Message to Families, November 4, 2020
Dear 5th & 6th Grade Students and Families,
We are thrilled to have our 5th & 6th grade students back onsite beginning next week! As you saw in the letter from Dr. Smith, the Tri County Health Department has recommended that we can safely bring K-6 students back onsite, in a hybrid A/B model beginning with the “A group” on Monday, November 9th, and the “B group” on Thursday, November 12th. Note: Please send your student with their charged chromebook.
This hybrid schedule will involve students attending onsite two days each week, and work at home the remaining days utilizing Zoom, Canvas, and workpackets to stay on-track with the instructional activities throughout the week. Teachers will be contacting families today (Wednesday, 11/4) and tomorrow (Thursday, 11/5) to indicate which schedule each student will follow. If you have not heard from your teacher by Thursday afternoon at 3:00pm, please call our school office so we can ensure you know your student’s schedule. See the calendar below.
Although we cannot have students in the building five days per week, bringing students back is great news, and we believe this is a move in the right direction for our families and community. That being said, I want you to be fully aware of a situation that we will likely see. When a teacher becomes ill with COVID-like symptoms or is a close contact AND we do not have staff available to cover their position, an entire classroom of students may need to return to distance learning for up to two weeks. We believe it is better for individual classrooms to return to distance learning than for an entire system to shut down, in the event a classroom teacher has to isolate or quarantine. Although we plan and hope to use staff from within the building to cover such absences, we wanted to make you aware of this possibility given the amount of staff absences due to the health screening process for anyone entering the building.
As your student returns to the building, all of our same processes and procedures will remain the same as early October, such as health screening at entries or attestation tickets signed by parents, physical distancing of 6 feet, and face coverings/masks required to be worn indoors. Durham will continue to provide transportation for students, and you can expect the same pick up & drop off times as in October. Please call Durham Transportation with any questions: (509) 447-0505.
Please contact us with any questions or clarifications, and we are looking forward to having our 5th and 6th grade students back, beginning next week!
Sincerely,
Tony Moser
Principal
mosertony@newportgriz.com ; (509) 447-2426 
