August 20, 2020
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Welcome to the 2020-21 school year! Please take some time to review the contents of this letter as we have a significant amount of information to share.
We ask that all students and families adhere to our COVID Re-Entry Guidelines. If you have not already had the opportunity, please review the Edmonton Catholic School Division’s Re-Entry Handbook. This document was emailed to all families on August 4th by the division. Our first and most important goal is to keep all students, families, and staff safe and healthy. We appreciate your time and attention in reviewing everything we want to share with you.
As part of our re-entry planning, we will be staggering entry for the first two days of school, September 2nd and September 3rd. Families will be notified by August 31st which day your child(ren) will be attending (sibling groups will be scheduled for the same day). We want to ensure students are comfortable with their assigned entrance and exit, have a designated meeting spot to meet with parents/guardians after school, and thoroughly understand our enhanced cleaning and safety practices for this first quarter, as well as the remainder of the school year. September 4th is a PD day for all Kindergarten to Grade 9 ECSD teachers; therefore, all students across the division will have no classes this day. On this day, our teachers in 100 Voices to Grade 9 will be supported in planning a collaborative approach to ensure curricular alignment between in-person and online programming.
The first full day of school for all students is Tuesday, September 8th. To ensure physical distancing as much as possible, as well as the control of traffic flow, we ask that all children enter and exit through the doors as assigned, which will also be practiced during our staggered entry days. We will be following these measures strictly and want to ensure all students, families and staff remain safe and healthy.
Attendance is taken first thing in the morning and afternoon. If your child is absent from class, and the absence is unverified, you will receive a phone message from our attendance management system. If you know your child is going to be absent or late, please notify us in the office prior to the absence.
We are looking forward to introducing you to our staff virtually, through Microsoft Teams, on September 10th. The time and meeting invitation will be sent via Swift to all parents and guardians on September 8th.
Our St. Clement team joins me in wishing all of you a healthy and engaging school year. It is with immense pride, gratitude, optimism, and great faith, that we welcome you to this new school year!
Warm regards,
Sarah Mandolesi – Principal
•
Staggered Entry Plano Wednesday is a full day for students and Thursday is our early dismissal. o Families will be notified prior to August 31st of their child’s staggered entry day
• Doors/School Entry Procedures
o See map on page 5 which outlines the entrances each grade will use. o Each entrance will be equipped with hand sanitizer, and all students must
sanitize upon entry and exit.
o Parents/Guardians – please ensure you have arranged a meeting spot with your child for pick-up after school.
o Parents are key partners in their child’s education. We encourage parents to make phone or online appointments with school staff rather than in-person visits to the school.
o When a parent or visitor enters the school with an established appointment, they should be asked to use the self-screening tool before entering. If a visitor or parent answers YES to any of the questions, they should not be permitted to enter the school. Upon entry, the parent or visitor must wear a mask, hand-sanitize, and then report directly to the general office to check in and sign the visitor log. From there, they will be directed to the person with whom they are meeting. A record (sign in) of all visitors who remain within the school for more than 15 minutes must be kept, and which must include the first and last name of the visitor, the person with whom they are meeting, and the time of arrival and departure.
o All 100 Voices and Kindergarten classrooms will be outfitted with hand washing stations
• Recess and Lunch Procedures
o PYP – Recess schedule. There will be two recess blocks for Grades 1-5 beginning at 10:00 am to ensure that students remain in their learning cohort.
Kindergarten students will have a recess break with their teacher prior to, or after the Grade 1-5 recess times.
o PYP - Lunch Schedule
Time Eating Outdoors
11:48am-12:08pm Grades 4-5 Grades 1-3 12:13pm-12:33pm Grades 1-3 Grades 4-5 o MYP – Lunch Schedule
Time Eating Outdoors
11:46am-12:12pm Grades 6-7 Grades 8-9 12:12pm-12:37pm Grades 8-9 Grades 6-7
o For safety reasons, microwaves will no longer be available to students for use during lunch time; therefore, please pack a lunch that does not require heating. o All students will eat lunch in their designated classroom or homeroom.
