Weekly Newsletter, 10/2/20

Posted October 2, 2020

Student posing with a book

Great First Week, Kindergarten!

Dear SKCEE Families,

I would like to sincerely thank you all for your diligence with implementing the new COVID protocols. Our school could not function without the support and cooperation of all of you! As many of you already know, a person from one of our ECE Cohorts was diagnosed with a positive case of COVID.

The individual is currently doing well. I would like to say that our protocols were followed and we were able to isolate the incident to only one room. We have four on-site Covid Coordinators that I worked alongside with to perform contact tracing and notify all parties impacted. I want to make sure everyone is aware of the guidelines and expectations surrounding this. We will go into further detail in this newsletter below.

We are also thrilled to have our kindergarteners back in the building! The entire staff is delighted to see their smiling faces and positive energy. Our amazing kindergarten teachers have done a stellar job creating safe and engaging learning environments for in-person learning. Students hit the ground running with literacy and math lessons. Their presence has brought a new life and positive energy to the building that is invaluable. Thank you again to all the families who have given us this opportunity to serve
students and the community. Have a fantastic weekend!

Sincerely,
Matt Johnson M.Ed.
Principal of Stephen Knight Center for Early Childhood Education

General School Updates

No School October 9th

There will be NO SCHOOL for Stephen Knight students Friday, October 9th, 2020. We appreciate your flexibility and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We do acknowledge this was a new addition to our schedule. This is a crucial professional development for maintaining student safety and meeting requirements for licensing. Originally this professional development was planned to take place during the summer. However, due to the uncertainty of COVID restrictions we were instructed to pause any in person training until this time. Please rest assured that this is a unique and rare circumstance. Thank you again for your support and patience during this time.

Spirit Week

  • Monday, October 5th – Pajama Day!! Wear your favorite pair of pajamas to school
  • Tuesday, October 6th – Superhero!! Wear your favorite superhero costume or attire to school
  • Wednesday, October 7th – Hat Day!! Wear your favorite baseball cap, top hat or beanies to school
  • Thursday, October 8th – Favorite Team Day!! Wear your favorite team’s shirt or jersey to school
  • Friday, October 9th – NO SCHOOL

COVID-19 Information

Can I send my child to school today?

Parents and guardians can use the symptom checklists to determine when to keep their child at home based on the characteristic symptoms of COVID-19. Any student or staff diagnosed with COVID-19 or who has been in close contact with a COVID-19 case should not go to school and should isolate or
quarantine according to public health recommendations.

The daily health screener consists of the usual symptoms related to Covid-19 and must be completed each school day to ensure that everyone is healthy at the start of school. Any of the following symptoms are present, keep the child at home/ stay at home, inform the school of symptoms, and reach out to a health care provider about COVID-19 testing and next steps for treatment.

If your student is showing any of the symptoms below, or if you have given your student ANY medication to subside the symptoms below, please keep your student home for the day.

  • Feeling feverish, having chills, or temperature 100.4 or higher.
  • New or unexplained persistent cough.
  • Shortness of breath.
  • Difficulty breathing.
  • Loss of taste or smell.
  • Fatigue.
  • Muscle aches.
  • Headache.
  • Sore throat.
  • Nausea or vomiting.
  • Diarrhea.
  • Runny nose or congestion.
Staff Requirements: Doing our part at DPS

We want you to feel safe while your children are in our care. These are the protocols in place for our staff.

  • We are being very diligent about remaining socially distanced and we are doing our best to not intermingle between cohorts.
  • We are required to stay compliant with proper PPE.
  • Every morning we complete a health screener for ourselves and run a temperature check as well.
    • If any staff member is exhibiting any symptoms, they are asked to stay home until a COVID test is taken, and returned with negative results. DPS has many testing sites available to employees. Results can take 24-48 hours to come back
Cleaning Procedures
  • Our goal is to disinfect touchable surfaces multiple times throughout the day. With COVID19 we have prioritized this and our custodians disinfect touchable surfaces at least 4 times daily. When any cohort switches or leaves an area, we prepare and sanitize this area for the next class.
  • Restroom disinfecting occurs three times during a school day to mitigate germs. Touchable surfaces that are wiped down in the restrooms include faucets, flush device handles, door handles, partition locks and ADA handrails.
  • Common area disinfecting includes but is not limited to handrails, door knobs, push plates on doors, stairway passages, wall edges, light switches, etc. There is limited access to the staff lounge, work room and other common areas of the building.
  • Our playground is disinfected multiple times throughout the day and then once thoroughly after school is finished.

Parent Office Hours

We have weekly office hours for parents 3 to 5 p.m., on Tuesday. Please sign up!

PTA Updates

SKCEE Book Drive

Book drive donations for our SKCEE Library will be accepted every Friday. If you would like to donate new or gently-used books, there will be clearly-marked donation boxes at all school entrances during drop-off and pick-up.

Reserved Parking Spots

We have four reserved parking spots in the front of our school that we are auctioning off again this year to raise funds to support our teachers and staff. Place a bid! The auction will be open until midnight on Sunday, October 4. If you have any questions, please contact sandra.ellen.tucker@gmail.com.

Save the Date: Virtual Book Fair!

Our virtual Scholastic Book Fair is coming up the week of October 12th! Follow us on social media to get the first announcement for when the book fair link has gone live.

Let’s Go on a Musical Adventure

Scattered Solutions is offering a virtual adventure on Thursday, October 8 from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m.! Meet Ms. Claire and her puppet pals as they take your child on an adventure! Using fun and colorful virtual backgrounds, Claire will invite you into an original story while encouraging participation with movements, music, and verbal interactions. Register for this event online. The cost is $10, with 50% of the funds coming back to SKCEE!

Committee Volunteers Still Needed!

We still have spots available on a few of our volunteer committees, including the Creative Events Committee! If you are interested in getting involved, volunteer opportunities and committee signups are available. Also, it’s not too late to join the PTA––if you haven’t already, join today and attend our next virtual meeting on October 21, at 5:30 p.m.