Newsletter #03

As a follow-up to Dr. Brenner's recent message to the community, and In alignment with our commitment to providing a safe learning environment for our students, we require all health records to be updated through Magnus Health as a matter of urgency. Per New York State law, these up-to-date health forms are crucial and mandatory. Without these records, students will not be permitted on campus. It has come to our attention that several families with children at the Junior School have not fully complied with this requirement. If you are among these families, kindly prioritize updating your child's health records promptly. This is important to ensure your child's continued education is not interrupted due to non-compliance. If you have received reminders from Magnus Health, we urge you to heed them and act immediately. This is a priority, and failure to comply could impact your child's schooling. Your prompt attention and cooperation are appreciated and integral to our school's efficient functioning. Thank you in advance for your understanding and quick action.

Pascal Vallet, Junior School Principal
Alessandra Camilo, Junior School Assistant Principal

• • Monday, September 25 | 1st Day Yellow Bus for all JA - update SchoolPass dismissal plans

• • Monday, October 2 | 1st Day After School Program - update SchoolPass to select your child's activity at dismissal (the IT will upload all the activities on Monday)

  • Tuesday, October 3 | JS Photo Day Stomping Ground

  • Saturday, October 7 | Cardboard Challenge: Register + Save Cardboard 

  • Monday, October 9 | No Yellow Bus Service from OPT - arrange alternate transportation & update SchoolPass

  • Friday, October 20 | UN Day Celebrations

  • October 23 - October 25 | October Break

  • Monday, October 30 | Classes Resume

  • November 22 - 24  |  Thanksgiving Break

  • Tuesday, November 28 |  Photo Makeup and Retake Day  Stomping Ground

IMPORTANT: 

All departments at UNIS, including the nurse, rely on the information that you provide in the Veracross Parent Portal to contact you. 

The only way you or your caregiver can be reached in an emergency, or when there are schoolwide announcements, is through the information that your family adds to our UNIS Portal. 

Please review your family profile and contact information to ensure that all of your local cell phone numbers, work phone numbers, email addresses and home address are correct and are entered in the correct fields. 

If you have not reviewed your information in September, we encourage you to do it today so that we can reach you quickly if needed, especially if you have relocated from abroad.

After logging into the Portal at myunis.vc , you may review and update all of your family contact information by:

• Going to Veracross

• Clicking on Household Information

• Updating Household Profile -> Contacts.

Thank you for taking the time to review and update your contact information now, and throughout the school year. The school's ability to contact you depends on it.

If you need support in order to make updates, please email tech.support@unis.org

JS Photo Day - Mark Your Calendar October 3

Junior School students will have their individual, as well as homeroom group photos, taken on Tuesday, October 3.

Attendance on October 3 is the only opportunity 

for a JS student to be included in their homeroom's group photo. 

These photos will be available to parents for purchase directly from Stomping Ground, and will be used in the annual UNIS yearbook. 

Tuesday, November 28 is Photo Makeups & Retake Day. Students who were absent on October 3 can have their individual portrait photos taken that day. Parents may also coordinate directly with Stomping Ground to retake their child's October 3 portrait.

Homeroom group photos will NOT be taken on November 28.

STOMPING GROUND PORTAL

This means that students, families, faculty and staff are respectfully asked to refrain from bringing peanuts, nuts, and seeds of any kind or foods processed with these items or their by products, such as oils, into the school. This includes products which state "may contain traces of nuts/peanuts/tree nuts” or "manufactured in a facility which processes" nuts/peanuts/tree nuts.

For example, tree nuts (such as almonds, pistachios, pine nuts, cashews, brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts, etc.) and foods associated with them (such as nutella, pesto, granola bars, marzipan, macaroons, hummus (containing sesame), etc.) may present a risk to others. 

Please be mindful of the type of snacks that you pack for your child. UNIS is committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all the children in our school. Food allergies are becoming increasingly common among children, and we have several students with severe and/or life-threatening allergic reactions to nuts, peanuts, and seeds of any kind, as well as other allergens, including wheat, eggs, gluten and other food items.

