Dear Parents,
I hope this finds your family safe and healthy! I have some updates for you this week, you will start receiving emails from your child’s teacher with classroom specific information that I don’t cover here.
Masks
Last week Governor Herbert clarified the mask policy for students, teachers, and staff in schools. The updated language states that “each individual on school property or on a school bus shall wear a “face mask”, with “face mask” defined as a face covering that:
i. covers the nose and mouth without openings that can be seen through
ii. is made of synthetic or natural fabrics
iii. secures under the chin
iv. fits snugly against the nose and sides of the face
v. does not have an exhalation valve or vent
There are some very limited and medically regulated exceptions to this mandate, I have included an attachment to the Utah Public Health Order if you would like to read the full text. Face shields can be worn by students, but only if they are worn in addition to a face mask. The health order specifies that masks are mandated on school property except where appropriate socially distanced eating is occurring, and outside when 6 feet of space is maintained between individuals. After speaking with other Principals in schools around us, and finding different recess/P.E. mask wearing requirements, we have reached out to our district leadership for clarification on whether masks will be required at recess and P.E., I will send you this update as soon as I have it.
It is recommended that reusable face masks are laundered regularly. We are collecting back-up masks for students that need a replacement mask at school in the event that their mask is lost or is no longer sanitary. We are accepting mask donations, we will happily take disposable, commercially purchased, or sewn masks.
Back to School meeting
With social distancing restrictions we are unable to host our usual Back to School morning on the first day of school. We know students are anxious to see their teachers and peek inside their classrooms, and we are happy to announce that teachers are making a short, introductory, informative video that will be emailed to the parent’s email by Friday afternoon. We discussed a variety of ways to facilitate this “Meet the Teacher” meeting, if you have questions or concerns that are not addressed in the video then please reach out to the teacher via email for clarification. We will also post a parent informational video to our website on Monday morning that will cover the topics of Proficiency Based Grading updates, Morningside drop-off/pick-up, School Community Council, and PTA programs.
Chromebook and Classroom Materials Pick-up for Distance Learners
Parents with a child that is participating in distanced learning can come to the main office, starting Friday August 21, to check-out a Chromebook for their child. If you still have the Chromebook that you checked out last spring, you don’t need to check it back in to be updated. You may have noticed that your Chromebook has been turned off, our School Technology Specialist has told us that all Chromebooks have been turned off until Monday, August 24th. Teachers are preparing materials to be picked up by distanced learners. Teachers will be reaching out soon with a schedule of when materials can be picked up at the classroom window or from a box outside the classroom window. The first week of school for distanced learners will include learning how to access online materials, join a Google Classroom account, become acquainted with online learning, and digitally getting to know their teacher and classmates.
Chomebooks for in-person learners
Students will be assigned a Chromebook that will be for their exclusive use in the school building. Dual Immersion students will take their Chromebook with them as they switch classrooms midday to avoid using a Chromebook that was used by a different student that morning. If your child has a Chromebook checked out from last spring, please bring it to school on their first day of school to be cleaned, “power washed” (previous student data is removed) and returned to its home Chromebook cart.
Norms for Distance Learning classes
On Monday I was able to email with which teachers would be teaching each class at Morningside this year. Partly due to our many programs at Morningside, teachers decided that it was best for our students if we maintained teacher assignments and each teacher would manage both the online and face to face instruction. With teachers managing both modalities, Fridays will serve as a day for teachers to interact with online students as well as plan and prepare both modalities. I am grateful for their willingness to accept this challenge- there is no question that teachers are essentially managing two classrooms at once. When I last wrote regarding distancing learning there was the assumption that we would have dedicated in-person teachers and dedicated on-line teachers, the plan we have adopted wasn’t an option until Monday morning when our GSD School Board approved it at teacher and GEA request. With our new plan we met today as a faculty to create some distance learning “norms” so we can be transparent to our Morningside Community. The “norms” listed below can be expected from each online learning classroom, teachers have classroom-specific plans that they will communicate to you directly.
- Students will be provided a scope of learning for the week that should help students and parents see what topics will be covered for the week. Teachers will let you know where this can be found, some teachers may send an email each week, others may post it in their Google Classroom.
- Teachers will add content to their websites/Google Classrooms on Fridays, though it may be timed to post throughout the following week.
- Teachers will host a 60-minute live session with distance learners on Fridays. These sessions could include instruction, activities, and opportunities for students to ask clarifying questions. Teachers will reach out with the timing of the live sessions.
- Students and parents can email/message questions throughout the week, please know that teachers will respond as quickly as possible, they will be with children in the classroom so immediate responses will be unlikely.
- A variety of digital tools will be used to provide online instruction to students. These digital tools may include teacher created videos, academic videos from online sources (YouTube, Khan Academy, etc.), GSD curriculum specialists’ slide-decks with voiceovers, Go Math!, Wonders, Envision Math, Nearpod, Mystery Science, etc.
- Teachers will communicate how and when to return completed work.
In-person classroom numbers
Many of you have reached out asking how many students will be attending in-person learning with your child. Listed below are the totals of face to face learners for each classroom.
- Nelson AM: 18 students
- Nelson PM: 9 students
- McCandless: 17 students
- 1st grade DLI: 21.5 students in each class
- Wright: 13 students
- Bryner: 16 students
- 2nd grade DLI: 21 students in each class
- Howell: 18 students
- Ligget: 22 students
- 3rd grade DLI: 19.5 students in each class
- Pelly: 11 students
- Swift: 20 students
- 4th grade DLI: 18 students in each class
- Menzel: 20 students
- Davis: 21 students
- 5th grade DLI: 20.5 students in each class
- Scofield: 20 students
Hiring
If you or someone you know is interested in joining our Morningside team in any of the positions listed below, please call the office at 385-646-4924 for more details. We will soon be hiring for the following positions:
- Lunch playground aide 11:30-1:30 M-Th. Our playground aides can work daily or a combination of days in the week
- Paraeducator. Our paraeducators help with a variety of tasks including reading intervention, math intervention, assisting with classroom small groups, assisting teachers during grade-level recesses, and this year we would also love to provide assistance to teachers managing online curriculum. These positions can work no more than 29 hours/week, but we are open to paraeducators that want less than 29 hours.
We look forward to seeing your child online and in our building very soon!
Anne Reese and the Morningside Team