Newsletter #31

Dear parents,

Learning the skills to be successful in life: a quick Google search with the key words "How to succeed" will lead you to tons of literature on that topic, with multiple experts sharing their strategies to support success, financial, social, physical, etc.

Success is "the accomplishment of an aim or purpose." I certainly agree with Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, when he said that "Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do." Being successful requires preparation, creative effort, persistence, self-belief, determination, organization, the ability to go "from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm" as Winston Churchill said.

While the definition of success can be very personal - it depends on your goals and aspirations - success in general requires specific strategies and methods to be achieved, those that can be used regardless of the goal itself.

In the abundance of "self-help" strategies, we find the MAPS method. MAPS stands for: "Measurable, Actionable, Personal and Specific". This achievement goal approach towards achievement motivation has emerged as a highly influential framework for predicting performance attainment in competence-relevant situations.

Recent research by Lia M. Daniels, Lauren D. Goegan & Patti C. Parker, emphasizes the importance of MAPS goals to support students’ behavioral, emotional and cognitive engagement and feelings of success. Published last February, this research studies specifically "The impact of COVID-19 triggered changes to instruction and assessment on university students’ self-reported motivation, engagement, and perceptions".

The pandemic is impacting our lives in far reaching ways. In the research world, one of the impacts is the growing number of researchers looking at the consequences of the pandemic on university students' academic growth, well being, motivation, health, etc. "Psychological impacts from COVID-19 among university students: Risk factors across seven states in the United States", "Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the social and educational aspects of Saudi university students’ lives", "Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on University Students' Physical Activity Levels: An Early Systematic Review", "Moving student research forward during the COVID-19 pandemic", etc. The list goes on.

Most of this research is looking at today's university students: Professors empirically observing differences in their students' academic growth and well being and using their access to research, methods, and labs to unfold new logical theories to explain the impact of COVID-19 and provide some understanding of these effects, potentially leading to solutions to overcome the collateral damage of a worldwide pandemic on their students.

Surely, very soon, we will see a growing body of research looking at high school students, middle school students, and ultimately elementary school students. And, as are the university professors, we the JS teachers, teaching assistants, counselors, school psychologists, playground assistants, principals, nurses, are empirically observing impacts of the pandemic on our own students. One impact that affects everyone, not only students, was reported in January 2021 in an interesting article from "Scientific American": the "Pandemic Fatigue".

" Understanding pandemic fatigue is challenging because it is not one phenomenon and likely stems from several causes. Some of these include political and social trends, such as changes in libertarian attitudes or diminishing trust in scientific authorities. However, pandemic fatigue also occurs for people who are ostensibly on board with societal attempts to control spread of the virus. So, why would compliance with public health advice decline in these people? Despite its name, pandemic fatigue in these cases is not really about exhaustion or tiredness or depleting a mental resource. Rather, pandemic fatigue should be understood in terms of motivation for the tasks we choose to do." - How We Can Deal with ‘Pandemic Fatigue’, By David Badre on January 24, 2021, Scientific American

We should not underestimate the collateral damage of the pandemic. The school has worked hard, to the best of our ability, to create a safe environment. Our teachers have made great efforts throughout the year to ensure that they cover the curriculum, under unique circumstances and conditions of instruction, to give our students a sense of "normalcy". But our students have experienced a year unlike any other. Their outdoor time has been affected, access to games has been restricted, our famous "Adventure Days" were canceled, as were many other special JS events and traditions, due to the constraints forced upon us by this pandemic. Outside of school opportunities to meet friends, family members, travel the world to visit relatives, physical activities, birthday parties, cinema afternoon, sports competitions - it is a long list of routines that we took for granted and that gave our students a balance in their lives. Those opportunities to interact supported their well-being, developed healthy social interactions, and ultimately positively impacted their success at school, both from an academic and well-being perspective.

