August 30, 2020 

Dear Quashnet School Community, 

I can't believe it is almost September! Although it does seem like it has been ages since our school was full of students, staff, learning, and laughter. It will be AMAZING to welcome back staff tomorrow and even more exciting to see students back to business in a few weeks learning. I anxiously await the day when ALL of our learners will be able to fill our classrooms and playgrounds, but for now, it is about safety first. Every decision that was made this summer was prefaced with, "What is the safest scenario for students and staff?" I am grateful to a supportive community, team, and families as we all work together to support our children and maintain safety first! 

While we wait for significant progress in dealing with COVID-19, I can tell you that Mashpee is a GREAT place to be. I am confident that Team Quashnet WILL go above and beyond for every student and WILL work to provide quality learning opportunities to build a productive school year. I know there are still a lot of questions about this "new" year. The link to our Q&A session is HERE. There were additional questions that we ran out of time to answer during the Q&A session so as promised, here they are: 

How will students learn who their teachers will be? Our target date to share this information is September 4th. Class placement and cohort assignments will be shared together for our Grade 4-6 students. 

I like the idea of connecting remote learners and in-person learners to work together. It appears that will require synchronous learning. Can you elaborate on how this will work? When students meet as a classroom community each day, the teacher will share the day's agenda and learning targets. Teachers will be able to have students work on a shared Google Doc or work on a project in Google Slides for example regardless of their location, in-person, or remote. Internet access will be required. Any family without internet access should contact the school and we will work to problem-solve together.  

Will there be a list of supplies needed for various grades posted or emailed to us? Your child's teacher will share a list with families if there are any specific needs for the classroom. We are requesting that each student bring a beach towel to school with them every day. This will be used if the class goes outside for learning; each student will have their own towel to sit on. 

How are the third-grade kids going to be cohorted? Third graders are not being cohorted into Mashpee or Falcon groups because they are attending school 100% in-person. Third graders will be staying with their assigned classroom cohort.  

In keeping the bus windows open for proper ventilation. How will this work during the winter months/bad weather? The windows do open in three positions. During bad weather and cold weather, the windows will not be able to be fully opened. This will continue to be monitored and necessary adjustments made.

I may have missed this, but how often and how long are mask breaks? At a minimum, there will be one break before lunch, during lunch and in the afternoon.  Students are allowed a mask break if needed. 

I’m asking for recess outside running around with masks.  Masks need to stay on during recess because we can't guarantee a 6-foot distance and everyone facing in the same directions.  Activities will allow for the safe wearing of masks during play. 

If someone in the cohort is exposed or positive does that mean the parents of the child in this cohort will have to quarantine for 2 weeks from their job as well? Please see the DESE guidelines http://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/faq/.

With the buses are we doing what the state is recommending? For instance, an 83 passenger bus can carry 27 passengers excluding siblings? We are in full compliance with the DESE regulations regarding busing. We have worked with the Cape Cod Collaborative, our bus company, to ensure full compliance. Siblings or students who live in the same house are the only students allowed to sit together on the bus. 

Can students bring their own hand sanitizer with them? No, hand sanitizer will be supplied at school. 

Will students still be able to meet with guidance on a one to one basis? And where will they meet? Yes, Quashnet School is so fortunate to have three highly skilled counselors who will still be meeting with students. This could happen in the guidance rooms, outside on the school grounds, the playground, or on a zoom call for example. Counseling services will be provided to both in-person learners and remote learners as needed. 

What time does school start for everyone? Our school hours have not changed. The doors open at 8:50 AM, class begins at 9:05 AM, and dismissal is at 3:35 PM. 

To clarify, even if kids are 6 feet apart they can only have their mask off for 15 minutes? Mask breaks will be 5 to 10 minutes. 

If our child is late/tardy or needs to be dismissed, how do we do this?   If your child is late, please bring them to the front door of the school. We will buzz your child in and notify the teacher they are in school. If you need to dismiss your child early, please send an email to qsattendance@mpspk12.org with specific dismissal instructions. This email will replace the need for a note. When you arrive to pick up your child, please ring the front bell and we will have your child ready for pick-up. 

How will you guys be handling notification of exposure? for example, if a child within my child's cohort tests positive...and what if a child in a different cohort tests positive but rides the same bus as my child, would that mean my child has been exposed and I need to be notified? Please see the DESE protocols:  http://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/on-desktop/protocols/protocols.docx

Can all the students who are remote just be with a remote teacher? That way the in-person kids don't have to be on a computer all day. All of our teachers will be engaged in blended learning, so each classroom will have students who are in-person and remote learners. No student should be on technology all day.  It will be used as a learning tool when appropriate.  

