Newsletter #01
09/07/2021
Dear parents,
The history of the Olympic Games dates back to ancient times and has its roots in Antic Greece, around 3000 years ago. Every four years, sports competitions are organized in Olympia. In 1894, Pierre de Coubertin launched his renovation project and in 1896 the celebration of the 1st Games of the modern era took place in Athens.
Since their creation, the Olympic games have been an opportunity for athletes around the world to push their limits, offering memorable and outstanding physical achievements. And sometimes for political reasons. Even though Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter reads “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas”, some athletes have taken a political stand, making history. This was the case during Mexico City's 1968 Olympic Games: American track medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists protesting their country’s treatment of black citizens during the men’s 200-meter award ceremony. Or in 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, when ten refugee athletes were selected to compete in the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) and to bring the refugee crisis to the international forefront. Athletes originally from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were chosen for the squad, and each athlete trained in a host country (Kenya, Belgium, Luxembourg, Brazil, or Germany).
Sifan Hassan, already the winner of one gold medal in the women’s 5,000 meters, was gearing up to win her second medal as the favorite of the women’s 1,500 meters. But things didn't happen as planned: Kenya’s Edinah Jebitok stumbled and tumbled to the ground just in front of her. Hassan inexorably fell to the ground. And when most runners would have admitted their defeat….
“But I told myself ‘No.’ I didn’t want to regret it later. I don’t want all the excuses”
And so, in the span of two seconds, she was up again and ended up taking first, in one of the most amazing foot races ever.
But the reason why Sifan Hassan welcomes us to this new school year, is for more that her physical achievement. Sifan Hassan, was an Ethiopian-born athlete and asylum seeker. She left Ethiopia as a refugee and arrived in the Netherlands in 2008 at age fifteen. She overcame all the challenging obstacles that life brought to her. Her resilience is an inspiration.
re·sil·ience
/rəˈzilyəns/
the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
During the last school year, the UNIS community, students, teachers, parents, administration, came together, demonstrated their collective resilience, and overcame the challenges forced upon us by this global pandemic. While the situation has evolved and many of us feel less at risk due to our access to vaccination, we know that our Junior School students have not been vaccinated yet and cannot benefit from this level of protection. Therefore, we will not lower our guard at any cost, but keep our focus high and be resilient to the challenges we will face this year in order to lower the risk for our students, your children.
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.”*
And the first step is tomorrow morning. We look forward to seeing everyone on their starting block for an exciting and well run Junior School’s 2021-22 school year! We will celebrate together at the finish line!
Pascal Vallet, Junior School Principal
Alessandra Camilo, Junior School Assistant Principal
Sources:
Sifan Hassan's journey to Olympic glory from the hardship of a teenage refugee, Sarah Hassan, The NAtional News, Aug 11, 2021
Sifan Hassan, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(*) Mark Tain
IMPORTANT DATES
THIS WEEK
Wednesday, September 8 | 1st Day of School
Thursday, September 9 | PK and JA ½ Day 8:20 - 12:00
Thursday, September 9 | New Parent Reception 6:00 - 7:30pm
Friday, September 10 | JA First Full Day 8:20 - 2:45pm
Friday, September 10 | PK ½ Day 8:20 - 12:00
UPCOMING EVENTS
Monday, September 13 | PK First Full Day 8:20 - 2:45 pm
Monday, September 20 | 1st Day Yellow Bus Service for J1-J4 & JAs with older siblings
Monday, September 20 | PA Meeting (Webinar) 6:30pm| PA Meeting Link
Tuesday, September 21 | International Day of Peace
Wednesday, September 22 | Webinar JS Back to School Night - Homeroom Teachers
Monday, September 27 | 1st Day Yellow School Bus for JAs without older siblings
Wednesday, September 29 | Webinar JS Back to School Night - Specialist Teachers
Monday, October 4 | After School Classes Begin
Tuesday, October 5 | JS Parent Coffee 7:00pm | Parent Coffee Webinar Link
IN THIS NEWSLETTER
TO DO: PRINT YOUR CHILD'S HOMEROOM CARD!
