September 28, 2020
Good Afternoon Jonathan Valley Families,
We are so excited to begin welcoming our students back into school on October 5th for in-person instruction. At this point approximately 20% of our students have chosen to remain remote only. This, of course, is a personal decision for each family that we respect.
We thank you in advance for your patience and support as we try to make things at school as normal as possible in these unusual times. The one thing that will remain the same is we will love your children, teach them, and take care of them to the best of our ability, as we follow new mandates, rules, and procedures.
Unfortunately, currently we are not able to allow parents into the building to walk children to class. However, to help you capture some memories, we encourage you to stop at either of our JVE signs. Please feel free to park on the blacktop near the entrance / exit to JVE, and take some pictures at any time.
In trying to communicate multiple ways, information from JVE is sent through Blackboard Connect. Blackboard connect is sent as a phone call, however the phone call is timed and limited to a few minutes. It can also be sent through Blackboard Connect as an email. A text feature is also included, but text characters are limited. If you would like to access your Blackboard Connect settings, please click the link below.
In addition messages are sent through Remind. If you are not receiving Remind messages from JVE, please give us a call with your name and the number you would like added, and we will add you. We also post our messages on our JVE website.
Our school is responsible for providing both in-person instruction and remote only instruction to our JVE students. As you remember, since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, we have asked our JVE families to think about their grade level as a team, and to know that some students / teachers may need to be reassigned.
Classroom teachers began contacting families today to let them know if their teacher assignment has changed. We hope that more changes in the future will not need to be made, but it depends on the number of students remaining remote and remaining in-person. Changes in student / teacher assignments may be necessary during the school year. Mrs. Anita Carreno will be teaching remote K-1, Mrs. Amy Crawford will be teaching remote 2nd, Mrs. Jenny Waite will be teaching remote 3rd, and Mrs. Lara Ernest will be teaching remote 4-5 .
Beginning October 5, families will have a two week grace period to change from remote to in-person or in-person to remote. After October 16th, any families wishing to change will need to contact JVE for a meeting. Changes will be made on a case by case basis.
Sadly, as a result of the pandemic, many of our school procedures have changed. We do ask that you review the information section in the front of your child’s agenda book, sign, and return the page that you have done so. There are changes to some parts of the agenda, however these changes are not included because agendas had to be ordered before schools were closed in early March due to the pandemic.
Unfortunately, we are no longer able to offer morning care, or to gather students in the gym / cafeteria before school. As a result, our doors will open at 7:30 AM. The tardy bell will still ring at 8:10. Only teachers, students, and essential visitors will be allowed in the building.
AM/PM Car Line and Bus Riders
Our doors at Jonathan Valley will open at 7:30 AM for our car riders. Students and families will need to remain in their vehicle until a JVE faculty / staff member has taken their temperature and asked the required health questions. Our JVE folks on duty will ask you the health questions, and we will also have a poster at the car and bus drop off for reference. We will move as quickly as possible, however with temperature checks and health questions, please plan for the car line to take longer. Cars will be released to leave the JVE car line in 6 car segments in the morning. Hopefully, after a couple of weeks practice we will get much quicker with this new requirement. This year we will have 3 faculty / staff members on AM care line duty, as opposed to 1 last year. Car riders will report to the hallway that their classroom is on for AM supervision. Thank you for helping us keep our morning car line safe.
If your child indicated they would be a bus rider on our survey, please allow our drivers, Mrs. Linda, Mr. Joe, and Mrs. Nikki at least 10 minutes of grace on their expected arrival or drop off times. Buses will no longer drop off in the car line. Hopefully, this will alleviate some of the expected delays. Bus riders will be dropped on the side lot. Bus riders will be dismissed one at a time from their bus, have their temperature checked, and report to the hallway that their classroom is on for AM supervision. Buses will be sanitized between all routes. Students will not be allowed to eat on the bus, due to wearing their masks while on the bus at all times. Riding the bus is a privilege, and students are expected to abide by these new mandates, as well as expectations in their agenda book.
PM dismissal will be similar to last year. Names will be taken as cars arrive. You will receive a yellow tag to display in your car when you arrive. Please keep this tag displayed on your dash until you exit the car line. This helps our JVE folks on duty in getting students to their cars. This year families picking up students must remain in their vehicle or beside their vehicle. If you exit your vehicle you will need to wear a mask. The faculty / staff on duty will assist getting students to their vehicles. Please expect delays, because we have more students that have chosen to be car riders this year than in previous years. Thank you for helping us keep our afternoon car line safe.
