Important Information about In-Person Learning Tuesday

September 4, 2020 | Michael M. Boone Elementary School

‌

Our staff is excited to welcome in-person learners on Tuesday! Please read the important information below to prepare for the first day.

First Day of School

Doors will open at 7:30 am
Students may go straight to their classrooms starting at 7:30 on the first day. Each day after, students in Kindergarten will wait in the gym until teachers pick them up at 7:50, and 1st-4th graders will wait in socially distanced rows in their grade level pods until 7:50.
We ask parents to hug their children behind the hug zones placed in the Boone yards on both the Durham and Wentwood sides of the school. Staff members and the Boone Dads Club will be guiding students into the appropriate doors as they arrive on campus.
Please send students to school with a clean mask.
Neck gaiters are not allowed.
Inform your teacher of how your child will go home on the first day of school and each day after.

General Arrival & Dismissal Procedures

THE SCHOOL DAY

Boone’s school day starts at 8:00am and dismisses at 3:15pm for all students.

GENERAL ARRIVAL PROCEDURES

With social distancing, student health, and overall well-being in mind, we are encouraging families to follow a staggered arrival procedure.
Families with multiple grade level children, please arrive between 7:30- 7:45am.
Families with only one child enrolled at Boone, please begin arriving at 7:45am.
We understand that it might not always be possible to arrive exactly at these times, but we appreciate your cooperation as we try to limit the number of students entering the school at one time.
Class begins promptly at 8:00am
Parents are not permitted to enter the building at this time but are welcome to escort students as far as the hug zones designated at each entrance.

GENERAL DISMISSAL PROCEDURES

Dismissal begins at 3:15pm
Prior to the start of the school year, parents will notify their student’s teacher of their preference for pick up – either carpool or other (in-person pick up/walking/biking).
Parents are encouraged to use the same plan for pick up every day of the school year. Should there be a change on a particular day, a note or email should be sent to your student’s teacher that morning indicating the dismissal change. If a change arises after 12:00pm, please call the office to notify them of the change. The office will communicate the information with the teacher.
Students are expected to leave school each afternoon immediately after being dismissed at 3:15pm. Crossing guards are on duty for a reasonable length of time at designated intersections.

Note – Students may NOT be picked up or dropped off from a vehicle on Wentwood or in the Northway Christian parking lot. There should not be Boone vehicular traffic on Wentwood in front of the school.

BUILDING SECURITY

Classes begin at 8:00am, and all exterior doors to the school are locked at 8:00am. After 8:00am, access is permitted only through the front doors on Durham. If your student arrives after 8:00am, they will enter through the front doors where an office staff member will check them in. We encourage you to allow students to enter independently to minimize visitors in the building.
The following steps will be taken if you need to escort your student into the front office:
All visitors must wear a mask when entering the school.
Scan the QR code found on the front doors of the building and complete the visitor health safety survey.
Once complete, you will be admitted into the main office where your temperature will be taken by a staff member.
Your student will be checked in and if necessary, a Boone staff member will assist them to their classroom.

PARKING POLICY

There should never be any unattended cars parked in the queue lane during arrival/dismissal times.
Parking can be found on the streets surrounding the school, except where prohibited by parking signage or painted yellow “no parking” curbs.
Please be respectful of our neighbors and do NOT block residential driveways or alleys.
It is illegal to park within 20 feet of an intersection, including alleys, or within 30 feet of a stop sign. Doing so impedes drivers’ visibility as they approach an intersection and puts pedestrians, as well as other drivers, at risk.
Parking is NOT allowed in any of the Northway Christian Church parking lots at any time, including drop off and pick up, unless otherwise communicated in The Boone Barker.
The inset parking area south of the designated carpool drop-off and pick-up area is a reserved spot 24/7 on school days for the 2020-2021 Auction Winners.

Carpool Arrival & Dismissal

Please ensure all caretakers understand the carpool procedures.