While we have not seen research on the direct impact of "Pandemic Fatigue" on elementary school students yet, our empirical observations in the Junior School show us a growing number of incidents, on the bus, on the playground, in the classroom. It is therefore our collective responsibility, school leadership, parents, teachers, to support our students in their success.

Until the end of this school year, while we continue to ensure coverage of our curriculum as our talented teachers have been doing since the beginning of the pandemic (demonstrating their own resilience and creativity) we will also focus our attention on and support our students in overcoming the manifestations of "Pandemic Fatigue". 

As we opened this Newsletter with the definition of success, we understand that a key to any success is engaging in collaborative effort. We believe our students have benefited from the close collaboration that we have been able to maintain between school leadership, teachers and parents. With resilience, we will continue to work closely with you to support our students' well being and success.

COVID-19 has done it's best to push us back, however, as Henry Ford said, "the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it"!

Pascal Vallet, Junior School Principal 

Alessandra Camilo, Junior School Assistant Principal

• • Friday, May 28 and Monday, May 31 - School Closed - Memorial Day Weekend

  • Tuesday, June 1 - Classes Resume

• Tuesday, June 1 - Classes Resume

• Wednesday, June 2 - JS Parent Coffee 7:00pm (Save the Date)

• Friday, June 4 - 11:45 Dismissal for all Junior School (TH Graduation Day)

• Friday, June 4 - Yellow Bus departs at 12:00 (JS Dismissal is at 11:45)

• Friday, June 4 - No Care Program, After School or Language Classes (all JS students dismissed at 11:45)

• Tuesday, June 8 - PA Meeting 7:00pm (Save the Date)

• Friday, June 11 - J4 Graduation 9:00 - 10:30 (Details in this newsletter)

• June 17 and June 18 - Students Return School-Issued iPads and Chromebooks to Homeroom (details in this newsletter)

• Friday, June 18 - JS Last of Classes (Full Day)

• TO DO: JUNE 4 HALF DAY / CHROMEBOOK & iPAD RETURN

• IMPORTANT INFORMATION: J4 GRADUATION

•  BIT OF NEWS: UNIS PRIZE WINNING TEEN POET 

• REMINDERS: WHEN YOUR CHILD IS SICK / LEARNING MODEL CONSISTENCY

• REMINDER: TRANSITIONING BETWEEN MODELS OF LEARNING

• REMINDERS: HEALTH AND SAFETY

• REMINDERS: REMOTE LEARNERS

• REMINDER: UPDATE YOUR CHILD’S DISMISSAL PLANS in SDM

• REMINDER: UPDATE YOUR PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION

Friday, June 4 Early Dismissal 

Our Tut House students will have their graduation ceremony on Friday, June 4 and all Junior School students will be dismissed at 11:45.

• The Care Program and After School and Language Classes will not be running that day so please be sure to arrange for your JS child's pick up no later than 11:45am.

• UNIS Transportation has arranged for Yellow Buses to depart the campus at 12:00pm.

• Pre-K, J1, J2, J3 and J4 students will eat at school, following their morning schedule as usual.

• JA students will not eat lunch at school, also following their usual morning schedule, in order to avoid impacting learning time (JA lunch is scheduled for noon).

Chromebook & iPad Return by June 18

All iPads and Chromebooks assigned to students by the school will be collected at the end of this term on Thursday and Friday, June 17 and June 18.

If your child will not be attending school in person on June 17 or June 18, please contact your homeroom teacher, with a copy to fzammarano@unis.org, to coordinate the return of your child's school issued device to the campus on a date no later than June 18.

The J4 graduation will take place on Friday, June 11 from 9 to 10:30 am. This year students will attend the ceremony in person, with the exception of those students who are currently fully remote:

• The J4 graduation will be held in the Cafeteria.

• Each cohort of students will be seated in a designated area of the Cafeteria in order to avoid students from different cohorts mixing with one another.

• Certificates will be handed out by the homeroom teacher following CDC guidelines.

• The graduation ceremony will be live streamed, allowing all parents in the Junior School to watch online.

