Conway Grammar School2020-2021

Family Handbook

Thank you to the committee members who worked to prepare our Conway Grammar School communityfor the return!

Committee members:Krista AgustinKate Arsenault

Jill BarnesAmanda Begos

Jacqui CapuanoJo Cyr-Mutty

Mary DacyczynShafiya Finger

Lora HanasCarol KurkulonisPaulette Levchuk

Christina RichardsSarah Tuttle

Jennifer Wheeler

Special thanks to Principal Kristen Gordon for leading us through this unprecedented time!

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CONTENTS

Health and Safety..................................................................................................................................................3Masks...........................................................................................................................................................3Physical Distance.........................................................................................................................................3Handwashing………………........................................................................................................................3Illness Policy................................................................................................................................................4Arrival and Dismissal..................................................................................................................................4Bussing.........................................................................................................................................................5Families and Visitors……………..……………………............................................................................5Hallways......................................................................................................................................................5Bathroom Breaks.........................................................................................................................................6Student Lunches and Snacks........................................................................................................................6Meetings.......................................................................................................................................................6

Classrooms and Learning..................................................................................................................................7Schedule.......................................................................................................................................................7Classroom Setup and Cleaning....................................................................................................................7Outdoor Classrooms and Outdoor Mask Breaks.........................................................................................7Recess..........................................................................................................................................................8Social/Emotional Wellness and Learning....................................................................................................8Library and Classroom Reading Materials..................................................................................................8Technology……………………………………..........................................................................................9

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Our Priorities at CGS is to provide the safest learning environment for our students and staff that we canpossibly create at this time. We also want our CGS children to say at the end of the day “I love CGS. Ilove my classmates and my teachers and the whole school!”

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Masks● Please send 2 masks a day with your child in case of sneezes.● Masks covering the nose and mouth will be worn by all students in Grade 1 and above while they are in

the building.● PREK and K will be required to wear masks during transitions, but will always maintain 6 or more feet

distance. In an effort to allow students to remove masks, we will attempt to have students spaced 10 feetapart and outside whenever possible.

● Outdoor education will be a focus at CGS.● Face shields may be worn by some students with specific needs.● Frequent, scheduled mask breaks will occur at all grade levels as well as individual needs.● Mask breaks will take place outside.● Student requests for mask breaks will be honored. We assume and understand student requested mask

breaks will be more frequent in the beginning of the school year.● Students who refuse to wear masks will meet with Principal Gordon. If they continue to refuse, the

student will be picked up by a family member.

How to Wear and Take off Your MaskPlease practice putting on and taking off a mask with your child(ren).

○ Wash hands before putting on and taking off your mask.○ Always wear your mask so it covers your nose.○ Handle your mask by the ear loops or ties only.○ Place your mask in a brown paper bag labeled with your name during mask breaks.

Physical Distance● Staff will use visuals to help students know what 6 feet of distance looks like.● Markings on the floor of the hallway and in front of student bathroom doors will help students maintain

physical distance.● Games that encourage physical distance will be taught at PE. Classroom teachers all have lists of other

fun, active games that encourage physical distance for students to play at recess.

HandwashingStudents and staff should wash their hands often,including the following times:

● Upon entering the classroom● Before heading to the bathroom

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● Prior to exiting the bathroom● Immediately before and after eating● Before and after recess● Before students go home● Other times, as needed.

Conway Grammar School has many sanitation and hand washing stations. Each classroom has a sink.

CGS Hand Washing RulesPlease practice the hand washing rules with your child(ren).

○ Rinse hands with water, then apply soap.○ Rub hands, working soap into a lather for 20 seconds. One way to make sure you are washing

your hands for 20 seconds is to sing Happy Birthday two times.○ Rinse well under clean water.○ Use a paper towel over your hand to turn off the faucet, then throw the paper towel away.○ Use a clean paper towel to dry your hands.○ Throw your paper towels away in the closest trash can.

Illness PolicyUnion 38 is currently writing an illness policy based on guidelines from the CDC and DESE. The policy willbe sent to families prior to the start of the 2020-2021 school year.

