Date: 9/4/2020
Hello Rancho Gabriela Families-
The district has now announced that school reopening dates for in person students is September 14th for grades K-4 and September 21st for grades 5-8. This letter is to provide you with some important information to prepare for this change.
Chromebooks/Devices and Supplies
All students will need to continue to bring their Chromebooks charged each day to school and take them home each night. Any students who selected to use their own personal devices can bring them each day to use. Those in need of checking out a Chromebook while at school should contact homeroom teachers to notify them so that a device can be prepared for use. Students will use their designated device throughout the school year. Let us know by Wednesday, September 9th if your child will need a device while at school.
Students will not be using shared supplies this year. Please check the
supply lists on our website for recommended supplies by grade.
Safety Procedures/Masks
All students and staff will be required to wear masks throughout the day except at lunch, recess, and mask breaks outside. Our recommendation is to practice this at home prior to coming back to school, especially for the younger grades. No one will be allowed to be on school property or buses without wearing masks. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
In addition to masks, regular cleaning and disinfecting will occur, especially on high touch surfaces. Hand sanitizer stations or sinks for washing hands will be readily available.
We are asking parents to screen their children for symptoms before school, and keep children home if they exhibit specific symptoms. We will also have temperature checks that will be done daily on both staff and students.
Drop-Off Morning Procedures
- Campus will open at 7:55 AM for K-8 students. Students may NOT be dropped off early unless they are attending a school activity or tutoring. There is NO supervision before this time.
- Preschool students should arrive at 8:10 AM. Preschool students will have to be greeted at their gate and sign in. Parents should park and walk through the designated crosswalk by the front of the school.
- Younger students will be greeted by an adult and walked to their classroom the first week of school.
- All students will enter the main gate in the front. Students will then either go directly to breakfast (if desired) or straight to class.
- Vehicles may drop off students along the curbside in the designated area drop off lane only.
- Vehicles are not allowed to be waiting/standing still in front of the school. Anyone who needs extended time should park. Staff members will ask all vehicles to unload to avoid unnecessary back-up.
- Please make sure students are wearing their masks as they exit vehicles.
- Students may not be dropped off in the parking lot.
Dismissal Procedures
Grades will be dismissed slightly staggered to improve social distancing.
Preschool
Dismissing at 9:50 and 1:50 on Mondays and 10:50/2:50 Tuesdays-Fridays
Due to licensing requirements, preschool parents must park, cross the crosswalk, and go to the gate to sign out their children.
Kindergarten
Dismissing at 12:55/2:55
Kindergarten will be waiting near the PreK/Kindergarten playground gate entrance with their teachers to be picked up by parents or older siblings. Teachers will be sending out more info about what this will look like.
Grades 1-2
Dismissing at 12:55/2:55
1st and 2nd graders will exit the double doors near the Library with their teachers. Older siblings or parents may pick up from this area. If parents are doing curbside pickup, your child will be walked to your vehicle.
Grades 3-8
3-4 dismissing at 12:56/2:56
5-6 dismissing at 12:58/2:58
7-8 dismissing at 1:00/3:00
- All 3-8 students will exit the main gates at staggered dismissal times and will be escorted out by teachers in an orderly fashion.
- Vehicles will be encouraged not to leave excessive space between other cars if arriving early. This will allow for the safe filling up along the curbside lane and more loading with a shorter queue.
- Rancho staff will ask after five minutes that vehicles no longer wait for students to come out of the building. At that point in time, children who are not present to load into vehicles will have another chance after vehicles move back through the loop. This will prevent a backup of vehicles.
Please be patient, as we do expect more parent pickups this year. By following the procedures above we will move to dismiss as quickly and safely as possible.
Visitors
Due to the current situation with Covid-19 and minimizing exposures, no visitors are allowed on campus for lunch or for any other reason. This will include the first day of in-person learning.
Younger Students Lunches/Special Notes
Please practice run-throughs with lunches for younger students. Do not pack items that they are unable to open themselves. Items to consider for practice would be juice pouches, containers with difficult lids, yogurts with places to tear, and the like. We appreciate your assistance in this matter.
As always, we thank you for your continued support. We are excited to have the students returning and look forward to seeing them soon! Please don’t ever hesitate to reach out if you have any questions at
[email protected]
Sincerely,
Michelle Kimball (Ruff), Principal
Rancho Gabriela Elementary