Tardy Students / Student Checkouts / Check Ins
Families of tardy students, checking students out, or checking them in will need to ring the school doorbell. Mrs. Cindy or whomever is in the office will assist you. Please be patient if no one answers you immediately, sometimes Mrs. Cindy is on the phone, dispensing medicine, or tending to other responsibilities. We will assist you as soon as possible.
Safety
We will do our best to social distance in classrooms, however with our elementary schools being on Plan A, some of our classrooms will have up to approximately 23 students attending for in person instruction.
Each classroom will have a handwashing / hand sanitizing schedule posted. Students will sanitize their hands anytime they enter a classroom, for example returning from the restroom, traveling to the cafeteria to pick up their lunch, during transitions, and at any other time deemed necessary.
Masks are required on buses and at school. Please begin practicing wearing a mask with your child. Masks must be worn by all students, teachers, staff and visitors on buses, inside school buildings, and anywhere on school grounds, including outside per the NC Department of Health and Human Services #StayStrongNC guidance. Masks should cover the nose and mouth at all times.
Every student will receive a package of five masks from Haywood County Schools. Jonathan Valley has also ordered lanyards for students to hook to their masks, in order to help them keep up with their masks during mask breaks, breakfast, and lunch, etc…
Many types of face coverings have emerged since the beginning of the pandemic. There has also been a good bit of research, videos, and studies that challenge what a safe face covering is and is not. The following face covering criteria has been recommended by the Haywood County Medical Director to our Associate Superintendent, Trevor Putnam.
- Face masks provided by the state are preferred. This recommendation comes due to two layers and being made of cloth.
- Gaiters are acceptable despite research that suggests aerosolization of respiratory droplets. According to our medical director, aerosolization does not occur. Many Gaiters are however made with less dense material. For this reason, Gaiters must be composed of two layers.
- Bandannas are also acceptable. However, bandannas should be doubled and must be able to secure to the face around the mouth and nose.
Students are not allowed to eat / drink on the bus, as this would require them to remove their masks. Masks may be removed for eating / drinking in the classrooms. Some grade levels will eat breakfast and lunch in their classroom, some will eat in the cafeteria, outside weather permitting, or another designated area depending on the teacher’s plans. During mask removal 6 feet of distance will be maintained, thus some classes will need to eat on a staggered schedule to help maintain the 6 feet rule. Please remember that JVE qualified to have breakfast and lunch at no charge for all students all year.
Students will be provided mask breaks for 10 minutes approximately every hour, and 6 feet of distance will be maintained.
Masks may be removed with 6 feet of distancing during PE / recess if the student is involved in strenuous activities. Otherwise, masks must be kept on.
All hallways, the cafeteria, and the lobby have been marked with arrows or stickers to help our students observe 6 feet of social distancing.
Students will remain with their assigned classroom for the majority of the day. In instances where they are with other students from other classes, for example, waiting in car line inside the school building, waiting in lunch line to pick up their lunch, or at other times 6 feet of social distancing will be observed.
Our custodians have a schedule for sanitizing and cleaning. All classrooms with students in them will be cleaned everyday. High touch areas, such as doorknobs, bathroom faucets, playgrounds will be sanitized frequently throughout the day.
Our faculty and staff will also clean desks and other materials between groups of students with a special cleaner designed to kill COVID-19. When using this cleaner is not practical or possible a hand sanitizing / hand washing routine will be used.
Water fountains have been closed per our maintenance department. Every student is encouraged to bring a water bottle from home labeled with their name.
Every classroom and main entrance has been fitted with foam hand sanitizer dispensers. These dispensers produce foam with an alcohol content of 70% or greater which is effective in killing COViD-19.
Every school has COVID designees that have been trained to assist with students exhibiting possible COVID symptoms. Our school nurse has trained our COVID designees and developed a plan of action for students exhibiting possible COVID symptoms.
Home
We ask that you help us in this effort by assessing your child’s health each morning before sending them to school. If your child has the following symptoms please do not send them to school: fever, chills, shortness of breath / difficulty breathing, new cough, or loss of taste or smell. As always, please keep your child home with any other illnesses that may not be COVID related.
Bus riders and car riders in grades 3-5 will be asked health questions when exiting the bus.
Your child’s teacher will be calling you this week for a verbal commitment to the health attestation, because it must be done before the first day of school. In addition, for our school records, a paper copy of the health attestation will be sent home on the first day of school for you to sign and return to your child’s teacher. Attestations are a function of screening. The attestation serves in place of a K-2 student’s ability to answer screening questions. The verbal attestation must be completed before your child returns to school on October 5th.
Updated supply lists are available on our website.
As always please call us with any questions. Thank you, and enjoy your evening.
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- Jonathan Valley Elementary
- Bridgette Brooks, Principal
- 410 Hall Dr., Waynesville, NC 28785
828.926.3207- 828.926.2678