UPE News Update

UPE Whole School Trip to Homecoming Day Parade Sep 10, 2021

Dear Parents, Caregivers, and Community Members,

I am pleased to announce UPE will attending our District’s Homecoming Day Parade on September 10, 2021.

All students will be traveling to Manitou Springs Elementary School and then walking to our location on Manitou Avenue.

Please Read Carefully:

1. On the school bus, wearing a mask is a requirement (even though it is not, for children, inside our school building.) Thus, all children who ride MSSD transportation that day will be required to wear a face mask while riding the bus. There are no exceptions to this requirement.

2. You may opt your child out of this activity. To do so, please email your child’s teacher by Tuesday, September 7. You have two options for opting out:

You may check your child out of school prior to 12:30 PM and/or bring them to the parade or home yourself.
You may request that they stay at school until 2:50. Alternative supervision and activities will be provided on the playground and/or gymnasium.

3. Parents are welcome to join us (not on the buses) in celebrating the Mustang Spirit when we are on Manitou Avenue.

4. Parents are welcome to check their child out ON Manitou Avenue by physically signing them out after the parade on a clipboard that your child’s teacher will have. If you choose this option, your signature on this sign out sheet, in the presence of your child’s teacher, is required. Do not take your child without first checking out with the teacher!

An Important Update on Mask Wearing at UPE

UPE, as of this writing, has no reported cases of COVID and no quarantines among students and staff despite the rise in these cases in other schools. This is a credit to our parents and community for their vigilance and help with monitoring the health of their own children.

It should be noted that in the actual cases of positivity elsewhere in the district, children exposed who were wearing masks were NOT quarantined and have been able to maintain in person learning. This is an important point for all parents, no matter your position on masks, to consider as we move into the future.

It is also important to note that while mask wearing is only “Strongly Encouraged” at this time at UPE (and will hopefully remain this way), should COVID data and hard health facts begin to change in the region, the County Health Department, State of Colorado, or our District may consider and even implement a mask requirement sometime in the future.

Should this come to fruition (and hopefully it never will) we will ask for the continued grace and community good-will that has been a hallmark of this community for generations. No matter what our opinion, we can and will find ways to work together to meet a diverse set of community needs.

Thank you.

Chris Briggs-Hale, Principal