Arrival and DismissalArrival

● CGS will have a staggered schedule for morning arrival.● All families and students will wear masks. Please be prompt. This will support our efforts with physical

distance.● A staff member from each grade’s cohort will be outside and waiting for the class. The staff member

will lead students to the entrance that specific class will use.

ArrivalTime

A Days B Days

8:30 6th Grade andPreK(Different Entrances)

5th Grade andGrade 1(DifferentEntrances)

8:45 2nd GradeAnd Kindergarten(Different Entrances)

4th Grade and3rd Grade(DifferentEntrances)

**Wings will have various arrival times depending on bussing.

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Dismissal● Pickups: Families who pick up their child(ren) will wear a mask and press the buzzer and tell the office

who they are picking up. The office will call students to come to the front hallway and a staff memberwill escort and release the student to their family. If a family has multiple children in the school, thefamily name will be announced (“All Smith Family members should now be dismissed”) and all siblingsshould be brought to the front hallway where a staff member will release them to their family.

● Bus students: Bus students will be called down by bus and grade level. Whenever possible, classroomswill use exterior classroom doors to bring students to the bus.

Bussing● Students and staff must wear masks on busses at all times.● Seats will be assigned on all buses● One student per seat, however siblings may share a seat.● Seats that are not 6 feet apart will be marked “closed” to ensure children sit in properly distanced

seats.● At this time, it appears CGS will keep their 3 bus routes. Update as more information is gathered

from the family survey on transportation.

Arriving Late: Families will not be permitted in the school building at this time. When walking yourchild to the front door, please make sure you and your child have a mask on. Please walk your child tothe front door and push the buzzer, then step away from the door. A CGS staff member will let yourchild in the building, take their lunch order, and note the time of their arrival for the office. The staffmember will escort your child to their classroom.Early Dismissal: Please wear a mask and push the buzzer to let the office know you are picking up yourchild early. Wait under the overhang 6 feet away from the door, but visible from the door. A staffmember will escort your child to the door when they see you.

Families and VisitorsVisitors will not be allowed in the building except for essential contractors who are not able to extend thework past school hours (ex plumber).

● Outdoor parent drop-off stations will be assigned for Pre-K and K students.● Parents/guardians will leave any items to be dropped-off in a secure container outside of the school.

They should use the buzzer to let office staff know they have dropped-off an item.● Families arriving to pick up sick/injured children should notify the office by using the buzzer..● Sick/injured children will be escorted out of the building to meet their family members under the

overhang.

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Hallways● Students will be accompanied by a staff member in the hallways.● All CGS students and staff will walk on the right side of the hallway. Blue arrows are posted on the

hallway wall to help students know which side to walk on. Cones will help students remember to stay onthe correct side of the hallway.

● When a class is transitioning to recess or a mask break space, students and adults will be spaced 6 feetapart from each other.

Bathroom Breaks● Each classroom will have an assigned bathroom.● Students will wash their hands at the classroom sink before being escorted to the bathroom by a staff

member.● Students and staff members will follow the C.G.S. handwashing rules.● After using the bathroom, students will wash their hands at the bathroom sink, following the

handwashing rules. The staff member will wipe down the inside handle of the stall used by the student.The staff member will wash their hands and escort the student back to the classroom.

Student Lunches and SnacksThe existing food policy at Conway Grammar School remains in effect. Students do not share food at lunch orsnack times. That policy has been extended to include teachers. Students cannot bring in snacks to share forcelebrations, etc.Lunch will be provided on full and half days. Breakfast will be provided to students when they arrive at

school. Lunch will be provided to students on full and half days. On half days, a bag lunch will be sent homewith a child. If the child wishes to get breakfast and/or lunch for the ‘next day’, which will not be a school dayfor the majority of students, those meals will be sent home with the child as well.

Students who will be participating in a full remote program, breakfast and lunch will be available for pick upat specific times. TBD. We were hoping to receive the DESE Free Breakfast and Lunch for all students as wedid from March-August, however, at the time of writing this, we are assuming that we will not be getting that.(Deadline for letting schools know is August 31. Many have received notice already. We have not so we areassuming that we did not receive this which is very unfortunate.

