Announcements and Updates

Reopening Update 9/21

Dear I.S. Families,

Thank you for your patience and understanding as our school community of families, students, faculty, and staff work to the best of our ability to create a start to a remote learning environment and continue to prepare for in-person classes on October 1st.

I wanted to share with you the latest family letter, which contains information about the health screening process, including the health screening survey and temperature checks, as well as other helpful information on how to stay healthy and safe while in and out of school. Translations will be available on the Messages for Families page of our family-facing website.

This information will be very helpful to prepare to conduct a health screening for your child(ren) each day they will be entering a NYC School for in-person learning. Health screenings are required by all Faculty, Staff and Students who enter a NYC School building each and every day. There are no exceptions, and this policy is in place for visitors, parents with appointments only and anyone who may have business in a NYC School building.

If a family is in need of a digital, battery operated, oral thermometer you may request one by sending a letter to your child's Assistant Principal on the first day they arrive for class on an in-person learning day. The DoE has provided a very limited supply for only those families who may need one. Please only request one if you truly are in need and if we receive a letter sent in by your child, we will provide one while supplies last.

Please continue to check for news and announcements on our homepage, website and Pupilpath.

Regards,

Lenny Santamaria

Principal

Update for Families 9/21/20

Update for Families_September 21 2020

Reopening Update 9/18

Dear I.S. 24 Families,

Today the DoE has released an official letter we have been asked to share with you regarding a decision made yesterday to delay the opening of in-person schooling. This important adjustment is attached here and is also available in translated format on the Messages for Families page of the family-facing website.

I understand every student and family was not prepared to hear of another delay to in-person learning but I must be transparent and make you aware that as a school we were not aware until the announcement was made publicly. We stand with you as educators and parents ourselves and hope to see our kids back here soon. For now, we will work with our students remotely.

We are forever grateful for your patience and understanding so far. There is no easy answer or simple fix to what is happening, and we are without question missing our students and the "normal" we expect in a school. When we begin remote learning on Monday, September 21, 2020 we are expecting technical issues, delays, dropped video calls and a host of other problems. This is not being done on purpose, but it can be expected as over a million students will begin taking classes at the same time on-line.

Please, whatever you do, stay by our side as we will need each other to make this a successful year. Teachers, Custodial staff, Supervisors, and all Support Staff have not stopped working since September 8th preparing our school for students. I am proud of them and you would be as well. Problems and concerns still exist and we are monitoring and supporting as quickly as we can.

I hope you are well and continue to be safe while we start on this adventure together. My regards to you and our students and rest assured we will be here for you as best we can.

Educationally yours,

Lenny Santamaria

Principal

Update for Families_September 18 2020

2020-2021 School Year Update

Many plans and scenarios are being worked on and finalized to prepare for the return of students to our school. We appreciate everyone's patience and understanding as we will be releasing information on a more constant basis as some, but not all, information is available to share as the guidance from the City of New York is what we use to make school based decisions.

Below are some points and and pieces of information to help in your plans and understanding of how the school year will begin.

+Students and families can expect a postcard mailed to the home address on file in the next few days showing the class and the Group A,B or C for in-person learning using the schedule below and Group D for remote learning from home. Details for remote instruction are still unavailable and we hope to be able to share some information next week.

+Our school will continually use our website www.barnes24.org and our social media platforms on Instagram and Facebook along with phone blast messages to relay and new and updated information in the days leading up to the tentative start of school on Thursday, September 10th.

+How students will receive a schedule for classes is still being finalized and will be made public when ready by September 8th.

+We do not have an official NYC School Calendar yet to share so we will share a school calendar for September and what days and weeks for in-person learning will be scheduled as. As an example if the fist day of school is Thursday, September 10th a student in Group B would have in-person learning. On Friday, September 11th a student assigned to Group C would be in school. On Monday, September 14th Group B would be in school and so on.

Therefore in the month of September:

Week 1 is September 10-11

Week 2 is September 14-18

Week 3 is September 21-25

Week 1 is September 28- October 2

+We would recommend that families and students have conversation around the use of facial coverings and begin to practice wearing a mask at home a few hours a day over the next two weeks. Start with two hours a day and gradually increase by the third day to add 30 minutes and so on. All schools will enforce mask wearing by adults and students while in the building.

+The student school day for remote and in-person learning will be from 8:10am-1:40pm. Procedures for in-person arrival to school will be shared next week.

+At this time there is no information regarding the availability and use of yellow school bus service for students who are entitled. That information will be shared by The Office of Pupil Transportation directly with families of students entitled to yellow bus service when it becomes available.

+A school supply list is currently on our homepage www.barnes24.org for grade 6-8.

As we receive more guidance on procedures and other important information we will share that with you on our respective methods of communication. Please do not rely on private chat groups or unverified social media posts for information. All news and information will come from our school.

I look forward to share a little more information with you this week and next week as we prepare for the start of school next month.

DOE Device Update

By August 14, families who borrowed iPads from the DOE will receive an email or text about preparing DOE-loaned devices for the first day of school. Families will be asked to take action to ensure that their child’s iPad is updated and ready to be used for remote learning, including:

Turning on the iPad;
Reconnecting to internet;
Making sure content-filtering in enabled (Zscaler);
Signing in to the Learn at Home app; and
Using the iPad as a Wi-Fi-enabled, personal hotspot.

For questions, contact the NYC DoE DIIT Service Helpdesk at 718-935-5100.

Reopening Update for Families

We are especially grateful to the NYC Department of Education for sharing updates with families, who need the latest information to make the best choices for their children’s education.

This attached

Reopening Update for Families includes: The latest health and safety information, including on ventilation, school nurses, and testing and tracing in schools How to stay informed on confirmed COVID-19 cases in your school community How families can change their children’s learning preference to/from fully remote learning What happens if students attend school in-person on a day they are not scheduled to attend Supports for students with Individualized Education Programs Supports for students in temporary housing and foster care Please read over these updates carefully.

You can find translated versions of the Chancellor's August 17th letter by clicking here. https://infohub.nyced.org/in-our-schools/translations/letters/letters-from-the-chancellor

Update for Families_August 17 2020