• As the live stream is not limited in terms of the number of connections, parents will be able to share the live stream links with family members around the world.

• Parents are not permitted on campus in accordance with our Covid-19 protocols. 

• The graduation will be recorded and shared with parents after the ceremony.

First Place Winner for Middle School Poetry in Brooklyn Public Library’s 2021 Teen Writing Contest

Junior School is proud to share Anthony Ibeanu's Middle School 1st Prize winning poem. It will be included in the organizer's 2021 Teen Writing Journal. For more information about this writing prize:  Ned Vizzini Teen Writing Prize  

When Your Child is Sick

When your child is sick with stomach ache, fever, headache, etc. there is no expectation from the school that they should attempt to learn remotely. If your child has symptoms that would normally have kept them at home prior to COVID-19, please do not have your child log in to classes. We hope that time will be taken for them to rest and recover. It is difficult for teachers to engage students who are not feeling well, they distract their classmates, and the school believes that children recover more quickly when they are permitted to disconnect and rest.

Learning Model Consistency

The expectation is that Junior School students attend school consistently, through the end of this school year, in accordance with the learning model the family has opted for at this time (either hybrid, fully in person or fully remote). Inconsistent in person attendance is disruptive for the class as a whole and for the individual student. It is extremely challenging for your child's teachers who need to plan lessons and have materials ready in advance. The school believes that a consistent schedule reinforces learning and appropriate classroom behavior, and reduces anxiety.

Dismissal for Parents and Guardians

At dismissal please stay in motion, circling through the tents as you wait to pick up your children, or wait outside the main gate between pick ups. Despite the warmer weather, the school has not relaxed it's policies regarding gatherings. Please do not linger or sit down in the tents to wait for a second child, or gather within the school gates to speak with other parents or teachers. At dismissal our goal is to have as few people on campus for the shortest time possible, and always in motion. Thank you for understanding and support as we work to keep our community safe. 

Following recent changes with CDC guidelines and NYDOH rules, UNIS is welcoming many of our students on campus every day.

Three Models of Learning are now offered to UNIS families:

• • Option 1: on campus every day

  • Option 2: hybrid schedule (continuing the yellow & blue group rotation)

  • Option 3: fully remote learning

UNIS will continue offering the hybrid model through June, as a transition path for remote families, and to help reduce the logistical challenges associated with the return of a large number of students on site.

If you would like to request a learning model change for your JS child, please send an email to both jsoffice@unis.org and your homeroom teacher with a minimum of 2 school days notice.

Note that fully remote students requesting a transition to on campus learning (either hybrid or full time) require health clearance from the Nurse as the first step. Please follow these directions to initiate the process:

• If you decide to opt for in person learning, either hybrid or 100% in person, please inform these departments at a minimum of 2 full school days in advance of the date that you would like to have your child return (for example, no later than Wednesday afternoon of the week prior to a Monday return):

  1. 1. 1. • jsoffice@unis.org

           • mrivera@unis.org

           • schoolnurse@unis.org

           • your homeroom teacher

• The first step will be for the nurse to confirm that all of your child's health forms are in order and that they are cleared to return to campus.

• After you have the nurse's health clearance, please coordinate directly with your homeroom teacher the best date for your child's return to learning in person.

• Inform jsoffice@unis.org about the agreed upon in person start date.

• When your child returns to campus, you'll need to complete the daily Ruvna Health Screening that you will begin receiving by text and email each morning at about 5:00am.

• You'll also need to update School Dismissal Manager (SDM) with your dismissal plan for each day that your JS child attends school on campus. The dismissing teachers will rely on the information you provide in SDM to escort your child to the correct location at the end of the school day (for example: pick up / care program / yellow bus).

• Note that your child will not be permitted to take the bus unless the SDM report printed for our Transportation Department each day indicates your choice of that dismissal option. Please contact Charles Umbach at transportation@unis.org as soon as possible if you want to arrange for yellow school bus service.

