Middle School Newsletter - September 2, 2020

NEW/UPDATED INFORMATION

Carpool Logistics — morning arrival and afternoon dismissal
Please review this Carpool Video for a look at how you will drop off and pick up your child each day. Here are a few highlights:

• All cars must enter via a right turn from Oakton Road.
• When you enter the campus, you will turn left to loop around the parking area and approach the building.
• In the morning, cars must pull forward as far as possible (the first car will stop at the Peterson Middle School sign), and Middle School students should exit cars from the driver’s side onto the sidewalk, without waiting to be prompted by an adult.
• In the afternoon (starting at 12:10 p.m. next week and 3:10 p.m. thereafter), please display your carpool sign on the driver’s side dashboard and pull forward as far as the bus lane. Students will be sent outside from advisories when their names are called.
• All cars must exit the campus by continuing past the Middle and Upper School buildings  to turn onto Jermantown Road.

 

New Faculty/Staff

We are continuing to welcome new faculty and staff, as we prepare for the start of school next week. Please join us in welcoming our new Middle School nurse, Kaley Mason, who shares, “I have spent my career working in pediatrics and in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. My husband and I grew up in small towns in New York and relocated to the Northern Virginia area three years ago to raise our now two-year-old daughter. In my free time, I love spending time with my family, cooking, and exploring new places in the area. I am very excited to join the Flint Hill community and cannot wait to meet you all!”

 

Guidelines for Face Masks

As noted in the Campus Reopening Plan, face masks are required to be worn on campus. In addition to the face masks provided by the School, Middle School students may wear their own personal face masks to school. No references to political affiliations, drugs, alcohol, weapons, sexually explicit or offensive content will be permitted on face masks. Please note that gaiters, bandanas and masks with vents or exhalation valves are also not permitted.

 

Email Communication Information for New Families

We’d like to share some information regarding school email communications with new families, who may be accustomed to different processes from their previous schools.

• As a Flint Hill parent, you are automatically opted in to receive school emails; there is no specific action to take to receive emails from the School. However, unsubscribing from a single school email will unsubscribe you from all school communications, so please do not unsubscribe!
• Over time we’ve observed that some businesses have a higher tendency than others to mark bulk emails as spam and/or block access to Google documents. If you have a business email address on file with us, please also make sure we have a personal email address on file so there are no interruptions to your ability to receive communications from the School.
• If you received tonight's newsletter, great news! That means you are subscribed to receive communications from Flint Hill.

 

Updates on Learning Location Selection

We appreciate the quick turnaround on the learning location forms. Feedback from parents indicated the flexibility to select on a quarterly basis is much appreciated. Overall 22% of middle school students will be learning virtually for the first quarter and 18% of students schoolwide.

 

Web Filtering at Home

Our Resource Board on Husky Hub contains various technology resources for parents. Among the helpful links for parenting in a 1:1 home is information on web filtering at home. This gives you the ability to filter or block content, similar to the way we do at school, through your internet provider or supplemental device. Please email our Help Desk if you would like one of our staff members to walk you through it directly.

 

Health Pledge Reminders

As we prepare to welcome students back to campus, we cannot emphasize enough the importance of each member of our community adhering to our Health Pledge. This has been a focal point for our staff this week, and we will go through it with students on Tuesday.

 

UPDATES AND REMINDERS FROM LAST WEEK

Follow-Up to our Campus Reopening Plan

The extensive plan covered all of the major areas of school life, and I wanted to follow up on a few specific aspects related to Middle School.

Lunch

• Students will be at least six feet apart in advisory classrooms, but the tables will not have plexiglass shields.
• We will also take advantage of our outdoor spaces to eat lunch outside when possible/desired.
• We will use Virex II 256 to clean rooms between each class, including lunch.
• Unlike previous years, we cannot provide/share food with any student who may have forgotten to pack lunch and snacks. A student will have to contact their parent and request that you deliver it to school. Please remember that we cannot accept outside deliveries (e.g. Uber Eats). We recommend that you send extra food to school with your child each day just in case — they are growing rapidly!