I have received several questions about after school clubs and the music program.  Session 1 clubs will not be held.  I am hopeful that Session 2, which begins mid-January will be a possibility. For our new families, QS previously offered a variety of free after school clubs such as flag rugby, 3D art, knitting, coding, legos, dance, etc. Keep your fingers crossed for January! 

Some of the year-round clubs such as K-Kids, National Elementary Honor Society, and Student Council may be offered remotely.  I will have more on that option in the next few weeks as we finalize the details.  Music has been more challenging to maintain. Band and Chorus which had been offered for students after school in Grade 4-6, will be on hold for the first session. We plan to resume the Band and Chorus program in January, either in-person or remotely.  

Strings WILL be meeting remotely.  Mrs. Hill will post weekly playlists (lessons that students can access) in the String Ensemble Google Classroom. String students are expected to work through the playlist on their own during the weeks that they are in-person learning. Mrs. Hill will teach an online lesson each week (one for grade 5, one for grade 6) that students will attend via Zoom in their remote learning weeks. Mrs. Hill will connect with all strings students after school begins.

I am very excited to welcome several new staff members to Team Quashnet. From left to right, Mrs. Dowie joined us last January as a Speech and Language therapist.  She was just getting to know the school and students, and here comes COVID. Welcome back Mrs. Dowie and thank you for your hard work during the closure!  Grade 5 is being joined by Ms. Silva Warren.  Ms. Warren is a recent graduate of Mount Holyoke College and has an impressive background in environmental science and math.  She will be team teaching with Mrs. Franklin.  Ms. Elisabeth Beloin will be teaching Science and Social Studies in Grade 6 on a team with Mrs. Geggatt and Mrs. McBrien. After teaching in Connecticut, Ms. Beloin moved to Cape Cod, taught in Sandwich schools, and now how found her home here in Mashpee!  Our Special Education department just got stronger with the addition of Ms. Sarah Beckner.  Having many years of experience at the Cape Cod Collaborative, she brings a unique skill set to help our learners. After Mrs. Avtges retired in June, we were very fortunate to hire Mr. Stephen Kapulka as the new assistant principal.  Mr. Kapulka has been in administrator in Hanover and Barnstable.  He has been working this summer getting to know Quashnet and Mashpee, and he is anxious to meet our wonderful students. We are SO lucky to have such a STRONG team of professionals joining us this year! 

Please help us welcome our new school resource officer, Kate Hennessy.  We are so grateful for our partnership with the Mashpee Police Department and for the help of our SROs over the last several years.  Officer Hennessy will be working in all three Mashpee Schools building positive relationships with students, families, and staff. 

First day of school reminders:

• Grade 3 students begin Wednesday, 9/16/20
• Grade 4-6 students will begin either 9/16 or 9/17, depending on their cohort of Mashpee or Falcon
• Placement and Cohort assignment will be shared with families after Sept. 4 along with a detailed calendar
• Students in Grade 4-6 should bring a clean beach towel and water bottle to school each day.
• Students should wear a mask and have at least one extra one with them every day.

**School tour information for Grade 3 will be sent out this week! 

Parents/Guardians: PLEASE call the school office (508)539-1550 with any change in address or cell phone numbers. It is very important that this information is up-to-date in our data management system.

Another important reminder: If there have been any changes in child custody arrangements or dismissal procedures since we were last in school, PLEASE share those with me ASAP. The only notification of change we receive comes from the parent/guardian. We will respect the sensitive and confidential nature of these documents.

Chromebooks: The majority of Quashnet students still have school Chromebooks at home. Please hold on to them temporarily as we plan for a systematic return plan.  In the meantime, students still have access to IXL, NewsELA, STMath, Everyday Math, Lexia - no need to wait to learn!

                     

It is that time of year to REGISTER your STOP & SHOP card with the A+ School Rewards Program for Quashnet School. It's quick, easy, and it goes a long way to support our students and school. Click this link to get started https://stopandshop.com/pages/a-plus-rewards.

This is our one big school fundraiser. If you need help with this, please contact Jane Emery at jemery@mpspk12.org.

Please register your Stop & Shop card for Quashnet School today!

For those of you new to Quashnet School, a new blog post will be shared every Sunday evening at 5:00 PM throughout the school year.  I include school news, important events coming up, and pictures from the week.  If you look at the tabs above, the updated bus list will be posted there and the lunch menu for the month.  There is an MCAS tab and additional information. These tabs will all be up-to-date before school starts.  Everything is a little out of order this summer - so please know some of this is still under construction!   

I am very excited to start the new school year.  It is not school as we have known it, but it may be better! If we all embrace a positive mindset, consider this a new adventure, and know we are more resilient together. Take care everyone, we will all work hard to stay healthy! 

Respectfully, 

Principal  O'Brien