We look forward to welcoming your child back to campus!

1. Arrival: To speed arrival for everyone, please have your child take possession of their backpack and lunch before they approach the entry gate in the morning and check to see that their mask is on, fits well, and is covering their nose.

2. Late Arrival: The late arrival of students in the morning delay our faculty and staff moving back to their positions. The JS students are expected to arrive no later than 8:30 and the gates should be closing no later than 8:40. Please ensure that you arrive at the time assigned for your child's grade.

3. Masks: Be sure you have packed spare masks in a clean bag in your child's backpack, as well as an extra bag to hold used ones. For the safety and peace of mind of all, do not send your child to school in a vented mask. We understand that many of you do use vented masks with filters inserted. But our teachers cannot be certain that every vented mask has the filter necessary to keep them safe. Please respect our community and do not send your child to school in a vented mask.

4. Use Remote Learning on Days with Appointments or Travel:

We ask that you opt to have your child learn remotely on days when you have scheduled appointments outside of school or when you need to leave early for travel. 

Because parents and caregivers are not permitted inside the school gate, a request for either late arrival or early dismissal for a JS student requires that school personnel leave their work in order to escort your child. There is no guarantee that we can free staff from their work duties at any point during the day to accommodate late arrival or early dismissal.

Instead of requesting an early pick up or notifying of late arrival, please enter Remote Learning as an Exception in SDM to alert your teacher that your child will connect remotely instead of joining in person.

Of course, if your child falls ill during the school day, the nurse's office will coordinate an early pick plan with families.

5. For those families electing to change their current model during the remainder of this 2020-21 school year:

• Moving from Fully Remote to Hybrid / Fully in Person - Families give at least 2 full school day’s notice to the homeroom teacher, schoolnurse@unis.org and jsoffice@unis.org that they would like their child to attend on campus. Health clearance from the nurse is required before any student can attend in person. The expectation is that the student will then remain learning on campus for the remainder of this school year on a consistent schedule, either in the Hybrid model or Fully In Person.

• Moving to Fully Remote from Hybrid / Fully in Person - Families give at least one day’s notice to the homeroom & jsoffice@unis.org so that teachers have an opportunity to send the student home with necessary materials to learn from home. The expectation is that the student will remain remote for the remainder of this school year.

The last step is to update SDM with your dismissal plans for each day your child is on campus.

6. Returning to Campus After Illness:  

Based on CDC and NYSDOH guidance, students who are sent home or become ill may not return to UNIS until the following:

WITH A COVID TEST: MUST BE  A PCR NOT A RAPID (AS PER NYS)

• A negative COVID test must be emailed to the health office for clearance to return to on campus learning. 

• At least 24 hours symptom free.

WITHOUT COVID TEST: 

• • Must have a physician note. Must explicitly state that the student or employee is cleared to return to school. Physicians must also document an alternative diagnosis if symptoms are due to illness (ie- lab confirmed influenza, strep throat) or preexisting diagnosis and not COVID.

  • Must be fever free (less than 100F) for 3 days with no fever reducing medications and improvement of symptoms

  • AND must be 10 days post-symptom (No symptoms in last 10 days)

  • AND report general feelings of wellness.

* Note: a signed note by the health care provider documenting unconfirmed acute illness, such as viral upper respiratory illness (URI) or viral gastroenteritis will not be accepted. If this is the physician indicated diagnosis, please know a negative COVID test will also be required to be cleared for on campus learning.

We kindly ask if your child is exhibiting symptoms consistent with COVID to have them tested so we can alert potential contacts within UNIS. This helps us keep everyone safe. If you feel these symptoms are due to a cause other than COVID, please have your physician clearly document this in your return to school clearance letter.

Mt. Sinai are our consulting physicians and can help find a Mt. Sinai practice that will offer expedited results. You are also free to utilize any testing practitioner you are comfortable with.