Students who receive free and/or reduced lunch will need to fill out paperwork at the beginning of the schoolyear so that we can get that started as well.

Price for full pay breakfast is $1.75 and $2.95 for lunch.● Teachers can no longer provide snacks for students. Families, please send a simple snack each day for

your child(ren).● Lunches from home must be in disposable containers. Lunch boxes are not allowed in school at this

time. This is to keep the amount of items going from home to school and back again to a minimum. Wecan revisit this after about a 4 week period.

● Staff members will wash down surfaces before snack and lunch time.

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● Staff and students wash hands before and after snack time and lunch in the classroom sink, followinghand washing rules.

● A staff member will bring school lunches from the kitchen and deliver them to the classroom or otherlunch spot.

● The principal will decide if it is an indoor or outdoor lunch day, depending on the weather. The dailygoal is to eat lunch outside.

MeetingsAll IEP, 504, and Family/Teacher conferences will be held virtually at this time unless specific requests forin-person are discussed with the principal.

CLASSROOMS AND LEARNING

SchedulePlease use the calendar link to review the school schedule. Conway Calendar LinkClassroom teachers will be sending home daily class schedules either on September 4 or Sept 7 via email.

Remote Learning In Person Learning Clickable Classrooms

Google Classrooms and Google Slides; Menu of Options; Outdoor education

Daily morning meetings 8:30-2:30 school hours Teaching teams are incredible

Each student will receive a remote education pack of materials and device if needed

Classroom Setup and CleaningFollowing guidelines from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and theCenter for Disease Control, Conway Grammar School initiated the following changes to our classroom learningenvironments. Please note, the changes address all guidelines addressed by these agencies. Where possible, weextended the minimum guidelines to provide additional space and precautions for the safety and wellbeing ofour students and staff.

● Desks are facing the same direction.● Students will have assigned seats.● Seats will be 6 ft away from each other at a minimum.● Students will have all materials at/in their desks. There are not to be any shared materials.● Windows in the classroom should be left open as much as possible. Fans are not allowed.● Custodial staff will thoroughly clean all classrooms each day.● Classroom teachers and IAs will be responsible for intermittent sanitation of desks and classroom areas

as they arise. For instance, before and after lunch and snack.

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Outdoor Classrooms and Outdoor Mask Breaks● When the weather is dry, we will take outside mask breaks and learn outside.● Each class has a dedicated outside space, which is always available to them.● Outdoor mask breaks can take place outside the exterior door of the classroom, or at the outdoor

classroom.● Please bring a lawn/beach chairs for outside mask breaks and outdoor learning activities if there is a

chair available. CGS will have chairs available for students who need one.● Staff will have walkie talkies on their person at all outside mask breaks and outside learning in order to

communicate with the office if any concerns arise.

Water BottlesWe would kindly ask you to send your child to school with a water bottle. We are looking into purchasing one

for each child and washing them at the end of each day but funding may not allow that. We will let you know ifwe are able to do that.

RecessPhysical Distance

● Students must maintain a physical distance of at least six feet during recess. The PhysicalEducation teacher will teach students recess games that encourage six feet of distance betweenstudents. Classroom teachers have lists of other fun, active games that encourage physicaldistance for students to play at recess. To help maintain physical distancing, recess will bescheduled so there is only one class at a time outside during recess.

● If children remove masks outside while engaging in physical activity, they must be 10 feet apart.●

Playground Equipment● Unfortunately, students will not be able to use the playground structures at this time. Structures

need to be wiped down after each use and we do not have the staffing to do this.● Classroom recess equipment will be assigned to interested, individual students each week. At

the end of the day, equipment will be sanitized by a staff member.● Students are not allowed to bring playground equipment from home.

Indoor Recess● Recess will be held inside in case of severely inclement weather, but outdoor recess should occur

when there is a slight rain. Masks will remain on during indoor recess, and windows will be openduring indoor recess.

Social/Emotional Wellness and LearningOne focus of fall learning will be monitoring and teaching students social/emotional skills. As a staff, CGSparticipated in a book study, Fostering Resilient Learnings: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-SensitiveClassroom, during the 2019-2020 school year. Continuing professional development has occurred for staff tobe prepared to meet the needs of students. In addition to the Second Step Curriculum that our classes teach

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each year, district lessons, and daily check-ins will occur in the classroom to support the students’ adjustmentsback to the school community.

