th grade partner teacher role. We thank Farai and Amanda for their work during the 1st semester, as well as their continual flexibility and teamwork in supporting our students and colleagues.
Additionally, Dani Shea will resigned from her ECE CES role effective 12/22/21. We hope to have someone in place in this role in January. We also thank Dani for her dedication to our youngest kids and wish her all the best in her future endeavors!
Finally, effective 12/22/21, Gene'sha resigned from her role as partner teacher. We thank Gene’sha for all her support of our students during her time at Hearst and wish her the very best.
FAQs From Families
Q: Who within DCPS determines when an individual school switches to virtual instruction? What metric(s) (and value(s) associated with that metric) is considered when making the decision?
A: At this time, DCPS has not shared the metrics that would lead to an entire school switching to virtual instruction but has shared that they take a number of factors into consideration including the number of students and staff who are quarantining at any given time. At the start of the school year, DCPS shared that if more than 25% of a class is quarantining, virtual instruction for the quarantining kids will be offered. This assumes the teacher is able to teach (i.e. the teacher is not sick/absent).
Reminder: ADULT ENGLISH LESSONS
Hello Hearst community, I am offering English lessons to adults at my home on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 10:30-12:30.
I am an experienced ESL teacher. The lessons are free and I will provide the materials. If you are interested please contact me.
Wanda Bieloszabski
202 2582914
Reminder: Asymptomatic Student Testing on Wednesdays
Starting the week of 11/8, our asymptomatic testing time will move to 9:45am on Wednesday. During a typical week, we will pull test a random sample of approximately 25% of students who have not opted out of testing. Knowing that some students in this group will not be able to produce a sample or their saliva sample will be rejected, this will allow us to ensure we are hitting the goal of testing 20% of our students each week. Know that we will attempt to test at least one student from each homeroom each week. Here are a few things to know about asymptomatic testing :
- Teachers will be provided with names of students to be tested and those students will be escorted by staff to our testing location.
- Because the test is a saliva test, students identified for testing cannot eat, drink, chew gum, or have on chapstick an hour before their testing window.
Families of kids who are tested will receive notification that their child was tested and information on how to access the online portal where they will be able to view results. Your child may indicate that they were pulled for testing but they were not given a letter with online portal log in information. If this is the case, this means that your child did not produce enough saliva to fill the test tube. Please reach out to Ms. Johnson (kestaganer.johnson@k12.dc.gov) with any questions and/or if you would like to opt your child out of asymptomatic testing. If you wish to opt-out your student from receiving any COVID-19 test at school, you must complete the available at osse.dc.gov/page/school-based-covid-19-testing and email it to the school at kestaganer.johnson@k12.dc.gov.
The website to access results is: https://shieldt3k12.pointnclick.com/ and our Agency Code is: HearstES and the website . As a parent, you should be able to enable notifications be sent to you if a testing result is available for your child.
We believe that the email you use to register on site has to be the primary contact's email used to enroll your child. You will also have to wait at least 12 hours until after the student was tested for the agency code to work.
News and Announcements from DCPS
Holiday Travel Reminders
With the fall and winter holiday season approaching, please continue to review and follow DC Health travel guidance. We encourage families to limit travel as much as possible as part of our Stronger & Safer Together Pledge.
News and Announcements From Other Organizations
Next W3EdNet Meeting on Mon, Jan 10 at 7pm -- Council Member Christina Henderson
The next meeting of the Ward 3 Education Network (W3EdNet) is on Monday, January 10 at 7pm via Zoom (link below).
We are very happy to host At-Large Council Member Christina Henderson, who will share her vision for education in the city and take questions
Register in advance for this meeting here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Upcoming meetings:
- Monday, February 7 at 7pm, Topic/Guest TBD
- Monday, March 7 at 7pm, Topic/Guest TBD
- Monday, April 4 at 7pm, Topic/Guest TBD
- Monday, May 9 at 7pm, Topic/Guest TBD
- Monday, June 6 at 7pm, Topic/Guest TBD
We look forward to seeing you there.
Melody, Karin, and Brian