Strict avoidance of the allergen is the ONLY way to prevent a life-threatening allergic reaction. Due to the nature of peanut/nut products, it is more challenging to prevent contamination of surfaces in the classroom, cafeteria, bathrooms, keyboards and other areas in the building.

In order to enhance safety for all students, UNIS is an “Allergy Aware” school. This means that students, families, faculty and staff are respectfully asked to refrain from bringing peanuts, nuts and seeds of any kind or foods processed with these items into the school. This includes products that state "may contain traces of" nuts/peanuts/tree nuts.

While some allergic reactions can be mild, many students with severe food allergies experience serious and potentially life-threatening reactions. You can help by not sending your child to school with foods that contain nuts, peanuts or seeds of any kind.

We ask our students and families to help make the school environment safer for all students, by following these simple suggestions:

• Please remind your child never to share his/her food and drinks with other students.

• If your child has eaten nuts prior to coming to school, please make sure they wash their hands and face before leaving home.

• Please remind your child often to wash their hands before and after eating.

• While some may perceive this as “inconvenient”, for many others it is simply a matter of life or death. We believe all families understand a parent/guardian’s concern and worry about safety and will join us in ensuring that our learning environment is conducive to this goal. Together we can make a difference!

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITY DATES:  ADDED to SCHOOLPASS ON MONDAY BY IT

Dr. Lidana Jalilvand, Director of the After School Activities program, has shared her calendar of Semester 1 class dates below. 

If you registered your JS child in one of the classes run by Dr. Jalilvand, please review your child's SchoolPass account this week to confirm the accuracy of your child's dismissal schedule beginning the week of October 2 (the first of classes). Note that IT is uploading this information to SchoolPass on Monday.

The After School Activities that you registered for should have recently been uploaded to your child's SchoolPass account. If for any reason your child will not attend the activity on any day during Semester 1, you can cancel it as your dismissal plan by clicking on the calendar and adding your child's alternate plan for that day's dismissal instead.

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES CALENDAR - 1st Semester 2023

• Mondays: 

  • October 2, 9, 16 ---, 30   (No class Oct. 23)

  • November 6, 13, 20, 27

  • December 4, 11

  • January ---, 8, ---, 22   (No class Jan.1 & 15 )

• Tuesdays 

  • October 3, 10, 17 ---, 31   (No class Oct. 24)

  • November 7, 14, 21, 28

  • December 5, 12

  • January 9, 16

• Wednesdays 

  • October 4, 11, 18 ---   (No class Oct. 25)

  • November 1, 8, ---,---, 29   (No classes Nov. 15 & 22)

  • December 6, 13

  • January 3, 10, 17, 24  

• Thursdays 

  • October 5, 12, 19 ---   (No class Oct. 26)

  • November 2, 9, ---, ---, 30  (No class Nov. 16 & 23)

  • December 7, 14   

  • January 4, 11, 18, 25 

• Fridays

  • October 6, 13, 20, ---   (No class Oct. 27)

  • November 3, 10, ---, ---  (No classes Nov.17 & 24)

  • December 1, 8, 15

  • January 5, 12, 19, 26

Free to UNIS: The CEO Forum Group's Virtual Summit

You definitely don't want to miss CEOs discussing “AI, Culture & Courage.”

September 28, 2023
11:00AM ET
To register for this virtual event:
https://institute.theceoforumgroup.com/register/transformative-ceo-summit-pass

This event is $49 per attendee, but for UNIS members, FREE!
Use code: UNIS

See top CEOs convene to brainstorm and interact while discussing the future, core elements of true leadership, and the types of cultures that will dramatically elevate organizations.

Join host Robert Reiss '79 (CEO of the CEO Forum Group), and hear from a few featured keynote speakers, including Tim Ballard, founder and former CEO of Operation Underground Railroad, former CEO of The Nazarene Fund, and the author of several books; Mike Critelli, former CEO and Chairman of Pitney Bowes; Farooq Kathwari, Chairman, CEO & President of Ethan Allen; Sharon Price John, CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop; and Lynn Tilton, CEO of Patriarch Partners. 

