Week Ahead: Jan. 10-14

Welcome back!

It is with great excitement that we get to welcome our G7 and 8 students back to campus on Jan. 11.  I want to give you a heads up on the current plan for that return.  Our motto continues to be slow, steady, and safe.  The MS Leadership Team set the follow goals for our return to physical school:

Goals:

1. Meet the social emotional needs of students as they return to campus; build connections between members of the learning community
2. Create, train, and implement safety protocols that create the safest environment possible for students and faculty; maintain the safety, health and well-being of our community
3. Slowly build our capacity and practice new routines, restrictions, etc.
4. Establish strong foundation for high quality learning to meet the needs of students in three different learning environments: on campus, virtual, and remote

We will start with student orientations, then bring each grade on campus for a full day one at a time, building to both grades being on campus Friday, January 14.  During this time G6 remains virtual.  

Kelley McKenna made a Template for personalized version of coming weeks’ schedules.  This might help you visualize the coming weeks and your personal block teaching schedule.

Monday, Jan. 10
PD
*Happy Birthday WaiMun Fong!

Tuesday, Jan. 11
A-D

Wednesday, Jan. 12
E-H
3:15-4:30 MS Divisional Mtg (regroup, reflect, plan forward)

Thursday, Jan. 13
A-D

Friday, Jan. 14
VS E-H

PD Schedule for Monday, Jan. 10

Monday will be focused on getting prepared to welcome students to campus and to Semester 2

Day Schedule

This is the overall schedule from Jan. 10-Jan. 28.  You will note that Consolidation days on Jan. 12 and Jan. 26 were removed so that we could run full rotations of blocks (A-H) prior to Tet.  

Bell Schedules

Our bell schedule is slightly adjusted to reflect a physical environment (reduced passing time from 15 min to 10 min).  As we experience the day with students physically on campus, we will review the timings and see if any adjustments are needed.  All schedules needed from Jan. 11-Jan. 28 are listed below.

Special Schedules

Duty Schedules

Roxanne created the duty schedule.  Please review.  As with everything, we will continually review how things are working as well as updated requirements from DOET/MOET as we go along.  If you have questions about the schedule, please talk with Roxanne.

Here are the numbers allowed in each of our spaces:

• Gym: 190 total / 95 in each half when the curtain is down
• Library: 60 total
• Dragon’s Den: 37
• General Sized Classroom: 25
• Field: unlimited

Other FAQ:

Food for Adults?  Box lunches will be available for purchase starting on Monday.  I do not know if other options may be available for adults at this time.

Food for Students?  Students will be able to purchase box lunches or bring their own lunch from home.

What will Dragon Time be? To start, Dragon Time will be study hall.  Students will be assigned to their advisory teacher for that time.  Teachers can buddy together as desired and share that time for supervision.  Again, we will review this as we go.

Do we have to attend library meetings or can we attend them virtually from our classroom?  You can attend virtually if that is more comfortable for you.  As a faculty, we can meet in the library provided we are 2m apart.  

Do we have survey data that would give us an idea of % of students that we can expect in the F2F environment?  The survey to parents ends today at 9am.  We should have data right away after that.  

Does the new filtration system in the MS have Hepa based filtration? Yes

Do we have CO2 monitoring capabilities at the classroom level to inform us about air quality and possibly viral transmission?  Some rooms have air quality monitors; most do not.  I do not believe that the air quality monitors we have can detect viral transmission.  I will check on that though.

Are unvaccinated individuals, including students, allowed to be on campus? Yes.  VN does not require students to be vaccinated at this time.  However, 94% of our 12 yrs and older MS/HS students have at least 1 vaccination; 85% have 2 doses.  Those that don’t have 2 are usually those that have just turned 12 and are waiting for their 2nd dose or are in areas where they haven’t had access yet.  [these were the numbers shared last night during the parent meeting – the nurse office tracks these daily so they do change slightly as more students turn 12 and more get their 2nd dose]

Are all of the costs for self tests and better quality masks paid for  by the teacher.  The school provides rapid testing on campus for those that want to test that way.  Surgical grade masks are also available at school.  However, faculty members and students are expected to provide their own masks.  It is important to find a mask that fits well and is comfortable for the individual.