March 13, 2020
Dear Pardes Community,
We have additional important updates to share with you since my communication last night. Thank you in advance for your immediate attention to these changes.
Pick-up Procedures
Until further notice, all students other than those Middle Schoolers walking to the JCC will be dismissed through the car line. If you do not currently have a car sign for your dashboard, please make a temporary one with your children’s names. Additionally, please make sure to email Susan Blease by 2:30 pm each day with any changes to who is picking up for your child, including going home with a friend and/or a different person not listed on their emergency form. We ask for your patience as we work as quickly as possible to get your children to your cars safely.
New Pardes Hotline
The State of Arizona requested that each school set up a hotline for calls, as the State has been swamped and cannot handle the volume. While the State was not specific as to the nature of the hotline, we suspect it is primarily for questions of a clinical nature. The hotline number for Pardes is 480-462-2534. Messages on this hotline will be sent to the School Nurse, Lisa D’Onofrio. If the questions are clinical, Nurse Lisa will reply. If the questions are non-clinical, she will forward the message to the appropriate member of the Pardes faculty and staff.
Absence Tracking
The State of Arizona also required, effective immediately, more detailed information be gathered by the school in regard to student absences. The intention is for statistical tracking of the cause of student absences, to gauge if there is an increase in absences for respiratory reasons. The State reiterated that all individual information is to remain completely private, and only statistical data is to be compiled. If you call in with a student absence, please note the reason for the absence. If the reason for the absence is not included in your message, please understand that the school will contact you to gather the specifics directly.
After-School Athletics
In an effort to ensure the safety and well-being of our community, Pardes has made the difficult decision to cancel all after school sports practices and games beginning today for the remainder of the school year. As we said yesterday, there is no greater priority than keeping your children and our community safe.
School Lobby
If you do need to come into the school for some reason, we have a large bottle of hand sanitizer on the reception desk. We appreciate your understanding in advance that we will ask all entrants to use the hand sanitizer as they arrive. We are also enhancing our procedures for all employees and children, requiring them to wash their hands as the school day begins.
We recognize the fluidity of this situation and appreciate your understanding that we are tackling issues each and every day as they arise. Please watch for more frequent communications from the school, and know we will try to consolidate them as much as possible to keep the volume down!
We wish you all a restful and healthy Shabbat!
Kind Regards,