We understand the importance of celebrating our students' milestones outside of school, particularly birthday celebrations, and how they can foster stronger bonds among classmates. However, to maintain an environment focused on academics within the classroom and to preserve the feelings of all students, we kindly request your cooperation with the following policy regarding birthday invitations:

• Invitations to birthday parties held outside school may not be distributed or communicated in the classroom.

• Families wishing to invite classmates to a party held outside of school should utilize the WhatsApp group set up for their class, or reach out to their Class Parents for support.

• This policy allows our faculty to focus on academics in the classroom and preserves student trust and confidence in them in the event that an invitation is not received.

We appreciate your understanding and compliance with this policy.

Join Us for Movie Day on Saturday, September 30 at 2pm 

UNIS Parents’ Association has the special privilege of hosting a Movie Day featuring Home is Somewhere Else, an animated documentary film that was part of last year’s NY International Children's Film Festival. Home is Somewhere Else tells three poignant tales of life on either side of the Mexico/US border. Followed by the screening, we’ll have a remote Q and A with the film’s co-director, Jorge Villalobos. Recommended ages for this film are 11+.

Tickets can be reserved and bought in advance by Thursday 9/28. Advanced tickets will be $ 5 for one ticket or $16 for four tickets. Tickets will be available at the door at a higher price. Limited seating of just over 250 tickets available.

To RSVP and reserve your seats at the advanced ticket pricing, by 9/28 please RSVP at http://evite.me/8mTZTjYRjN and when you RSVP on the evite, you will be sent a link to purchase tickets.

Special thanks to Michelle Fredj-Bertrand, Director of Special Events, and the UNIS team for her collaboration on this event.

This movie day is a great opportunity for class playdates and family outings, and for us to commemorate Latino Heritage Month. All are welcome!

Questions? Contact us at unispa@unis.org.

Best regards,

UNIS Parents’ Association

PreK - J4 Lunch Brought from Home

Please be mindful as you pack lunches for your Junior School child(ren) as these remain stored in their backpacks until snack or lunch time. If lunch items require cooling, please be sure to include insulated ice packs in the packaging for your child's lunch. No additional heating or cooling options are available. 

No Money, Toys, Electronics, Smartwatches at School 

Junior School children should not bring money to school and they are not permitted to purchase food in the Cafeteria.  If they forget their lunch from home one day, they can ask the JS Office to help arrange for school lunch for that day. Parents are expected to send payment of $8.00 cash for the Food Service Director the following day in an envelope with their child’s name and homeroom. 

JS students are not permitted to bring toys from home, including electronics, balls and trading cards. Aside from often being lost, these items are a distraction from learning in the classroom, and a cause of conflict at play and during after school programs.

We understand that some families provide their children with smartwatches or cell phones for safety reasons. However, upon entering the school building, all watches and phones are to be silenced and placed securely in the students backpack and remain there until they are dismissed. We ask that parents not attempt to text, call or send alerts to their Junior School child during the school day. If you need to reach your JS child on an urgent matter, please phone the JS Office at 212-584-3190 or email jsoffice@unis.org with a copy to your child's teacher.

Gum chewing is not permitted at school at any point during the school day, including during playtime, and students are not permitted to bring any gum or candy to school.

Note that the school is not responsible for the loss of any personal items, valuable or not, that students have brought from home. This includes jewelry, smart watches, cell phones, electronic devices, toys, etc.

JS Birthday Celebration in the Classroom Policy

For reasons related to student allergies and health, this is the policy for JS student birthday celebrations on campus:

• Birthdays will be acknowledged and celebrated in the JS Homeroom and/or with the Mother Tongue group. 

• Students may bring a special food treat for themself from home on their birthday to enjoy at snack or lunch time.

