BES Parent Newsletter

We are required to ask 3 questions of every child before he/she can enter the school building. The three questions are pretty basic.

1. Has your child been in close contact with with anyone diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past 14 days?

2. Does your child have any of these symptoms? Fever, Chills, Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, New cough, New loss of taste or smell?

3. Has your child been diagnosed with COVID-19 since they were last at school? (This one is a little tricky on the first day because we haven't been in school since March 13, but it basically means in the past couple of weeks.)

It has been determined by the folks at the NC Department of Health and Human Services that students in grades 3-12+ are capable of answering these questions themselves but that we need daily attestation from parents of students in K-2. That is easy for car riders, but much more difficult for bus riders. So, here is our solution to that issue. This past week, we attempted to call every parent of K-2 students who we know (or think) are going to be bus riders. We spoke to some parents, left voicemails with some parents, and didn't get ahold of others. That was our good faith effort to have one contact regarding the attestation questions before school started. On Monday (10/5), every student will bring home an attestation form (here is what it will look like):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-8XkGMV0MUzOlCgU91t71cQbFYSbf_W_/edit

It is important that you initial each question and sign/date and send back to school Tuesday (10/6) morning. This is especially important if your child is in K-2 as we have been instructed not to allow them to attend school that day without their signed form. PLEASE look in your child's bookbag Monday evening and sign the form and put it back in his/her bookbag.

The kindergarten teachers created an awesome video for kindergarten parents so you all should have absolutely no trouble on Monday morning.

For everyone else, morning car line will run like it always has with a few exceptions:

* Students go ahead and unbuckle and get ready to get out of the vehicle, but they STAY IN THE VEHICLE until a staff member comes to the car to get the questions answered and take the child's temperature.

*The questions are on the attestation form and they will also be on posters on the columns outside the front entrance to the school. If the answers to all of the questions is "NO" then just say to the staff member, "All the answers are no". They can quickly take your kid's temp and he/she can get out and move on toward the door. Your knowing the questions and giving a quick answer will speed things up greatly.

* We found out this summer in summer camp that a vehicle's heater fan blowing on a child can make their temperature read high, so TURN OFF YOUR HEATER FAN before you turn into the main entrance of the school. If your child's temperature is 100 or higher, we have to ask you to park and we can take it again in a few minutes or you have to take your child home. We don't want either of those to happen if the student really doesn't have a fever.

*If you choose to park in the lower lot and walk your child up, please remember that you have to have on a mask and maintain 6 feet of distance when waiting for your child's temperature to be taken. Sadly, parents cannot walk their students into the building at this time.

The state has provided a pack of five white cotton masks for each child who needs them. We are not handing them out to everyone because we know that some of you prefer for your students to wear the masks you are providing them. If you need or want the white masks, just let your child's teacher know and we will send them home. We will have masks available on buses and in carline for students who don't have one Monday morning.

I forgot to mention mask breaks in the last newsletter and someone graciously reminded me that I needed to mention that. Each teacher in every grade level will have mask breaks built into the daily schedule in the classroom. Any time a student takes his/her mask off (lunch, snack, mask break) every effort will be made to ensure that there is 6 feet of distance between the unmasked child and another person (child or adult). Most of our classes have between 15 and 21 students, so this is going to require a lot of creativity and time on the part of the teacher. Students may not all get to eat lunch at the same time, so if your child comes home and says that they had to watch others eat but the teacher made them wait, it is because we have to adhere to strict social distancing when masks are off. Please rest assured that they will get to eat first while others wait on some days, too.

I know that there will be questions and concerns as we go into this unprecedented "Back to School" phase. Please email or call me and I will answer your questions and address your concerns as quickly as possible.

Email: hhollingsworth@haywood.k12.nc.us
Website: http://bes.haywood.k12.nc.us/
Location: 4700 Old River Road, Canton, NC, USA
Phone: (828) 646-3448
Facebook: facebook.com/ourschool
Twitter: @ourschool