CARPOOL ARRIVAL

Enter the carpool queue from Airline ONLY, south of Wentwood. Do NOT enter the carpool queue from Wentwood, Northwest Parkway, Northwest Highway, Villanova or Durham.
Please enter at the end of the queue and do NOT cut in front of other cars in the queue.
While waiting, do NOT block any intersections, and note that walkers and bikers will be crossing all intersections along the carpool route.
Drivers will continue to move forward in the carpool queue until they enter the designated drop-off area in front of the school on Durham.
Students may ONLY exit a vehicle at the designated drop-off area. Students may NOT exit the vehicle at any other point along the carpool queue.
Due to COVID protocols, students must open and close their own car door. If you feel your child cannot do this, please consider parking nearby and walking your child to the building.
Students from carpool will enter the school through the front doors on Durham and be directed by staff to their designated area.
Once students have safely exited the vehicle, drivers may pull onto Durham, yielding to street traffic.
Continue south on Durham. NO right turn onto Wentwood.

CARPOOL DISMISSAL

To allow for social distancing, students will begin exiting the building at 3:05pm, starting with kindergarten.
Place a carpool sign on your passenger side dashboard for each child you are picking up.
Follow the same queuing process as morning carpool. ONLY enter at the end of the queue line, and only enter on Airline. Do not cut in front of other vehicles, and do not block intersections.
Students may only enter a vehicle in the designated area where Boone staff will monitor 5 cars at a time.
Due to COVID protocols, students must open their own car door. If you feel that your child will need assistance buckling their seat belt, please consider parking and meeting your child in the walker pick up area.
Once students have safely entered the vehicle, drivers may pull onto Durham, yielding to traffic.
Continue south on Durham. NO right turn onto Wentwood.

CARPOOL MAP

Bikers & Walkers Arrival & Dismissal

Note - Wentwood and Northway Christian Church parking lot are NOT drop off or pick up locations.

ARRIVAL OF NON-CARPOOL STUDENTS

Bikers and walkers will enter the school through the doors on Wentwood. Bike racks are available by the Wentwood doors. Please arrange bikes neatly.
Upon approaching the school, bikers should dismount and walk their bikes along the sidewalk and through all intersections. Please always have students walk their bikes along sidewalks that are congested with pedestrian traffic.
Please remind students to stay on sidewalks at all times. It is not safe for a student to be in the street!
Please take note of where crossing guards are stationed as you plan your student’s route to school.
Please cross streets at intersections ONLY, preferably intersections attended by crossing guards. Use extreme caution when approaching alleys.
Please be aware of the carpool queue along Airline and traffic leaving the carpool queue on Durham.

DISMISSAL OF NON-CARPOOL STUDENTS

To allow for social distancing, students will begin exiting the building at 3:05pm starting with kindergarten.
Students walking, biking or meeting their parents will be released through the doors on Wentwood. Parents will remain on the south side of the Hug Zone signs along Wentwood.
In order to dismiss students safely, it is imperative that parents or caregivers hold up their yellow dismissal sign with their child’s name visible.
Kindergarten and first grade students will wait outside in cohort groups and will be released to parents and caregivers waiting at the grade level pick up sign. Students are expected to “check out” verbally with their teacher before being dismissed.
Please note, Kindergarten and 1st grade students must be released to a parent or older sibling in person and may NOT ride their bikes or walk home alone.
Students in second, third, and fourth grade will be allowed to walk or bike home independently once dismissed by staff members. If they are meeting up with their younger siblings, they will be responsible for verbally checking out with the younger sibling’s teacher.
Upon leaving the school, following the same safety measures as when arriving... remaining on sidewalks, walking bikes along congested sidewalks and through intersections, crossing with crossing guards, and approaching alleys cautiously.

CROSSING GUARD MAP

Safety Measures During the Day

As a staff, we are striving to provide the safest learning environment for our students. We appreciate your support and trust as we prepare to welcome our In Person learners next Tuesday and continue to provide outstanding virtual learning experiences for our remote learners. We are all proud to be Bulldogs!

