Dear Roosevelt Families,
I would like to welcome you back to Roosevelt School and to the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. This summer has been filled with planning, scheduling, and preparing for the reintroduction of students to the building for the first time since we closed as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic in mid-March of last school year.
As you can only imagine, we are thoroughly excited to bring teachers and students back together. While we are excited to open for in-person learning, during our summer planning our attention has focused on the goals of providing a safe space for students to learn and teachers to teach and creating a more synchronous learning environment during those times that students are learning remotely.
Information that has been previously shared -
You have already received information on the systemic changes to our daily school schedule to reduce the numbers of students in school each day.
You completed a parent survey to identify whether your child would be participating in full remote learning or the offered hybrid model. You should have already accessed the Genesis portal for information about your child's cohort:
A = Blue Group (Attending in person instruction Mondays and Thursdays)
B = Green Group (Attending in person instruction on Tuesdays and Fridays)
C = Yellow Group (Students who have indicated they will be fully remote)
Student Schedules -
On Wednesday, September 3rd student schedules will be released through the Genesis portal. This schedule will include each student's teacher assignments, classes, and period number in a typical fashion (periods 1-9). The student will need to look at their daily class schedule and compare it to this year's hybrid schedule to know what classes they will be attending each day. We will not be granting any requests for schedule changes at this time.
Remote Teacher Notation on Schedules -
This year you may see a notation of remote teaching next to one of your assigned teachers. Both federal and state law requires that accommodations be provided to individuals with a specific health or family need. One of these accommodations during the pandemic is for teachers to teach remotely outside of the school building. Students who have been assigned a remote teacher will be taught by this assigned teacher remotely. Those hybrid students who are attending that teacher's class will be supervised by a substitute teacher and will login to a live-streamed lesson with the assigned teacher.
Google Classroom Links -
On September 8th and 9th, all teachers will be taking part in two days of professional development to prepare for this school year. These two days are in addition to the many meetings and professional learning experiences that teachers took part in during the summer months. On September 8th, teachers will be setting up their Google Classroom pages for each class section. Students will receive a link in their Westfield email to join their various Google Classroom pages.
It is important that students access these links prior to September 10th, as these links to the first day of school streaming classes will be shared in these Google Classroom pages.
Parent Feature in Google Classroom -
During the first few days of school parents will receive an email from their child's teacher inviting them to receive Google Classroom Summaries. If you choose to register to receive parent summaries, you will receive updates on:
- Missing work-Work not turned in when the summary was sent.
- Upcoming work-Work that's due today and tomorrow (for daily emails) or that's due in the upcoming week (for weekly emails).
- Class activities-Announcements, assignments, and questions recently posted by teachers.
Masks / Social Distancing / Air Flow / Other Safety Measures
- All students will wear a mask the entire time they are in the school building. Students will have opportunities for mask breaks when outside during gym, lunch/study, or if a teacher holds class in one of our outdoor learning spaces (courtyard, picnic tables, etc...).
- Westfield Board of Health has recently released appropriate face coverings for school. Please see the attached PDF.
- Hallways and stairwells will be designated as one direction to avoid congestion
- In classrooms, desks have either been spaced 6 feet apart or students will sit with an empty desk in between them to ensure 6 feet of separation.
- Classroom windows will be open and classroom ventilator blowers will be on to circulate fresh air from outside.
Entry into School -
In order to provide for social distancing of students, the process for entry to school will be very different this year. Students will enter the building at 8:10 am through grade specific doors:
- 6th Grade - The main entrance (front door) on Clark Street and the Breezeway doors, also located on Clark Street.
- 7th Grade -Back of the cafeteria doors and back of the Science wing entrance, both located on the pavement by Clark Park.
- 8th Grade - Door by room 102 (Orchestra room) and door by the assistant principal's office, both located on Tuttle Parkway.
Signs will be placed at the doors with the students' first period of the day room number. As students lineup at their designated locations, they are expected to socially distance themselves. First period of the day teachers will pick students up at these locations. Prior to entering the building, the teacher will ensure that all students are wearing a mask and that parents have submitted the daily Covid-19 screening tool through Genesis. Those students who have not had the screening tool submitted will be sent to a screening area at another location outside of the building.
Materials & Supplies -
For the first day of school all students should have the following supplies:
- Multiple pens & pencils
- A notebook
- Their fully charged Chromebook
- Headphones for their Chromebook (preferably wired)
- A backpack
- A handheld pencil sharpener
- Hand Sanitizer or wipes
- At least two masks (one to wear and one in a zip lock bag in their backpack as a back-up)
Teachers will be posting class specific supply lists to their school websites on September 8th & 9th.
We cannot wait to welcome students back to Roosevelt School, both in-person and virtually. We are extremely excited about getting back to the meaningful work of engaging our middle school students in the daily routines and learning experiences that are so important to healthy adolescent development.
Regards,
Brian Gechtman
Principal
Roosevelt Intermediate School
Basic Skills/Title 1 Coordinator
301 Clark Street
Westfield, NJ 07090
