September 25th, 2020

Good morning parents, guardians and adults of our awesome Smithson Lions! We are now several days into having all of our students in the building, and we are so thrilled with how well everyone is doing with the new routines, protocols and safety guidelines. Thank you once again for all of your hard work in preparing students for their return to school.

to our In-Person Learners:

Just a reminder – please screen your child for symptoms of COVID each morning before sending them to school. Use this handy checklist to help you out. We are being very diligent about sending students home who display any symptoms of COVID. If you choose to keep your child home because they are showing symptoms of COVID, please follow the instructions on the screening checklist.  If you are keeping one child home due to COVID-like symptoms, please keep any siblings home as well.  For further information, see the announcement that was posted earlier today.

Please note that hand sanitizer CANNOT be brought to school. I had communicated in a previous email that small bottles in lunch bags would be OK, but I was mistaken. Please do not send hand sanitizer to school anymore. There is no shortage of available soap and sanitizer here that is Board and Public Health approved, and teachers carry a bottle with them everywhere. Again, we are fortunate that we have sinks in every classroom, and the students are following great routines throughout the day to wash their hands regularly.

Teachers are working diligently to get their digital learning platforms (Google Classrooms) set up for students. This is a time-consuming process, especially for our youngest learners and their teachers. If your child is home sick or you are choosing to keep them home, I encourage you to:

• Access the WRDSB@Home website, which is full of great activities in all subject areas and for all grade levels.
• Connect with your child’s teacher to see what they might have available on their digital platform, to learn how to connect to their digital platform, or to let them know that you are engaging in activities on the WRDSB@Home website. For some teachers, they will direct you to the WRDSB@Home site while they continue to work getting their on-line platforms set up and ensuring students know how to log in.
• If you need tech support, please visit our Tech@Home website for support and resources.

Above all, please show grace and compassion to your child’s teacher – they are all working incredibly hard to engage students who are in school while managing so many new protocols and expectations, and also, for many, learning about and teaching new digital platforms to students.

If you have not already done so, please complete the mandatory “beginning of the year forms” that are now uploaded on School Day. Look for them under the “Events” tab – it is much the same as signing a permission form for a field trip. If you have completed them, there will be a green check mark beside the forms you have completed. If you have multiple children in the school, you must complete the forms for each child.

Please ensure that you have checked, updated and sent back the Data Verification Forms that have been sent home with your student(s). It is critical that we have up-to-date contact information for all of our families.

We ask that ALL adults who come onto school grounds to drop off / pick up students before and after school wear a mask.  Masks are mandatory on school grounds when we cannot guarantee social distancing.  We ask this of our students, and so we ask it of our adults as well.

We also ask that dogs are NOT brought onto school property during student drop off and pick up.  This is a safety issue for our students, but also for your pet as well.  Your cooperation with this is greatly appreciated.

 

to our Distance Learners:

We miss you!!! But, we hope that you have all had the opportunity to connect with your new Distance Learning teachers, and that those connections have been meaningful and engaging. Our Human Resources department, and the Administrators of our Distance Learning schools, have been working tirelessly to hire and put in place all of these teachers, which is now nearing completion. If you are having tech. issues, please visit our Tech@Home website for support and resources. Visit the Distance Learning website for answers to any other questions you may have.

If you have not already done so, please complete the mandatory “beginning of the year forms” that are now uploaded on School Day. Look for them under the “Events” tab – it is much the same as signing a permission form for a field trip. If you have completed them, there will be a green check mark beside the forms you have completed. If you have multiple children in the school, you must complete the forms for each child. These forms must be completed, even if you are participating in Distance Learning.

 

Thank you once again for your patience, grace, support and encouragement of our staff during this challenging time for us all.  We are a fantastic team here at Smithson, in large part due to our incredible families and their children!

Mrs. Moore