Contents of This Email:

  1. New! Message from Shlomit: Preparing your child to return to school
  2. Reminders:
  • Medical Forms: Due 8/28
  • Tell Us about Your Child Questionnaire: One per child due 8/23
  • Upcoming Communications & Events
  • Let's Lift Together: Contribute if you can
Dear Beit Rabban Families, 

We cannot wait to welcome your children back to school in a few weeks. We are especially excited to be able to open in person, and we suspect that many of your children are excited to return in person as well. You and your children may have mixed feelings about returning to school in person. Your child may feel a mixture of excitement and anxiety; joy and sadness; eagerness and fear. Each of us experiences our own particular mix of emotions, which may or may not track with those of our children. As adults, we have the particularly challenging responsibility of managing our own feelings while conveying a sense of calm and modeling healthy behaviors for our children. 

No doubt, these past months have been traumatic to our world, to our community, and to each of us. As with many traumas, we do not have the power to undo this trauma, or even to stop it from continuing. We do have the power to support our children through trauma, and the best way to do that is to help them build resilience. Resilience, the ability to adapt after or through traumatic events and even become stronger through these experiences, can be taught and learned. The first step in building resilience is understanding your circumstances. We need to explain this to our children and make sure they understand their circumstances. Part of understanding the current circumstances requires understanding the state of the pandemic in our region, understanding what the return to school will look like, and understanding that circumstances will continue to change.

You have probably been having conversions like these for months -- explaining new rules, new information, new transitions. Just in case you need some support discussing this new phase of return to school with your children, we have prepared brief guides, including talking points, for Gan-1st Grade; 2nd-4th Grade; and 5th-7th Grade. These guides are specifically geared toward students who are returning in person. If you have a child returning to school as a Zoomer this year, I will reach out to you directly to talk through the transition. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly for specific advice or support. 

Best Wishes,
Shlomit
Talking with Your Children: Preparation Guides
Medical Forms
Email to immunization@beitrabban.org by August 28, 2020.
1. MEDICAL FORM
  • For all current and new students entering the Gan (pre-school) – Garinim (Kindergarten), each student must submit the Child & Adolescent Health Examination Form before August 28, 2020. Children will not be permitted to attend the first day of school and/or orientation on September 2, 2020 without an up-to-date medical form.
  • For any new student entering Shorashim (first grade) – Rimonim (seventh grade), each student must submit the Child & Adolescent Health Examination Form before August 28, 2020. Children will not be permitted to attend the first day of school and/or orientation on September 4, 2020 without an up-to-date medical form.
  • Should you have questions regarding immunizations needed for entrance to school, please review required vaccinations for New York City. Beit Rabban Day School does not accept religious exemptions for immunizations.

2. ASTHMA FORM
  • If your child has Asthma and requires medication to be given during school, please fill out the Asthma Medication Administration Form. Staff will not be able to administer asthma medication onsite without a signed form. Once you have submitted the Asthma Medication Administration Form, be sure to bring your child’s prescribed medicine to school. Medicine must be labeled, unopened and in its original container.
 
3. ALLERGY FORM
Tell Us about Your Child Survey
Please complete by August 23, 2020.
What to Expect:
Summer Communication & Events
This week:
  • (Today) Summer Email #8
  • Talking with Your Children about Return to School
  • Reminders - Medical Forms & Tell Us About Your Child Survey
  • Summer Email #9:
  • August 20 - Revised Re-Opening Plan, including updated "Section 2: COVID in our Community: Symptoms; When Symptoms Manifest at School; Return to School; Quarantine and Closure"
  • Class Assignments

Week of August 24:
  • Parent Town Hall #3: Thursday Evening, August 27 @ 8:00PM
  • Teachers return to school for staff in-service
  • Family Classroom Visit schedule shared

Week of August 31:
  • Virtual Class Orientations for All Grades:
  • Tuesday, September 1 - All classes will have an online orientation over Zoom with their teachers on at the following times:
  • 9:00-9:30AM: Gan Kachol and Gan Sagol
  • 9:30-10:00AM: Garinim (K), Shorashim (1), Shtillim (2), Anafim (3), and Alim (4)
  • 10:00-10:30AM: Nitzanim (5)
  • 10:30-11:00AM: Prachim (6) and Rimonim (7) 
  • Scheduled Family Classroom Visits:
  • Wednesday, September 2 and Thursday, September 3. These visits will be scheduled between 8:30AM- 1:00PM.
  • Class Meet-Ups for Gan & Garinim:
  • Thursday, September 3 in Central Park (location TBD). If it is raining on Thursday, classes will be meeting on Friday, September 4 with the same times:
  • Gan Kachol: 9:00-9:30AM
  • Gan Sagol: 9:30-10:00AM
  • Garinim: 10:00-10:30AM

Week of September 7:
  • First day of school is Tuesday, September 8 for all students!
  • See Reopening Plan for Staggered Start Schedule.

We will share OPT busing information as soon as we receive it.
Lighten the Load by Lifting Together
We are committed to meeting best practices in COVID-19 risk mitigation as well as in supporting our children's return academically and emotionally. This is a heavy lift that we are very honored to hold on behalf of the community.

From additional space, to tenting, to rain gear, to technology, to professional development, to new furniture, to PPE and cleaning supplies, it's also a heavy financial lift to open school during a pandemic. The load is lighter when we lift together. Please consider helping us cover some of these new costs as we simultaneously increase tuition assistance. You can click here to sponsor a particular reopening cost.