SCREENINGS

All employees and visitors entering our buildings will be screened for COVID‐19 symptoms and possible exposure.

FACE MASKS

All students and staff will wear cloth masks during the school day when in classrooms and when traveling through common areas of the school. Students will be able to remove masks at lunch, during recess, and when taken outside for mask breaks. Mask Breaks will be scheduled at various times throughout the day.
If a student needs to wear a face shield for a health condition, we will need to have a note from a physician stating the reasons why they cannot wear a mask. Once we receive the documentation, students will still need to wear a mask while in the hallways, restrooms, and other common areas where it would be difficult to social distance.

HAND WASHING

Students will use hand sanitizer each time they enter and exit a classroom.
Everyone will wash hands for 20 seconds with soap and water after specials, recess, and before and after lunch.
Free-standing hand sanitizer stations have been placed throughout the building.

CLASSROOM MATERIALS & SANITIZING

Common areas and frequently touched surfaces are being cleaned daily.
All classroom teachers have been supplied with a “green” sanitizer that will be used to clean tables when students are not in classrooms. In addition, teachers will clean door handles and workspaces with sanitizing wipes or sanitizer as needed. Each classroom has been supplied with hand sanitizer.
Students will use their own school supplies throughout the day. In classes such as Science, Art, Music, PE, Spanish, materials will be sanitized between classes.

PLEXIGLASS SHIELDS

Each student will have a plexiglass screen that will be used on desks in the classrooms, carried to the cafeteria for lunch, and used during Art, Spanish, and Science.

COHORTS & DISTANCING

Students will remain in class cohorts throughout the day.
Students will be socially distanced as much as possible in all classes.
In classrooms, students will be seated at assigned desks, all facing the same direction, and teachers will have a seating chart in order to contact trace if necessary.
Students will walk in hallways as cohort groups, socially distanced while in line.

SPECIALS & RECESS

Students will attend Specials classes while staying socially distanced and with seating charts. If seated at tables, no more than 2-3 students will be allowed at one table. Students will utilize their plexiglass shields at their tables.
Each class will be assigned to a recess zone each day. The zones will consist of one of the playgrounds on campus, the field with suggested activities and games, the Innovation Lab with various hands-on activities (all materials will be sanitized between uses), and students will remain socially distanced to the greatest extent possible. When outside, students will be allowed to remove masks while they play.

WATER BOTTLES

Students are encouraged to bring their own fillable water bottles each day. Water fountains will not be on in the building. Boone has two water filling stations where students will be able to fill water bottles as needed. They will have lessons on how to fill their bottles following safe and healthy guidelines.

TO GO BAGS, SCHOOL SUPPLIES & BACKPACKS

Please send students with To Go bags on Tuesday. We will keep them at school in order to send materials home during possible emergency closures or when students may be home for extended periods of time.
Students may bring backpacks to school for daily use.
Please send back all school supplies on Tuesday.

TECHNOLOGY

If your child checked out technology during the Emergency Closure, please send it back fully charged along with the charger on Tuesday. The device assigned to your student will remain with him/her at school during the school day and will be sent home in the case of an Emergency Closure or extended illness. While at school, devices will be charged each night.
If your child did not check out technology during the Emergency Closure, they will still be assigned a device at school to use each day.

CAFETERIA

Students will make lunch choices each morning in their classrooms. They will choose between a hot and cold boxed lunch as well as the beverage of their choice.
Lunches will be prepared and placed at tables before students arrive at the cafeteria.
Students will have a 30 minute lunch period each day. Tables are set up so that an entire grade level can eat in the cafeteria during one period. Two to three students will be seated at each table, and students will have an assigned seat each day.
See yesterday's Boone Barker- Special Edition (9/2/20) for more information.

Posters are also on display throughout the building with reminders on how to prevent the spread of germs.