Good afternoon O’Dea Core Knowledge Elementary families and happy snowy late start Thursday! I am happy that we got a bit of snow this week as I was starting to forget that I lived in Colorado! It is beautiful…fun…and will help keep the summers green and the fires at bay.
I am sending our Friday update a bit early as there is some information that I wanted to get out to you sooner than later.
A few parents have reached out with some questions about our cafeteria procedures and when the students are unmasked during the lunch period to eat. We have already been thoughtful about that and have been working to revamp our model and will launch it on Monday.
We are looking at designating two locations for students to eat…home lunches in the library…and school lunches in the cafeteria. Our hopes are to actually be able to spread the students out the furthest…and…to monitor times with masks off more effectively. We think that this new model of further seat placements in the cafeteria and library…and monitoring unmasked times will be the most effective model for us at this time.
Last year we had students eating in their classrooms…yet that did not provide more or adequate space for them to remain distanced…this model should provide more space and more monitoring of unmasked time periods.
My brain…never stops thinking of things to fine tune…and ways to make it better…so we will give this idea a go starting Monday and see how it works.
I also have a few thank yous that I would like to note:
Thank you for bringing your children to school…on time…and in their winter weather gear. We do go outside for recess as much as we can…so being warm…is important.
Thank you for keeping your children home when they are sick or showing symptoms of illness. This is important for us to stay in person learning.
Thank you for coming right away to pick up your children if they do exhibit signs of a cold at school.
Thank you for your grace and patience as we continually weather the shifts of COVID in our community. Grace…is becoming our superpower.
Stay warm and safe today and please reach out with any questions…I am here to help.
Much love and support,
Laurie