Welcome to a New School Year
Charlotte Mennona,
Program Director
We are grateful to be able to share our first monthly parent newsletter of the school year with you, and hope you enjoy reading the various updates and information from our staff.
It has certainly been an exciting, slightly bumpy start to what promises to be a fantastic year. Being in the school building with the students has been incredibly fulfilling; the benefits of being in-person are too many to list. No one can deny that Covid poses challenges.
We recognize the critical importance of having children in school and will maintain as many health and safety precautions as necessary to maintain our current fully-in-person model. Thank you for doing your part to help Spectrum Services reduce the spread of Covid and keep everyone safe and healthy.
I want to acknowledge the incredible work our special educators and staff have done to get us to this point. Living in a pandemic is not what any of us expected in our lifetimes.
Their willingness to work in these uncertain times and provide meaningful learning opportunities for students despite the health and safety guidelines is greatly appreciated. I am so grateful for Spectrum Services staff and community—thank you for being a part of it and supporting the work we’re doing with kids.
Communication is essential and we strive to connect to our students, parents and families, and community each and every day. Parents and school staff are a team in working together to meet your child’s needs. We want to hear your questions and/or concerns about the school, or about your child’s specific program.
Please reach out to your Family Service Coordinator by phone or email. Also, our school administration team is also a great resource. If you need to reach out to me, please feel free to email me by Clicking Here, and my phone number is 845-336-2616 Ext. 116.
We will continue reaching out to you with school messenger, emails, and text messages. We also encourage you to visit our website and follow our social pages including Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for announcements, information, and celebrations.
As always, we wish to express our sincere gratitude toward our entire school community. We would not be the amazing school that we are without the help and support of all of you. Thank you, and may you have a safe, healthy, and happy fall season!
Warm Regards,
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School Calendar
2021-2022
Need a copy of the School Calendar for the year? Then Click Here. Some points to note:
Schools across New York have added Juneteenth. Further, instead of losing spring break days or extended holidays if we exceed our allotted snow days this winter, we will instead pivot to remote instruction.
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New York State requires all staff working in both public and private schools to show proof of complete vaccination for the coronavirus, or be tested weekly. There is no mandate in NYS requiring all staff working in schools to be vaccinated. In Kingston, our testing program began the first week of school. Our Ellenville site will begin their testing program Monday October 4th.
We are thankful to Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan for recognizing the importance of establishing this program for schools in our county. We also greatly appreciate the UC Health Department for their ongoing support in providing direction to guide our decisions related to all Covid matters, including decisions related to children and staff who may need to quarantine. Dr. Neal Smoller of Village Apothecary in Woodstock created teams of talented nurses to test in schools in both Ulster and Dutchess counties. We are pleased to report the processes and procedures for testing our staff are well-organized and efficient.
"Our Covid testing of staff is referred to as surveillance testing," says Susan Buckler, Executive Director. "This weekly testing of both vaccinated and unvaccinated staff who are not experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms is a means to reduce the likelihood of the internal spread of Covid in our school communities”
Susan explains, "of course, mitigating the potential for internal spread of the virus in our school is important to all of us. Our goal is to perform 50 tests weekly on Tuesdays in Kingston, and 12 tests on Mondays in Ellenville.”
We also offer staff the opportunity to receive vaccines at school. The CDC notes that “testing to identify asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination for teachers and staff provide additional layers of COVID-19 protection in schools.”
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Fall Calendar Highlights,
and Parent Workshops
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At Spectrum Services we believe that parents are partners in their child’s educational program.
For this reason we offer Parent Support and Parent Workshops free for any parent of a child with a developmental disability. All are online and virtual, so you can easily participate. Click the links below for more into.
Wed. Sept. 29th – 6:30 – 8:00
Wed. Oct. 20th – 6:30 – 8:00
November 3rd – 6:30 – 8:00
November 17th 6:30-8:00pm
Tuesday, October 5th, Half Day
for Students
Staff Development/Training
Monday, October 11th, Closed
Columbus Day Holiday
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Heating Up Food
From Home
Providing our students healthy lunches is one of our chief goals, yet many of our children are considered “picky eaters,” who may refuse what the school nutrition program offers. We work very hard to encourage and support children to eat a variety of healthy foods, yet for some children, they do best with food choices sent from home
However, we do have limitations on our ability to heat food sent from home. We cannot store, cook, or heat food up in the classroom as it goes against policies of the Health Department. Therefore, we ask parents to cook or heat food from home, and send it to school using a quality Thermos style container that will keep the food warm until it's lunchtime.
We do have a form for dietary restrictions, which can be obtained from your Family Service Coordinator, and used for medical necessity only, such as making substitutions to the food offered because of food allergies, or other medical need, but this form cannot to be used for heating food.
This is why we urge you to try the food thermos first, as it is very often successful, and more within the routine of what school lunchtime entails. If you are in need of a Thermos, please let your Family Service Coordinator know and we will provide one for you.
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Encouraging Mask Wearing
While we recognize wearing a mask is challenging for many of our students, we continue to work towards improving the percentage of our students who are able to tolerate a mask, even for short periods of time.
We offer our students masks with different fabrics and prints. Your child’s special educator and Family Service Coordinator will have additional ideas to support your efforts to acclimate your child to wear a mask. If you would like us to send home some sample masks for you to use at home, please be in touch with your Family Service Coordinator
If you have questions about our Covid protocols, email our school nurses, Dan Uttendorfer, RN in Kingston: Click Here, and Marian Malcuit, LPN, in Ellenville: Click Here.
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We are grateful for Spectrum Services Annual Sponsors, who support our students and families. |
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70 Kukuk Lane, Kingston NY 12401 - 4 Yankee Place, Ellenville, NY 12428
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