WRMS Weekly Update

Please conduct this screening at home, daily, prior to leaving for school. You do not need to print it out and bring it in. But if your student is symptomatic or potentially exposed, please stay home and contact the school ASAP.

It's hard to believe we have 2 weeks behind us already. The students and staff have done an excellent job adjusting to our hybrid learning environment and there are great things going on both in-person and remote!

A number of students are forgetting their Chromebooks each day. Loaning chromebooks poses a health risk, please ensure they have a fully charged one packed for each morning!

Daily, please make sure all students must bring with them:

• 2 Masks (1 on + a back-up)

• A fully charged, school-issued chromebook
  

• Headphones
  

• Refillable water bottle

• Tissue packs

• Individual hand sanitizer

• Other materials according to their teachers

We'd like to keep the success going, and could use your support with students on their remote days. Students must be on time to their remote classes (the bell schedule is in place even at home), and keep their screens on for the entirety of class. When possible, please schedule appointments for after school hours. When this is unavoidable, it is important that Mrs. McDonough is notified so we can mark attendance accordingly. And please, limit interruptions during the school day. Students are in class from 8:15 - 12:36 and 1:45 - 3:04, whether they are on-site or remote.

If your student needs support, academic or otherwise, please reach out to their guidance counselor or AP, we are absolutely here to help them!

Next week, we will be offering full remote students tours of the new building. All tours start at the new main entrance and begin at 3:30. They are for students only, and we should be done by 4:00 each day.

At this time, students can pick up their agendas, masks, remaining chromebooks, and yearbooks from last year if they ordered one, as well.

• Tuesday, 10/20: Grade 6
• Wednesday, 10/21: Grade 7
• Thursday, 10/22: Grade 8

Picture days are scheduled for Wednesday, October 28th and Thursday, October 29th. Group 1 students will have their pictures taken on the 28th and Group 2 on the 29th. Remote students can come in on their corresponding group days from 1:30 - 3:00 for their pictures. All pictures will be taken outside by the new main entrance.

Forms will be going home next week, but here, also, is the link to a digital copy.

The Borough of Westwood instituted a new traffic pattern around the Middle School. Please see the letter from the Westwood Police Department and included maps for more information.

This is a reminder from the Westwood Regional School District Medical Department that if you are planning on traveling out of State, whether it’s for a day, weekend or an extended vacation, you should check the NJDOH Travel Advisory, NJ Travel Advisory Hub, prior to leaving.

This site is continually updated but if you travel to another state that is on the list, you will need to quarantine for 14 days prior to returning to school and/or work.

Recent clarification from the Department of Health regarding “traveling through a state” specified that if you are traveling and stop at a rest stop, short layover, etc., and do not visit anyone in that state, then you would not have to quarantine. However, if you stay less than 24 hours in a designated state that is on the list and visit someone in that state, even for a short period of time, you would have to quarantine for the 14 days because you have then increased your risk factor for contracting COVID-19.

Feel free to contact your building nurse for any questions regarding this matter.

Please see below from the cafeteria regarding changes to meals with our in-person learning:

• Students with last names ending in A-K need to choose Group 1
• Students with last names ending in L-Z need to choose Group 2
• Students who will remain Full Remote, need to stay Full Remote.

Group 1 and Full Remote students pick up Monday for Monday and Tuesday AND pick up Wednesday for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Group 2 students pick up Tuesday for Monday and Tuesday AND pick up Thursday for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Students can pick up their lunches in the old main lobby by the bus loop. Please make sure they know they have meals to pick up, as many are being left behind.

Please click here for information on pre-ordering lunch and on free and reduced lunch.

If your student is symptomatic or if they have been exposed to someone who is symptomatic or positive, please contact Mrs. Penn ASAP via email (deborah.penn@wwrsd.org) or phone (601-664-5560 x6004).

Please continue to report absences in our hybrid environment via call or email to Mrs. McDonough at sharon.mcdonough@wwrsd.org or 201-664-5560 x6000. Remote students need to be called in if they are unable to participate in classes during the course of the 8:15 - 3:04 school day. If your student is scheduled to be in-person, but is going to be remote for the day, that must be called in as well.

The Guidance Counselors are available every day to meet with students regardless of whether they are scheduled for in-person or remote learning. In an effort to maintain current safety guidelines, students are strongly encouraged to request meetings with their counselors by emailing them. Counselors will contact the student as soon as possible to schedule an online or in-person meeting. Counselors will continue to see students on an emergency basis, as well.

If your student is having difficulty, be is academic, technological, social emotional or more, please reach out to us! Our trained staff is here to support them whether we are in-person or remote!

Counselors:

• 6th Grade - Ms. Fabrocini (caitlin.fabrocini@wwrsd.org)

• 7th Grade - Mrs. Androulakis (christie.androulakis@wwrsd.org)

• 8th Grade - Mrs. Sparno (jenny.sparno@wwrsd.org)

Nurses:

• District Head and Middle School Nurse - Mrs. Penn (deborah.penn@wwrsd.org)
• Part-time nurse and RN - Mrs. Galow (kenia.galow@wwrsd.org)

Assistant Principals:

• 6th Grade - Mr. Corso (michael.corso@wwrsd.org)

• 7th Grade - Mr. Albert (barry.albert@wwrsd.org)

• 8th Grade - Mr. Attanasio (michael.attanasio@wwrsd.org)

The WRMS PSO is gearing up for the school year! Thank you for the balloon arrangements to brighten our students' arrivals this week!

We are a Box Tops school! Even though Box Tops has gone digital, there are still some products out there that have unexpired traditional clips. If you see the traditional clip on the box, you can still get credit for those as long as they are not expired! Please have your student turn those in by the new main office and keep scanning your receipts!

Please find a Bergen County Mental Health resource document for your reference and support. You can also check out the resource page on www.BergenResourceNet.org regarding resources about inclusion, social consciousness and understanding, etc.

Please click here to access an online library of electronic flyers for our community partners.

Please mark your calendars for important upcoming events...

• 10/20-10/22 - Remote Student Tours, 3:30 PM (see schedule above)
  
• 10/22 - Board of Education Meeting
  
• 10/28 & 29 - Picture Days
• 11/3 - Per Executive Order-177, "All public primary and secondary schools shall be closed to in-person instruction on November 3"; therefore, we will schedule an "All remote" day of instruction for all groups. Please mark your calendars.
• 11/5 & 6 - District Closed
• 11/25 - Early Dismissal
• 11/26 & 27 - District Closed

Here is next week's schedule:

• Monday, group 1, A day
• Tuesday, group 2, B day
• Wednesday, group 1, A day
• Thursday, group 2, B day
• Friday, group 2, A day, periods 7-3, lunch, then 2-1

Email: shelley.laforgia@wwrsd.org
Website: http://www.wwrsd.org/westwoodrms
Location: 23 3rd Ave, Westwood, NJ, United States
Phone: 201-664-5560
Facebook: facebook.com/WRMiddleSchool
Twitter: @wrmscardinals