 

Outdoor Spaces and Mask Breaks

• Scheduling breaks outside for physical activity and a change of pace has always been part of our middle school program and will be even more important this year.
• We have access to several wonderful outdoor spaces — the playground, terrace, and turf field — and plan to use them several times per day.
• As part of this, we will structure supervised mask breaks; when students are at least 10 feet apart in designated outdoor areas, they will be permitted to remove their masks temporarily.

 

Questions about school supplies? Lunch? Transportation? Check out the Preparing for the 2020-2021 School Year tile on the Resource Board!

Are you ready for the new school year? We’ve been making continuous updates to our Preparing for the 2020-21 School Year tile, on the Resource Board, to help you get ready and stay abreast of changes and preparations we are making due to COVID.

You may access checklists by division, by clicking on the Preparing for the 2020-2021 School Year tile, on the Resource Board of Husky Hub.

To access the Resource Board, visit www.flinthill.org/app (be sure to bookmark this link!), and log in with your username and password. Once you’ve logged in, click on the Preparing for the 2020-2021 School Year tile. The tile will remain accessible through the start of the new school year.

 

Technology Update

In assessing our unique technology needs for this year, part of which involves equipping students learning virtually to effectively access on-campus classes and their classroom and advisory communities, we have made the decision to issue all middle school students both an iPad and a MacBook Air. Returning eighth graders currently have both devices and will keep their MacBooks rather than turn them in, as we originally planned. Seventh graders and new eighth graders will receive their MacBooks during orientation next week, if they will be learning on-campus, and by appointment if they will be learning virtually. Long-term, we will be 1-to-1 with iPads in the Middle School, but we believe this decision is necessary to start this school year.

 

Dress Code Adjustment

Our Middle School Dress Code provides guidelines for regular school dress as well as Husky Pride Dress by announcement. In recognition of a school year requiring greater flexibility, all students (on-campus and virtual) are now welcome to wear either regular school dress or Husky Pride Dress any day of the week.

 

Health Form Reminder

Appropriately completed health forms must be uploaded to the Magnus Health system and approved by the first day of classes (September 8), or your child may not attend school. If you have any questions regarding the health forms, please contact our Director of Health Services Mary Hart at 703.584.2399.

 

Student Schedules Online

Specific teacher and class assignments are now available. To access your child’s class placement, log in to the Husky Hub, click “Children” and select your child’s name. From the “Progress” page, scroll down to view your child’s classes and teachers.

 

Q&A Sessions for Parents

Prior to the week of student orientation, parents are welcome to join me in a virtual “Parent Coffee” on Thursday, September 3, to discuss the start of school.

• New Parent Q&A — 1-2 p.m. Google Meet code

• Returning Parent Q&A — 2:30-3:30 p.m. Google Meet code

 

 

First Week of School

Information regarding the first week of school is available on the Preparing for the 2020-2021 School Year Resource Board tile here. Please remember to send lunch, with on-campus students when full-day classes begin, during the week of September 14.

 

Carpool Signs

Please note that every family was mailed carpool signs today. Families with multiple households were mailed signs to each address. Please display your sign on your dashboard during morning and afternoon carpool.

 

Medication Drop-Off

Thursday, September 3

For students who will need to keep medication on campus during the school year, we will have a medication drop-off day on Thursday, September 3, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on the Upper School Campus.

Families will pull into the circle, and a nurse will come to your car to collect the medication and the appropriate forms. As a reminder, all prescription medication must be accompanied by the physician's order on the Medication Authorization Form, which must be completed and signed by the prescribing physician. All medication must have the pharmacy label on it.

All over-the-counter medication must be accompanied by the Medication Authorization Form and must be completed and signed by a parent or guardian. The medication must be in the original packaging and must be administered according to the package instructions, including the time and route to be administered.

If you are unable to come to the School on the medication drop-off day, please call to schedule an appointment with one of the nurses, prior to the start of school.