For anyone who needs confirmatory testing, please email AccessDowntown@mountsinai.org or call 646-531-1504 and identify yourself as a part of the UNIS community. If there are any issues, please reach out to their team directly at BusinessHealth@mountsinai.org and they will assist.

If you are a parent and you are having your child tested at Mt. Sinai, please know you will need to create a MyChart account to access your minor child's test results. You will also need to ask the practice manager to upload the results to the mychart account, as it doesn't happen automatically for minors.

For health related questions please email: schoolnurse@unis.org and mrivera@unis.org

7. Social Distancing Outside of UNIS: Exercise caution and, whenever possible, to stay clear of gatherings where social distancing or face masks might not be the norm. We advise students and families to be particularly vigilant on playgrounds and during play dates, keeping in mind the impact they may have on the safety of everyone in our community.

8. COVID Testing: We recommend that students be tested at least ONCE a month, preferably every two weeks. All UNIS Faculty and Staff will be pool-tested every other week on campus.

9. When Your Child Learns From Home For A Medical Reason:  If you elect to keep your child home for a medical reason (allergies, running nose, etc.) but your child feels well enough to engage in learning remotely, please inform your teachers as far in advance as possible, and certainly before 8:00am. It is challenging for your child's teachers because they need to plan lessons and have materials ready in advance. 

Note that when your child is sick there is no expectation that they should log in to class - we hope that time will be taken for them to rest and recover. 

If you do plan to have your child engage remotely at any point during the school day, it is crucial that your teachers are aware before the school day begins for them at 8:00am, and preferable the day before, by emailing your teacher directly and using SDM to alert the office. Informing your teacher in advance allows them to anticipate and prepare to support your child as a remote learner. Appearing on the screen when they are expected in the classroom can be disruptive for the class and divides your teacher's attention.

Thank you for your support.

• • Instruction begins at 8:40 each morning. Remote learners are expected to connect with their homeroom no later than 8:40 to participate in Morning Meeting. Students who try to connect after that time disrupt the class and pull the teacher away from the rest who are already engaged in person or remotely. It is tremendously important that students are ready to join at 8:40. Meanwhile, we recognize that due to technical glitches or late arrivals, not all teachers will always be able to start at 8:40. We thank you for your patience. But, once the class begins, students who join between 8:40 and 9:00 are missing important direction and are inevitably disrupting the class. Let's try our best together!

  • Question related to technology should be addressed by email to tech.support@unis.org only. Tech Support will need your child's full name, teacher name and grade in order to assist you quickly. Please do not disrupt your teacher's instruction time to address tech support issues for your family. We understand it can be frustrating sometimes; we recognize it and are working hard to address the glitches we are facing. But we have noticed teachers trying to troubleshoot a system while teaching, a system that really requires technician intervention. They do it out of caring and concern about their students not being able to connect. Please help them by reaching out to our Tech Department for support instead. 

  • All families should check their internet connection. The audio when your child connects from home should never be distorted - it is disruptive to the class when that happens and is likely the result from a poor connection at home. You should have at least 3mbps up and download. A 5mbps up and download will ensure optimal quality. You can check your bandwidth here: fast.com 

Our homeroom teachers follow the instructions entered by parents in School Dismissal Manager (SDM) each day. Please update your SDM account to regularly indicate what the plans are for your child each day of the week. SDM is always mandatory for Dismissal but can easily be used for Attendance as well. If your child will be learning remotely on a day that he/she is normally scheduled to be on campus, please use SDM and select "Remote Learning as an Exception". On days when your child will not engage in classes either remotely or in person, please use SDM to mark your child "Absent".

SDM is the only way of letting the dismissing teacher know where your child should go at dismissal. In addition to indicating that there is an After School Activity, you must enter a description of the activity in the box below. If the activity name is not entered in SDM your child may be placed in the Care Program instead.

No student will be placed on a bus at dismissal if their SDM account does not authorize their ridership on that date.  They will be placed in the Care Program instead.