CJDS Head of School
Rachel Arcus-Goldberg
August 6, 2020 / 16 Av 5780
Dear CJDS Community,

I hope this email continues to find you safe and healthy.

It was wonderful to see many of you at the parent program last night with Dr. B about “How to Talk with your Kids about Returning to School.” The slides and recording of last night’s program are attached to this email for any of you who missed it or would like reminders of what we discussed.
The beginning of the school year is drawing near, and there is so much going on to get CJDS ready for all of the students to return.
I recorded this video today to show you some highlights. 

As you can see, there is quite a lot of preparation going on to get the building and the academic program ready for our reopening.
In order to make sure that we are truly ready for the safest possible reopening, I have decided to delay the start of school by one week. The soft open (schedule below) will begin on Monday, August 24th and the first full day of school will be on Thursday, August 27th. The parent orientations scheduled for next week on Tuesday and Thursday evening will take place as scheduled and there will be an opportunity for questions and answers as part of the evening. The student orientation on Friday morning, August 14th will also take place as scheduled at 9am on Google Meet.

In tonight’s email, I am sharing information about the following topics:
  1. The Soft-Open Schedule
  2. The “Should I send my child to school today” decision tree
  3. Arrival and Dismissal Procedures
  4. Reminders
The “Should I Send My Child to School Today?” Decision Tree
The COVID-19 Pandemic has challenged our usual assumptions about when it is safe and appropriate to send our children to school. To assist you with this, we are providing two tools that will assist in this decision making process.

  1. The Parent Locker App - Parent Locker is a student information service that has developed an application to help schools with daily symptom assessments for students and staff. You will receive more information next week, including downloading and login instructions, to be able to utilize this app for daily screening for your family.
  2. The “Should I Send My Child to School Today?” decision tree. Based on current COVID recommendations from the CDC and Ohio Department of Public Health, answer the questions in the yellow boxes to determine whether you may send your child to school.

As the COVID-19 situation is evolving, the symptoms listed and the policies for CJDS will be evaluated regularly and adjusted as needed.
Arrival & Dismissal Procedures
  • Students will be dropped off outside at the sidewalk, next to the CJDS field.
  • Before joining morning fitness, they will check in with the person on duty to ensure that they have completed the symptom screening and are clear to be in the building.
  • At the end of the school day, students will pack up and stay in their classrooms. 
  • There will be walkie talkies in every classroom for dismissal. 
  • The person on duty will stand outside and announce which carpool is ready. 
  • Students will be dismissed from their classroom directly to their carpool. 
  • The next carpool will not be announced until the hallways are clear.

Reminders
  1. If you are a Bexley Resident and would like your children to ride the Bexley Bus, please send your transportation forms to John Eikenberry as soon as possible.
  2. If you have not yet completed the after-care/carpool survey, please do so as soon as possible. 
  3. If you have not yet completed your summer forms, please do so and send them to CJDS as soon as possible.
  4. Please look through your homes for any class materials that were sent home for use during virtual learning. We are missing a number of materials including dry-erase boards and FUNDATIONS magnet boards.

I am getting more excited each day about the beginning of this school year. With all of the twists and turns, I continue to be impressed with and grateful for your partnership and your resilience. I have faith that every member of our community will continue to work together for a safe, healthy and successful year ahead.

All the best,
CJDS is a proud partner of JewishColumbus.