Week of November 1, 2020

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Quote of the Week

Article of the Week

Why Fear Freezes People and How to Lead Around It

This has been a week in which as decisions have been made a magnitude of emotions arise and you have no idea which direction to go. Well, this article is a quick read to guide us on how to lead around fear.

Highlights

**Feel free to share ideas and/or the great things that are happening at your schools throughout the year and I will include them in this section.

Principal Updates

Follow-up to Recent Questions:

  • The advisory class will remain as a separate class.
  • We will follow a true four day a week schedule with Monday and Thursday serving as Day 1 and Tuesday and Friday serving as a Day 2.
  • Wellness Wednesday will serve as a day to complete work assigned from the classes students attended on Monday and Tuesday or previously. Students will need to attend their advisory class from 8:30-9:00 and teachers will have office hours from 9:00-11:30.
  • Teachers are welcome to begin preparing their classrooms for virtual learning anytime.  They can use their 2:00-3:15 time to come to the building and begin setting up. They can also use the November 3rd clerical/professional learning day to set up. A full clerical day may possibly be provided to prepare for in-person learning after winter break.
  • Please remind staff to email hcpsfmla@henrico.k12.va.us  if they would like to request accommodations. Principals may review the extenuating circumstances and make decisions that are not related to a medical situation.  Begin with reviewing childcare and adult care requests and please keep me posted on requests and the amount of time given to the staff member. Decisions will have to be made on a case by case basis which is why criteria for making these decisions has not been provided.
  • If a student has a fever or Covid symptoms, do they have to test for Covid before coming back to school? We cannot require students or employees to be tested.  If not, are they allowed back into school after 24 hours fever free? Yes
  • Each time a school shares with you that they have a confirmed COVID case, do they automatically send out a letter to the community or do they wait for your direction? School Health is providing all direction.  But the letter does go out with a positive employee or student case.  This direction from us will include a template for the principal from Andy’s team.  It also triggers an email from Andy to the leadership group and SB.  The email provides all needed dates to enter in the email.  Emails go to student/families and staff.
  • Can shelves that are used to store student projects remain uncovered or are students no longer allowed to store their work at school? Yes, students can still store their work at school.
  • Is passing out worksheets or paper considered shared materials? If we can pass out worksheets or papers, is there a protocol on letting them sit before grading or returning the work? Yes- paper can still be utilized just need to remind folks of using proper hand hygiene protocols and not touching their face without hand washing or sanitizing before doing so after handling of papers.
  • If students select the virtual option can they participate in sports? Yes

Building Preparation: Please begin preparing your buildings for staff and student return by following your principal checklist.  Many of you have begun the work with signage, arrows, barriers, etc.  Below are some pictures from school visits this week.   This Re-Opening Walk Through Checklist will be used for elementary walkthroughs from the safety office in November.

  • Begin determining maximum class sizes for each classroom in preparation for the possibility of changing the master schedule due to in-person learning class sizes.
  • Please make sure you direct all of your “back to in person learning” printing needs to Susan Moore’s office in C&M so that they are standardized and paid for through her office. The print shop at Hermitage ACE is handling all printing needs for the county, but is not able to accommodate all “specialized” signage at this time due to high demand. Thank you so much for your understanding.

Mission Tomorrow: Don’t forget to send out this letter one week before your students attend.

Reporting Positive Cases: When a student or employee tests positive for COVID please submit the employee or student form in lieu of sending an e-mail. Robin Gilbert or designee will follow up with you on how to proceed. Do not send the letter to the community until you have heard from her office. Also, refrain from including the name of the COVID positive person due to HIPPA.

Special Education Compliance: As you know the December 1 Count is quickly approaching. Unfortunately, we have compliance issues and we met with the admin who oversee SPED Friday morning. We will have a follow-up meeting November 16 to ensure staff are working diligently to ensure we are on track.

Survey: Below are the Q and A questions that will be included in the message for parents regarding the intent form.

Q: What if health conditions change? Am I still locked into in-person or virtual?

A: If COVID-19 cases spike at any time during the school year, HCPS will be ready to pivot those who choose in-person learning back to fully virtual learning. Additionally, if community transmission becomes so low that health-risk mitigation strategies (physical distancing, limited groupings of students, etc.) are no longer recommended by health experts, we would be able to bring more students (those who originally chose virtual learning) back into school buildings.

Q: What happens if I select in-person and my child needs to quarantine or is asked to quarantine? How will they continue to access instruction?

A: We believe in-person learners who have to miss school for a period of time due to exposure, potential exposure, or a positive test should still be able to participate virtually if the rest of the class remains in-person. We also understand that circumstances may vary, and that families (in partnership with our schools) will have to address each student’s unique situation in more detail to determine the best course of action.

Generally, any student who is asked to quarantine can still join class “live” through Microsoft Teams, and will also be able to access daily course content and assignments through Schoology. Should an entire class need to quarantine, then the class would be held fully virtually.

Q: Will my child be able to stay with the same teacher(s)?

A: As much as we would like to keep the strong connections that have already been built this school year, it is possible that teachers and schedules (pre-K, elementary, middle and high) may change as a result of this process. We will not know exactly what those changes would be until the Student Intent Form process is complete.

Q: What if there is an extenuating circumstance and we need to revisit our selection at some point during the school year?

A: Should any family have a specific challenge arise with the pathway they have chosen, the family can work with the school principal to change modes of learning as space permits.

Q: So is this commitment binding?

A: Generally, yes. We are asking for a commitment for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year. However, given the fluid nature of the situation created by the pandemic, we know that conditions can change rapidly for better or worse. Our attempt is to create a plan that allows us to be responsive to those changes, but also minimize upheaval on other fronts in order to provide consistency for our staff, students and families to the greatest extent possible. If there are extenuating circumstances, please discuss these with your school principal.

VCSIP: Please resume having your ASPs to lead VCSIP meetings if you have not already done so. This is a professional development opportunity for the ASPs to grow as leaders.

Principal Memos

School Quality and TLI Updates

Friday Focus Notes

Reminders

Leadership Handbook– Don’t forget to bookmark the leadership handbook and Secondary Dashboard as your go-to resources for admin, teachers, and staff. These are fluid documents.

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