Hello OCRS families,
Thank you for continuing to send pictures of your children participating in our Virtual Spirit Days during our first week of Distance Learning. All of the teachers and the staff miss seeing our students at school each day! I will continue to post some of the pictures on the OCRS social media accounts each day.
I know that many families have additional questions about what next week will look like, especially around online learning. All of the elementary principals, assistant superintendent, and teachers are working together on the expectations for online learning this week, which is why we will not be beginning virtual/online learning for all grade levels until March 30th. All four elementary schools will be sending out information about online learning to families by the end of the day tomorrow.
Pick-up of additional learning materials tomorrow (Wednesday) March 25th
As I emailed families yesterday afternoon, the district has decided to push-up the date by one day for all elementary families to come to the schools to pick-up additional learning materials for your children, Kindergarten through 5th grade. The "drive-up" pick-up is taking place tomorrow (Wednesday) March 25th, NOT Thursday, March 26th.
The schedule is as follows:
Student last name A through D, 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Student last name E through M, 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Student last name N through Z, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
In order to make this process as safe and organized as possible, we ask families to please make every effort to come during your assigned time slot. If you truly are not able to come during your assigned time slot, please let Mr. Barrette know what time you will be able to come. A number of families have already reached out to Mr. Barrette to make alternate arrangements.
If you're not able to come at all (we understand that many families are working from home and may not have flexible schedules), you could ask another family to pick-up your child's materials or email Mr. Barrette to work out a solution. Again, a number of families have already reached out to Mr. Barrette to make alternate arrangements.
The materials that have been assembled by each classroom teacher vary by grade level, but will at least include reading material, math books (except for Kindergarten), and writing material. In addition, the district technology team has been able to identify enough Chromebooks to allow each Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade student to borrow a Chromebook and a charger for use while school is closed. We cannot thank Mr. Scott Barnett and his team enough for their efforts in making this happen for our youngest students!
"Drive-up" process for picking up materials
When families come to pick-up materials, we are going to use a "drive-up" process to accommodate you so that you do not need to get out of your car. We also want to minimize the amount of people we have in close proximity to each other at any time. Please see the procedure and illustrated map below:
A. Families will drive up beside the LEFT SIDE of the building and join the line of cars
B. When your car gets to the front of the line, a staff member will come out to your car to find out your child's name and classroom. The staff member will then retrieve your child's materials from the gym and bring them out to your car.
C. Once you have your child's materials, you will carefully drive around the rear of the building and continue completely around the building.
D. Cars will exit through the parking lot on the right side of the school
Please note, based on the recommendations from Smithfield safety personnel, school and district staff will be wearing masks and gloves during this process. We do not want to scare or alarm any of our students, so please let your child know ahead of time if they will be in the car when you "drive-up" that we will be wearing masks and gloves. All four elementary schools are implementing similar processes to do our best to limit contact between people and to keep everyone healthy.
Thank you again for your flexibility, understanding, and support during this difficult time. Our teachers have been working extremely hard to prepare for distance learning and we know that all of their work, along with your efforts, will help our students continue to learn while away from school.
Stay safe and healthy!
Mr. Barrette
Teachers, para-professionals, custodians, secretaries, school nurses, technology staff, and administrators have been working together all day to assemble additional learning materials for OCRS students to be able to use during our distance learning. We have also prepared Chromebooks for every K-2 student so that all OCRS students will be able to begin online learning on Monday!
