This month is the 75^th National Disability Employment Awareness Month and this year is also the 30^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The official theme of the month is “Increasing Access and Opportunity.” At Ivymount, students ages 14 to 21 prepare for transition into the adult world. Please see below for the full list of our amazing Community Partners that help our students to have community access and opportunities.

As I mentioned last week, we continue to monitor the public health numbers. Our current plans are designed for high mitigation, including testing and the phased return to reopening. However, we all should be advised to stay flexible in the event that the situation continues to change. 

Last week the CDC released new guidance about close contact, which it now defines as being within six feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or longer over a 24-hour period. Our Return to Campus - Prevention, Response, and Preparedness Plan will be updated tomorrow and can be found on the COVID-19 section of the Ivymount website. Families will receive an Oppero survey this week asking you to commit to the Oath of Responsibility and acknowledge you have reviewed the plan and considerations. We ask families to complete this prior to sending their students back to on site programing in November or participate in on site events or outreach services.

Please review these information sheets, which reflect updates to our policies. Find them on the Return to Campus page of our website.

Our first request is for familes to test students prior to their return on November 9. Testing should occur no sooner then November 2. On November 3, Montgomery County will be conducting their Rockville testing on the Ivymount Campus. They provide nasal swab tests from CIAN Diagnostic Laboratories in Frederick. The health care provider will walk you or your student through self administered tests while you are in your car. The tests are molecular tests. This free testing is available in Montgomery County for anyone working or attending a Montgomery County School. You do NOT need to reside in Montgomery County. Families and employees can also check with their insurance carrier or physician regarding alternate testing locations. 

Once you receive your test results, please attach them using the form in your Oppero account. If you receive only a phone call from Montgomery County and not electronic results, please ask for the person callings for their full name. You can then send an email to [email protected] and include the person that notified you full name, date of the call and confirmation of your student's negative results.

The next two testing windows will begin on Dec 1, and Jan 4 with results due by the following Monday for student to participate in on site programs.

In their Social Justice class, Lower Middle School MAP students read the book, Beautiful, Beautiful Me, by Ashley Sirah Hinton. They discussed various visible and invisible identity characteristics (e.g., race, gender, culture, traditions). Then, students wrote poems about themselves / their identity to create positive statements about themselves and a positive classroom community as they discussed each person’s unique identity.

Bam

Exciting

Awesome

Unique

Totally great

Inspiring

Fiery

Understanding

Loving

During a presentation for parents and caregivers, Michael Stromberg, of the Ivymount Mental Health Department, shared why self-care really matters, noting that self-criticism, guilt, shame, and avoidance makes it harder to care for yourself and others.

Using the Acceptance and Commitment Training model, Stromberg advised that it's important to acknowledge our discomfort with the current pandemic, while also focusing on problem-solving issues/concerns that we do have control over. He offered a challenge to parents and caregivers:

As October's National Disability Employment Awareness Month wraps up, we want to recognize our many community and jobsite partners for the important support they give our students in the workplace. These partnerships provide meaningful opportunities and are invaluable in our efforts to prepare students for a successful transition from school to adult life with meaningful work and community inclusion.

Wednesday, October 28