Library and Classroom Reading Material (Closed for First Three Weeks of School)Classroom Libraries

● Students will sign-out books and put them in a plastic book bag. Upon return, students will placebooks in a bin in which they will sit for 24 hours before another student will be able to take themout.

● Students will wash hands before taking a book from the classroom library and after returning abook to the classroom library.

School Library● The school library will remain closed for at least the first three weeks of school. We will assess

the safety of resuming school and learning lab library circulation after these three weeks. Whenthis resumes, we will distribute a supplementary document providing staff, students and familieswith protocols for school-wide book circulation.

TechnologyScreen Time

We know that screen time is a concern for all of our families. Within our remote learning, eachclassroom team is going to plan a balance between screen time, outside time, away from screen time,worksheets/workbooks, problem solving opportunities, reading and writing journals, etc. We are on thesame page as you in terms of being cautious of screen time.Training and Teaching

● All technology training and teaching will be done remotely.● School and District staff will lead one or more training sessions for C.G.S. families. These

sessions will be held remotely, and will focus on supporting children as they engage in remotelearning. We will offer these during the orientation phase of reopening.

● During the beginning of the school year, technology classes will focus on the skills students needto succeed with remote learning. Skills taught will vary by grade and previous technologyexperience.

Clickable Classrooms and Google Classrooms/Slides

The students are going to LOVE our new “clickable classrooms.” It will be very easy for yourchild to navigate. For example, to go to a writing group, your child will simply have to ‘click on’ thewriting icon. When a child goes to music, virtually, they will have to ‘click on’ the music icon. Our staffis having fun creating these for their classrooms.

We will also be using Google Classrooms and Google Slides for a learning platform. Googlehas been working hard to support remote education for all.

Technology Support

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● We will provide staff and families with a flowchart, helping them know how to get help invarious situations.

● District IT staff and/or Library/Media Specialists will hold “office hours,” during which they willprovide immediate technology support.

● We will provide a parent page on the school website, which will include instructions, an FAQ,and troubleshooting tips.

Student Devices● Each student will be provided with a Chromebook and or/iPad and carrying case for use

throughout the school year if one is needed. Be sure you fill out the survey that was sent to youso that we know which students need a device.

● Each Chromebook keyboard will be covered with a plastic shield during use. These shields willbe cleaned daily by staff each day. Staff members will wear gloves when they clean the plasticshield.

● Students will wash their hands before and after using Chromebooks.● Chromebooks are not to be shared among students and/or staff.● Students will bring Chromebooks home for use on remote learning days.

Lunch/Recess Schedule for full days hybridRemote learning schedules will be sent to you via email either at the end of this week or beginning of next

week. Below is a schedule for full day school days.

AB schedule A Schedule Days (PK, K, 2, 6) B Schedule Days (1,3,4,5)

Grades Staff Grades Staff

11:30-11:55 PK recessK lunch2nd Gr. recess

ChristinaFrostyAshton

1st Gr. lunch3rd Gr. lunch4th Gr. recess

AmandaAshleyGayle

12:00-12:25 K recess2nd Gr. lunch6th Gr. lunch

PK lunch

Wings lunch

MelissaAshtonBrenna

ChristinaSue

KristiSuzanne

3rd Gr. recess4th Grade lunch5th Grade lunch

1st Gr. recess

AshleyGayleSarahStephanie

AmandaJulie (T,Fr)

12:30-12:55 6th Gr. recess Brenna 5th Gr. recess SarahStephanie

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1:00-1:30 Wings recessM,T,Th,Fri

KristiSuzanne

Wings recess KristiSuzanne

Medical FormsYou will receive medical forms when you pick up your child’s materials on September 10 or 11. We MUST

receive those before your child can start school. Updated, current and reliable emergency contacts will beextremely important. Thank you!

Thank you for your patience, flexibility and cooperation as we try to navigate and plan for schoolduring this difficult time. The staff has been working countless hours to ensure a top-notch education forevery child.

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