 The Amity Weekly Minute:
December 6, 2020
What's New?
From the Desk of Mr. Drouhard
Dear Amity Families,
Everyday when I go to work, I think about how lucky I am to work in such a close knit community like Deer Park. This past Friday, I stopped at Trader Joe’s to pick up a few things before heading home. While I waited in line to enter the store, I saw an Amity 2nd grade student with his mother. He was looking at me, and I wasn’t sure if he would recognize me outside of Amity. I gave him a little wave, and I saw his eyes light up! He turned to his mom and said, “That’s my principal!” She said, “I know honey.” I chatted with them for a quick minute, and before we parted the mother said, “make sure you pick up a gingerbread house, they are the best!” That type of community doesn’t happen everywhere, and I am grateful that Deer Park has made me part of it! My kids are grateful too, as we put together a gingerbread house this weekend!
Take Care,
Josh
Weekly Photo Gallery
Back by popular demand: We're bringing back the Amity Weekly Minute Photo Gallery! Click the link below to access photos from all around Amity Elementary during the week!
Weekly Spotlight: Remote Learners Ask a Scientist
Remote learners had a special guest in their Friday meeting today! Mr. Upton, a research scientist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, explained what he does as a research scientist. He showed them images of eye and brain tissue, explained how a microscope works, and talked about how animals help us learn more about the human body. Students had lots of opportunities to ask questions! They asked great questions that helped us to better understand what a scientist really does, and learned how our eyes and brain work.
  
Hybrid Schedule Through Winter Break
Amity Elementary will continue their hybrid model through Thursday, December 17.
Friday, December 18 will remain a teacher records day with no school for students. For Amity students, this means Monday, December 14 and Tuesday, December 15 will operate as A days. Wednesday, December 16 and Thursday, December 17 will be B days.
From a data perspective, at Amity Elementary we had 6 staff members out due to COVID related issues.
Below, I have included a video from Superintendent Jay Phillips with a detailed rationale for the decisions being made. Please watch the video, linked below, for all of those details.
Again, I want to thank all of our families for your flexibility and continued understanding as we try to make decisions that are in the best interest of our students and staff.
No School On Friday, December 18th
There will not be school on Friday, December 18th for any students grades Preschool-12th grade in Deer Park, as it is a teachers records day. Teachers will be grading and inputting grades for the 2nd quarter grade cards.
Attendance
Please remember to call our attendance line (513-891-2414) or email Betty Jung (jung.b@dpccsd.org), our attendance secretary, if your student is going to be out.
This is especially important with the number of people that are either required to quarantine by the health department, or quarantining on their own accord. We need to be aware of these situations outside of school so that we can appropriately mark the attendance and provide guidance from the district if necessary. Thanks for all your help!
Amity E-Book Fair
Hello Amity Families,
I'm excited to announce that we are hosting a Follett Book eFair! What's an eFair, you ask? An eFair is an electronic book fair, which means it takes place online. The good thing about this is that there are no crowds and all proceeds benefit the Amity Media Center! Plus, the holidays are right around the corner and books make the perfect gift!
Please see the attached flyer, which gives you a glimpse of what books Follett has to offer. There are books for all ages, Kindergarten thru 6th grade.
This book fair starts tomorrow, Thursday, 12/3 through Saturday, 12/12. All orders will ship to your house. (In order to receive free shipping, the minimum order amount is $25.00.)
Here is the link to our school's eFair:
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Thank you and Happy Holidays,
Mrs. Oiler
Amity Safety Training
As part of the district’s ongoing focus on school safety, we continue to review, update, and practice our school building crisis plans and procedures. Meant to help guide staff and students in the event of an emergency, these plans and procedures offer instructions on a multitude of safety issues, natural disasters, inclement weather, and building security.
In an effort to improve the safety of students and staff at Amity Elementary, our teachers will be training our students on procedures to use in the event of school lockdown. A school lockdown can be used for a variety of situations. An active intruder inside or outside the building is the most intense and will be the focus of the training.
To train our students, our teachers will be using a script that is designed for grades K-6 to introduce and discuss what the class would do in an intruder lockdown situation. I want to assure you that this script does not go into specific detail regarding the violence that has occurred in schools from intruders, but rather enforces the lesson of listening to the teacher in the event of an emergency. Listening to the teacher is the same practice used in fire drills and tornado drills.
The script will introduce students to the terminology recommended by the Department of Homeland Security of “Run, Hide, Fight” and can be used in community situations as well. Following “Run, Hide, Fight” in that order helps students to keep themselves safe. The last measure—“fight”—describes barricading doors or throwing items to disorient the intruder as a last case measure. We are not teaching students to seek out or take down an intruder within the building. Students will be taught they should always look to run and hide with the help of their teachers in this situation.
I know that these are heavy teaching lessons for our students to start learning at a young age. Our teachers know our students best, and will go through this script in a way that is tactful and informative. I wish we didn’t have to teach our students these things. The reality though is that as a school, we need to prepare our students to react and follow teacher directions in the event of any emergency.
Our students will be trained December 3rd-December 8th by their homeroom teachers. Following these training sessions, we will practice a safety lockdown drill on Thursday, December 10th for “B day students” and Tuesday December 15th for “A day students”. It will be announced over the PA that we are conducting a lockdown drill prior to the drill occuring, and will consist of the students locking down within the classroom. The drill will only last 5-10 minutes and then we will resume with our academics as usual.
Please feel free to reach out to our teachers or members of the administrative team should you have any questions before or after the training has occurred.
December Lunch Menu
In Case You Missed It
Florida State Twin Study
Florida State University and Florida Center for Reading Research are conducting a project on reading and math development in elementary school aged twins across the U.S. They reached out to us at Amity to see if we had any parents that were interested in participating in this study. If you are interested, please contact Josh Drouhard, drouhard.j@dpccsd.org and he will mail you a packet about the study and how to get involved.
Amity Cat News
The Amity Cat News is up and running. Our student led morning announcement is scheduled to post every morning at 7:45 so your student can stay connected with what is going on whether they are at school or at home. The link to the youtube channel is below
Outdoor Recess
With a return to cooler temperatures, please remember to send your child to school with appropriate outdoor attire for recess. We are working hard to go out to recess daily, especially as it allows for a time that our students can take a socially distanced mask break. Our recesses are 30 minutes in length this year so it is important that our students be comfortable while they are outside.
Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) Information Page
A page on the Deer Park website has been created which is dedicated to bringing you the most up-to-date information on all things affecting Deer Park Schools. It includes several quick links to local, state, and national health organizations, along with a frequently asked questions section. Please visit the page to stay up to date with all COVID-19 information.
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