In order to help your children locate their homeroom teacher, you can print and attach to their backpack the card you will find by clicking on the link below. Homeroom teachers will welcome their students:
in the tents for Pre-K, JA and J1 students
past the tents, in front of the school lobby, for the J2, J3 and J4
TO DO: UPDATE YOUR CHILD’S DISMISSAL PLANS in SDM
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. On days when your child will not engage in classes either in person or remotely, 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.
School Dismissal Manager (SDM) is the sole method of communicating dismissal plans to UNIS JS
Parents are asked to use School Dismissal Manager (SDM) to keep the dismissal process safe and orderly for all of our JS students. Emails, notes or verbal instructions to inform the homeroom teacher and the JS Office (except after 1 pm, see below) of dismissal plans are not accepted.
Parents have been issued a username and temporary password by email. Please use these to log in to SDM at www.schooldismissalmanager.com.
The Parent Login area is found at the top of the SDM homepage.
Parents are first required to set their “Default Dismissal” for the remainder of the school year.
Parents can set “Recurring Exceptions” if needed.
Parents can set any “Exception” to the default dismissal if needed.
Parents are required to check every week to confirm that the information provided on SDM is accurate for the week ahead.
The cut-off to add a one-time “Exception” to any day’s dismissal is 1:00 pm. If a change in your plans occurs after 1:00 pm on any day, you may phone the JS Office up until 2:30 pm. But the expectation is that all changes will be made by parents directly in SDM before 1:00 pm.
After 2:30 pm the School cannot guarantee that dismissal changes will be relayed to all relevant departments in time for dismissal.
Parents are encouraged to download SDM for Apple and Android and update their child's dismissal instructions with a click or two from their phone.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: PREK AND JA SHORTENED DAY THIS WEDNESDAY
First Day of School is a Full Day for
J1 (8:20 - 2:50)
J2 (8:15 - 2:50)
J3 and J4 (8:15 - 2:55)
First Day of School is a Shortened Day for
PK - 9:15 - 11:00
JA - 9:30 - 12:00
INFORMATION: STUDENTS FULLY REMOTE
A separate message has been sent to students who will be fully remote with information to connect to the classroom. If you have not received it please email jsoffice@unis.org
REMINDER: 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 some of you 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.
REMINDERS: ARRIVAL
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 delays our faculty and staff moving back to their positions. The JS students are expected to arrive no later than 8:20 and the gates should be closing no later than 8:30. Please ensure that you arrive at the time assigned for your child's grade.
Note: This does not apply to the PK and JA on the first day of school (see staggered schedule for those grades).
3. Social Distancing Outside of UNIS: Exercise caution and, whenever possible, 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.
REMINDERS: DISMISSAL
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. 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.
REMINDERS: REMOTE LEARNERS
Questions related to technology should be addressed by email to tech.support@unis.org only. Tech Support will need your child's full name, homeroom or specialist 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 face. But we have seen our 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: speedtest.net
If you have technology issues, please send an email to tech.support@unis.org
If you have academic tech questions, please contact Ms. Zammarano at fzammarano@unis.org
All other times: If you are having trouble logging in at any other time, please call 212-584-3100 for technology support.
REMINDER: UPDATE YOUR PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION
Please take the time to review your family profile and contact information to ensure that your cell phone numbers, email addresses and home address are correct and are entered in the correct fields. You may update your information at any point throughout the year, but if you have not reviewed your information recently, we encourage you to do it today.
All departments at UNIS rely on the information that you provide in the Veracross Parent Portal to contact you. The only way you can be reached in an emergency, or when there are school wide announcements, is through the information that you have entered in the Portal. 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.
If you need support in order to make your updates, please email veracross@unis.org