• Lockers/Personal Belongings
o Currently, lockers are not available for use. Students will keep their personal belongings with them. Students are encouraged to minimize the number of belongings they have at school, and only bring necessary items and supplies for that day.
• Mask Procedures
o The present guidance from the Chief Medical Officer indicates that staff and students in Grades 4 - 12 will be mandated to wear masks. Although not mandated for K - 3, the use of masks is strongly recommended to help reduce the potential for transmission and exposure. Alberta Education will be providing two reusable masks for each student, that will be distributed the first week of school. Masks are particularly recommended in circumstances where there is prolonged close contact (greater than 15 minutes) and distance of two metres cannot be maintained. Please ensure your children come to school with masks from home as our masks from Alberta Education may not arrive at the same time as our staggered entry days.
• Illness Procedures
o Should a student exhibit signs of illness at school, they will be moved to a designated private area within the school. Parent/caregivers will be notified and advised to pick up their child immediately. Please ensure that student
emergency contact information is up-to date in the event that parents cannot be reached. Should a student become ill, a parent/caregiver or emergency contact must pick up the student as soon as is practicable. Staff supervising symptomatic students will:
Keep all other staff out of the designated quarantine area;
Provide the student with a face mask, provided that the student can wear it safely;
Wear recommended PPE;
Use strict hand-washing techniques; and Maintain physical distancing.
o Students are welcome to return to school upon completion of a negative COVID test and resolution of symptoms.
• Physical Education Procedures
o For MYP students in Grades 7-9, changing for Physical Education will be optional.
o Students are encouraged to come changed for their activities as lockers will not be accessible. However, students may be permitted to change in the locker room in small groups at the direction of the PE teacher, and subsequently have their personal belongings safely stored in a gym bag or knapsack in the
equipment room for safekeeping during class.
• Yellow Bus/ETS Procedures
o Parents and children/students should not be in the pick-up area or enter the bus if they have symptoms of COVID-19.
o Masks are required for all students on both the yellow bus and ETS. Students will be assigned seats (on their yellow bus) and a record of this seating plan will be kept in order to assist with contact tracing in the case of a student having COVID-19. Students who live in the same household will be seated together. o Schools will develop procedures for student loading, unloading, and transfers
that support physical distancing when possible and may include:
Children/students loading from the back seats to the front of the bus; Where feasible, limiting the number of students per bench unless from
the same household;
Students from the same household may share seats; and
Students start unloading from the front seats to the back of the bus. o If a child becomes symptomatic during the bus trip, the driver will contact the
school to make the appropriate arrangements to pick up the child/ student. o There will be an increased frequency of cleaning and disinfection of high-touch
surfaces, such as door handles, window areas, rails, steering wheel, mobile devices, and GPS prior to each run.
o Families are encouraged to make alternate arrangements for transportation should they not feel comfortable with their children on yellow busses or transit.
• Explanation of the Quarter System
o Families will be able to decide, at four key times throughout the school year, whether their child will attend school in person or choose to learn at home through online instruction. To offer this choice, we are organizing the year into four instructional quarters (10-week periods of learning), which will align with these key entry or exit times.
o Quarter 1: September 3 to November 9 o Quarter 2: November 10 to January 29 o Quarter 3: February 1 to April 20 o Quarter 4: April 21 to June 25
• In-School and Online Programming
o IB programming may not be available for those students opting for online learning. More information regarding online schedules and organization will be shared prior to the start of classes.
o For MYP students in Grades 7-9 option courses will continue for in-person learning; however, these complimentary courses will not be available for students choosing to learn online.
o The purchase of school supplies through School Start is completely optional. Families may choose to print off the school supply list (specified by each teacher) and purchase/collect the supplies on their own, from vendors of their choice. Also, families do not have to purchase the specific brand names indicated on the supply list.