• Instead of bringing food treats from home to be shared with classmates, the birthday student may choose from a menu of fun activities offered by the Homeroom or MT teacher for the class to participate in together. The activities will be age-appropriate and vary by grade.

• At the discretion of the Homeroom teacher, there may be individual celebrations for each student, or there may be grouped, monthly birthday celebrations. 

• For details about the birthday celebration policy for your child’s homeroom please reach out to your teacher by email.

HEALTH NEWS FROM THE NURSE

Current COVID Guidelines 

We are all excited to welcome our students back and are looking forward to a healthy and happy school year. We would like to share the current COVID guidelines for NYC schools in an effort to keep us all healthy and off to a good start.

Students and staff who are feeling sick should stay home and test (at home-tests are fine). 

Please send a picture of your COVID test results to covid@unis.org

For positive COVID results:

No symptoms:  Isolate 5 days and return on Day 6

With Symptoms:  Isolate for 5 days 

  Symptoms must be improving AND Fever free (without medications) for 24 hours

  Masks need to be worn on Days 6-10

When determining how long to isolate and wear a mask, Day 0 is the day of COVID-19 symptom onset and Day 1 is the first full day after when symptoms started. 

For people who had no symptoms, Day 0 is the test date and Day 1 is the first full day following the test date.

Marisa Rivera, MS, RN, FNP, CPN 

mrivera@unis.org

Mask Wearing at School

Mask wearing while on campus is optional and the discretion of your family. Be assured that all JS students whose families choose to have them remain masked at school will be fully supported by our faculty and staff.

If your child will wear a mask at school be sure you have packed at least 2 spare masks in a clean bag in your child's backpack, as well as an extra bag to hold used masks if they aren't disposable. 

Health Protocols

We would like to remind everyone about our health protocols:

• When your child is sick with runny nose, cough, stomach ache, fever, headache, etc. there is no expectation from the Junior School that they should attend class in person or attempt to learn from home. 

• If your child has symptoms that would normally have kept them at home prior to COVID-19, we ask that families not send their children to school or request for schoolwork to be sent home.

• We hope that time will be taken for your child to rest and recover at home as the school believes that children recover more quickly when they are permitted to disconnect and rest, and when care is taken by everyone to avoid spreading communicable illnesses.

• If your child had any symptoms that could be consistent with COVID, they need to remain at home and take a rapid test. 

You may review the full protocols on our website COVID & Health Protocols. 

Thank you for supporting the entire UNIS community by keeping your children at home when they are not well. 

When your child will be absent, please email your homeroom teacher before 8:00am with a copy to jsattendance@unis.org, and update SchoolPass to alert all departments, especially After School Activities and Transportation, that your child is not at school.

Magnus: Make Sure Your Child's Health Records are Up-to-Date

In keeping with state laws and UNIS policy, several student health and medical forms must be completed annually and submitted directly by parents via Magnus Health Student Medical Record (SMR). These forms may be uploaded, faxed or mailed directly to Magnus. In order to protect the confidentiality of student health and related information, please note that the health office is unable to accept and upload health forms. Once completed and received by Magnus, the forms are available to our school nurses for final review and approval.

If you are experiencing delays to obtain an appointment with your regular doctor/pediatrician, note that you can also obtain these medical forms through any urgent care center in New York City without any appointment. You can always update your records at a later date once you have been able to also see your regular doctor/pediatrician.

Required health forms which MUST be uploaded/acknowledged on Magnus Health:

• Annual physical exam

• Up-to-date immunization record

• Vital health record

• Consent to treat form

• Over-the-counter (OTC) medication form

If you experience difficulty with uploading, please contact Magnus Health SMR customer support at service@magnushealthportal.com or by phone 877-461-6831. If you have trouble accessing Magnus, please email the tech team at websupport@unis.org. 

A school nurse is available during the school day, from 8am to 6pm. You can contact our Health Office at schoolnurse@unis.org, or contact Nurse Marisa Rivera, Director of Student Health and Nursing, at mrivera@unis.org (212-584-3078).