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Questions From US Parent Chat 8.19.2020
Scheduling Questions:
Q: If Public Schools opt not to open in September, will Ramaz follow suit?
A: We generally follow NYC Schools for guidance on daily safety issues such as snow days. If NYC public schools decide to close due to union lawsuits, rather than safety permeability from the government, then we will still open, since we will be following the guidelines for reopening put forth by the Governor's office and guidance from the NYS Department of Health, NYC Department of Health, New York State Education Department and the CDC.
Q: Will orientation have a zoom option for students who are zooming in?
A: Absolutely, there will be a Zoom option. Please reach out to your child’s Grade Dean, Ms. Krupka or Rabbi Stochel if you wish to take advantage of this.
Q: Many may be commuting from home to primary or secondary residences outside Manhattan, more so than usual - why is Friday ending later than usual this year given that focus for families?
A: This will change after the Chaggim and when Shabbat begins earlier. This will enable the teachers to get the most of their curriculum into the day.
Health and Safety
Q: Why are we relying on parents for the temperature testing?
A: The recommendation is that if a student is displaying any symptoms, their parents can keep them home. This helps in keeping anyone with the virus away from our school buildings/community. In addition, taking temperatures at the door would be time consuming and double or triple the arrival time at the door which would take away from our in-person instructional time. The nurses will be at the front doors during arrivals doing random screenings as well.
Q: Did we look into purchasing automatic screeners?
A: Yes, fever is not the only indicator of an active infection. These temperature scanners are not great in extreme weather. In cold temperatures they have shown to be quite inaccurate and would then cause a bottleneck at the front door as students are pulled off the line to be re-screened before sending them home, or determining it was a false read and sending them to class.
Q: How will the cohorting work with tracking?
A: We are using grade cohorts rather than pods, where the cohort is the entire grade, or 90-95 students. The building will essentially split in two per grade 2-3 days per week that each grade is in. In addition, staircases will be separated, up/down and zones which will not be crossed. Teachers will not be restricted because they teach across the board. Seating will also be numbered and assigned to keep track of who is seated next to whom.
Q: Are there contactless fountains to fill water bottles?
A: All of the water fountains are going to be capped off so that they will not be accessible for drinking. Some are being replaced with water bottle fillers.
Curriculum/Activities
Q: Is the plan to still cover the full curriculum, given all the limitations and shortened school day?
A: Yes - the plan is to use the structure this year of slightly longer periods and less meeting times, to cover the full curriculum.
Q: How will davening take place?
A: There will be minyamin locations for each student. They will be the same location every day and will be socially distanced.
Q: Where will lunch take place?
A: Lunch will be in the classroom where the students are in right before the scheduled lunch time so that the students will not be moving about the building and can stay socially distant.
School Preparedness.
Q: What is the dress code this year? What is the dress code on zoom?
A: We are going to address this and a letter/email will be going out shortly from the Grade Deans. The girls will stay the same but the boys will probably not have to wear ties or sweaters. Collared polo shirts will be fine. Sneakers will be fine. Students will also receive information about best ways to present oneself on Zoom and in class.
Q: Lockers?
A: We are trying to minimize the amount of items that students will have to carry since lockers will NOT be in use for the school year. We are working with teachers to minimize text books. There will be section PDFs that will be sent to the students. Please make sure that you have a working printer at home as that will be helpful in minimizing teacher handouts in school. Students should have more loose leaf paper and less notebooks so that they can put their notes into a binder when they get home instead of carrying another book. There is a possibility that laptops will be allowed in certain situations but we'd really like to minimize screen time when they are actually in the building. Of course if there is a need, there will be exceptions for learning styles.
Q: Since the kids will be going back and forth between school and home, is there a plan for their textbooks? Will they have to carry them back and forth?
A: Because there will be no use of lockers, text books will be kept at home. If the teachers have an assignment where a portion of the textbook is needed it will be sent to them at home to be printed out.
Transportation
Q: Busing?
A: Right now it is still being worked on. We are looking for the best deal and service during this time.
Q: Will public Express bus metro cards be available as an alternative/addition to the regular subway pass?
A: This is up to the NYC Department of Education. We will keep you posted.
Q: Will there be a late bus for after school activities?
A: No, there will not be late buses because there will not be any clubs or activities meeting after school, in school. All activities and clubs will meet remotely in the evening.
Q: Lunch & Water Bottles
A: This year, we will not be opening the school’s kitchens. It’s a possibility that we will contract out to our vendor boxed lunches or possibly have parents send their children to school with lunch. Some parents have reported that they would rather send their children to school with lunch so that there will be less of a risk of contamination. We are still evaluating and hoping that we can finalize this soon.
Q: Schoology - will everything be posted on here and will parents have access?
A: Teachers are to post all assignments on Schoology as quickly as possible as well as informing students in class. Access to parents is for the test calendar alone now. We would like our students to take responsibility for their academic growth and be responsible for themselves.
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