Note to the Keystone Community: We will continue to publish the Communiqué every two weeks during the summer. Look for our final summer issue on August 14.

Roadmap to Reopening page launches on Keystone website

To keep our community apprised of the procedure for reopening campus, we have created a new page on our website: Roadmap to Reopening. It shares the most recent information about how the school will open in distance mode, the process we'll use to open and the changes for our community when the campus reopens for in-person learning. We also have an FAQ page to offer more specifics about questions you are likely to have. We hope they help you plan for the coming school year.

Keystone featured in Rivard Report Keystone was featured in a story about private schools in the online publication Rivard Report. The story mentioned how Keystone began its pandemic planning earlier this year, "more than a month before campuses closed in March," and referred to our Medical Advisory Committee. Check out the story here.

Rising sophomore launches two service projects Talk about an inspiring young man. Aruj, a rising 10th grader, is working on two projects that are already making a difference in the world. One helps homeless people and restaurants, while the other offers college counseling to high schoolers who can’t afford it. Read more here.

Keystone family gaming for charity The Nerone Family, also known as (The N th Degree Team) are taking on a 24-hour gaming challenge to raise money for a great cause. The parents and their two Keystone children are going to play video games and board games for 24 hours straight on Aug. 29 to raise money for The Children's Hospital of San Antonio, which treats children regardless of their illness, injury or family's ability to pay. It's part of the Extra Life fundraising program. The family is playing in honor of Bryce Wisdom, a local teen whose fight against cancer attracted media attention before he died on July 26. The Nerones will be wearing shirts of his favorite color, orange.  Click here to learn more about the Nerone family project

Rising fifth-grader receives honors from Johns Hopkins program Congratulations to rising fifth grader Nirmal, who received High Honors from the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. She scored among the top half of the students who took one of the major standardized tests, such as the SAT or ACT. Nirmal took the PSAT.

From Counselor Dr. Erica Shapiro

Hello Cobra Family, I hope this finds your family safe and well. As I mentioned in my video message , I have a few resources I would like to share around managing concerns related to school reopening as well as some helpful tips for a successful distance learning experience. Even though school may not be in person, I remain available to the Keystone Community by phone, email, or virtual session to answer questions or support your family as we navigate this time together.  Helping Manage Concerns Around Reopening: https://childmind.org/article/helping-kids-face-the-challenges-of-reopening/ https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/health-crisis-resources/helping-children-cope-with-changes-resulting-from-covid-19 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/parenting/schools-reopening-parents-decision-kids.html?searchResultPosition=1 Tips for Successful Distance Learning: https://healthier.stanfordchildrens.org/en/learning-in-the-age-of-covid-19-how-to-help-kids-with-distance-learning/ https://dbpeds.stanford.edu/content/dam/sm/dbpeds/documents/COVID-19docs/TIPS-for-Parents_Learning-with-your-child-at-home_200330.pdf Wishing you a healthy and restorative remainder of your summer and I eagerly anticipate the day we can all be together again.  My very best, Erica R. Shapiro, PhD Keystone Counselor eshapiro@keystoneschool.org

Keystone community responding to pandemic Members of the Keystone community are living out the school's pillars of Community Involvement and Responsible Leadership by launching or supporting fundraisers to help organizations involved in the pandemic. We'll include them on the Keystone website at: https://www.keystoneschool.org/covid-19 . Click on the "fundraising efforts" tab.

Important events and notes

A reminder for Lower School and Middle School parents of upcoming meetings. Parents, please check your email for the meeting number and passwords for your respective Zoom meetings. Lower School: Kindergarten Parent Meeting - August 3 - 4:30-5:30 pm 1st Grade Parent Meeting - August 4 - 4:30-5:30 pm 2nd Grade Parent Meeting - August 5 - 4:30-5:30 pm 3rd Grade Parent Meeting - August 6 - 4:30-5:30 pm 4th Grade Parent Meeting - August 7- 4:30-5:30 pm   Middle School: 5th Grade Parent Meeting - August 4 - 5:30-6:30 pm 6th Grade Parent Meeting - August 5 - 5:30-6:30 pm 7th Grade Parent Meeting - August 6 - 5:30-6:30 pm 8th Grade Parent Meeting - August 7 - 5:30-6:30 pm Upper School: 9th Grade Parent Meeting - August 13 - 5:30-6:30 pm 10th Grade Parent Meeting - August 14 - 5:30-6:30 pm 11th Grade Parent Meeting - August 17 - 5:30-6:30 pm 12th Grade Parent Meeting - August 18 - 5:30-6:30 pm

Distribution Days/Meet the Teacher - Aug. 14-18 Students will get an opportunity to pick up their learning materials and technology, and meet their teachers during the upcoming Distribution Days. Here's the schedule: Aug. 14: Little School Aug. 14: Lower School Aug. 17: Middle School Aug. 18: Upper School Please check the COVID-19 FAQ page for more information and watch for an email from your respective division head with more details.

Alumni News

Ben Feinstein '19 featured in award-winning documentary Watch Ben Feinstein '19, in an award-winning documentary, Boys State , on AppleTV+ beginning Aug. 14. The film, which won a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, follows Texas Boys State during the summer of 2018. On another note, he's transferring from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to the Honors Program at Southern Methodist University.

Support Keystone while you shop

If you're getting school supplies or adding to your home office from either Office Max or Office Depot , please mention Keystone. As part of the Give Back to Schools program , the stores give 5% of the purchase price of qualifying school supplies in credits to Keystone for office supplies. Be sure to include the school's ID number when you make your purchase. Keystone's school number is: 70100727.

If you're purchasing items from Amazon, please consider supporting Keystone with your purchases and use AmazonSmile. Just designate Keystone as the beneficiary and a portion of your purchases will go to the school. Make sure to install the Smilematic browser extension. It works with Firefox, Chrome and Safari and automatically redirects users to AmazonSmile when they visit Amazon. Here's the tool: https://couponfollow.com/smilematic.

We want to hear from you! If you have news to share about the students, alumni, faculty or staff at Keystone School, please send it to: etijerina@keystoneschool.org .

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