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Coates Families,
As we finish the third quarter and get ready for Spring Break, I want to express my thanks for all that you have done to support Coates over the past year since our operations were compromised by the pandemic. As we come into the final quarter, we are committed to finishing strong!
This means that student participation is more important than ever. If your child is in our virtual program, please continue to make sure s/he is online on time for lessons and be especially vigilant about small groups or one-on-one times with the teacher. Not sure when your teacher has your child scheduled for these? Ask them via Talking Points. We want to make the most out of these final 10 weeks of school, especially in reading.
We are also planning and scheduling our end of the year and summer programs. Please continue to follow News You Choose emails and Talking Points texts from teachers to stay up to date. There are many traditional end-of-the-year events that we cannot do (Field Day, traditional yearbooks, etc.), but there are other events that remain, including SOL testing, 6th Grade Promotion Ceremony, Kindergarten Orientation, class projects, etc. Watch for more information on these.
Today is the deadline for parents to request a change from virtual school to in-person for their children. As you know from my previous messages, we have accommodated parent requests where there has been space. Moving forward, I hope to have direction from FCPS leadership to invite some in-person students to come to school more than 2 days per week where we have space and staffing. There is no parent application process for this. Principals would invite students based on significant learning needs.
As you may have heard, the CDC has revised guidance on social distancing in schools (3 ft between desks is allowable in class; 6 ft at lunch). This is overall good news, and it allows our in-person staff to make some learning spaces better for kids. We will take advantage of this allowance where practicable, but I want our in-person parents to know that we are committed to going beyond the minimum spacing requirements with our classroom seating arrangements. Where classes are using their classroom for lunch, we must continue to keep their desks 6 feet apart since lunch is a mask break. On a related note, I’m pleased with how vigilant the staff and students have been with maintaining good safety procedures. I’ve observed it myself and the outside inspection teams that visit us (all schools get unannounced visits from teams that inspect and report on our enforcement of mitigation measures) have consistently given us high ratings and good feedback.
I hope that you enjoy Spring Break with your children. There are no asynchronous work assignments from teachers until we get back to school on Tuesday, April 6. But we always recommend daily reading and all students have access to our online resources like myOn, Imagine Learning, & ST Math. These resources are there if you want them. Or, take a break!
Have a great day!
Jesse Kraft, Proud Principal
Mar. 26 Early Dismissal (2:15); 3rd Quarter Ends
Mar. 29-Apr. 2 Spring Break (School Closed)
Apr. 5 Teacher Workday (Student Holiday)
Apr. 15 Quarter 3 Progress Reports Sent Home
Apr. 20 AAP Parent Orientation Session (virtual meeting only for parents of students found eligible for level 4 services)
May 31 Memorial Day Holiday
June 9 6th Grade Promotion Ceremony (time & format TBD)
June 11 Early Dismissal (2:15); Last Day of School
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