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DELAWARE CITY SCHOOLS AUGUST 25, 2020

Back To School Guide 2020-2021 Information for a Healthy Restart

2020-2021 School Hours

In order to provide teachers a dedicated time to assist students who are engaged in at-home learning each day, school hours for 2020-2021 are as follows:

Preschool AM: 8:40-11:20 PM: 12:40-3:20 Elementary: 8:30-2:55 Dempsey MS: 7:40-2:10 Hayes HS: 7:25-1:50

School Calendar

The first day of school for students has been changed!

Group A First Day: Aug. 31

Group B First Day: Sept. 2

Find the full calendar on our website.

TRANSPORTATION Parents are encouraged to provide

transportation for their student when possible to keep numbers low on our school buses. Students who will be using school transportation

for morning or afternoon must complete the school transportation form included with back to school

forms. ONLY students who opt in for transportation will be permitted to

ride the bus this year. K-12 students are required to wear a face covering

and will have assigned seats. Siblings will sit together when

possible.

HYBRID LEARNING MODEL It is the district’s intention to begin school in a hybrid learning model. Students will attend on a 3 day/2

day learning rotation. Group A (Last name A-K) will attend on Monday/Tuesday and rotating Wednesdays. Group B (last name L-Z) will attend

on Thursday/Friday and rotating Wednesdays. You can find

attendance calendars for each group on the district website.

We will continue to monitor public health conditions and make

adjustments to our learning models as needed.

Visit our Healthy Restart Website for Complete Information & FAQ!

Important Dates (UPDATED) August 24-28 - Device Distribution for Online Academy Students August 26 - Last day to sign up for school bus transportation for K-12 students for the first week of school. This is done through back to school forms. August 26 & 27 - Elementary meet the teacher virtual meetings August 28 - Meal order deadline for take home meals (see pg. 4 for details) August 31 - First day of school for Preschool, students in Group A (Hybrid Model) & DCS Online Academy Sept. 2 - First day of school for students in Group B (Hybrid Model). Students in Group B will not have school work on Aug. 31 & Sept. 1.

Please contact your child’s school with questions about our healthy restart plan.

GENERAL SCHOOL SAFETY PROTOCOLS

• Parents will perform health assessments each day before sending students to school. Any student arriving at school with symptoms will be isolated and a parent will need to pick the student up immediately.

• Students should not arrive early to school to avoid gatherings of students before the doors open.

• No visitors/volunteers will be permitted for first semester.

• No student assemblies, field trips, school dances or other large group activities will be held for the first semester.

• Frequent scheduled hand washing throughout the school day. Sanitizer available in classrooms and common spaces.

• Frequent cleaning of hard surfaces, equipment, restrooms and common spaces throughout the day and after school.

• Classrooms and other spaces operated at 50% or less capacity to allow for distancing of students.

• No lockers will be utilized. Hallway traffic will be reduced.

• Breakfast will be served as grab and go.

• Lunch periods will have fewer students with assigned seating. Additional dining spaces and lunch periods will be added as needed.

• Recess activities will be more structured to ensure maximum safety and reduced contact. Students will sanitize before and after recess.

• School buses will be operated at lower capacities. Students will be assigned seats loading from back to front and unloading from front to back. Siblings will sit together when possible. Face coverings are required.

• In general, students will not share supplies. When supplies must be shared, they will be disinfected between users.

• Parents will be notified of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases within their student’s classroom following HIPPA and FERPA guidelines. Any person deemed to be a direct contact of a positive case will be contacted by the Delaware General Health Dept. with further instructions.

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Find your school’s healthy restart procedures on the school websites along with other valuable back to school information and important dates.

AUGUST 25, 2020

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AUGUST 25, 2020

FACE COVERINGS ARE REQUIRED Face coverings are required for staff and students in grades K-12. They are recommended for preschool students. If you believe your student is eligible for a face covering exemption due to medical or developmental reasons, please contact the school nurse at your child’s school as soon as possible to complete an exemption form.

School Age Childcare Program

(SACC)

The SACC program will operate this year

with limited students. Students

attending the Hybrid Learning Model can attend SACC on their

in-person school days. Please visit the

SACC website for information

regarding program details, cost, and

registration information.

TECHNOLOGY REQUESTS DCS will make devices available for

students in the Online Academy and for students in the hybrid

model during at-home learning days. Instructions were sent via email to students in the online academy to request a device.

Classroom teachers will work with families in the hybrid model to

determine device needs at the start of the school year. The district will offer a technology protection fund

policy for any student using a district device to protect against

damage or loss.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES & FEES Online Academy: A specific school supply list has been sent to students

in the online academy. The list is also on the district website.

Hybrid Learning: School supply lists can be found on the website. Families may choose to maintain

some supplies at home for at-home learning days.

School Fees have been revised and uploaded to the website. Our

schools will begin collecting school fees payments after Labor Day.

DCS Online Academy Orientation (UPDATED)

Families who missed the Online Academy Orientation or had technical difficulties, can view the full presentation on our Healthy Restart

Website (under the Online Academy section at the bottom of the page).

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Meals for online academy students and At-home learning days The DCS food service department will offer meals to our students in the online academy and for our students during their at-home learning days. Meals will need to be ordered each Friday for the following week. Meal pick up for Online Academy students will be on Wednesdays from 11:30-12:00 at Willis Education Center. Students attending school will take home meals on their last day of in-person classes each week. The meals will be frozen to ensure safety and will need to be heated before consumed. Parents should either use the PaySchool Central online payment system to add money to the student’s lunch account or bring a check when meals are picked up. Please place your order by Friday, August 28 at 12:00PM using this meal order form for next week’s meals. You will find the meal form on the district website for future orders.

Meals will be deducted from the student's lunch account: Elementary Lunch: $2.75 Reduced Lunch $.40 Dempsey & Hayes Lunch: $3.00 Reduced Lunch $.40 Breakfast: $1.50 Reduced Breakfast: $.30 Meals are free for those who qualify.

ONLINE PAYMENT SYSTEM

Delaware City Schools has upgraded our online payment system to allow additional functionality for families including an app. Our district will now use PaySchools Central for fees and lunch payments. Current EZPay users will need to establish a new

account at https://payschoolscentral.com

In an effort to assist families and reduce cash/check transactions, the district will be waiving all

transaction fees for the first semester. Our Online Payment system is the preferred method for paying

school fees and making payments on lunch accounts.

ATTENDANCE CHANGES FOR 2020-2021

Due to additional information that we are asked to collect in regards to COVID, the Safe Arrival Attendance System will NOT be used for the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year. Parents should call their student's school office to report an absence. The SchoolMessenger App, toll free number and online reporting system have been disabled.

Parents are requested to contact the school office within 15 minutes of the start of the school day to report an absence for that day.

Thank you for your assistance in keeping your student home if he/she is ill.

Bus Route Information Now Available!

If you signed your student up for bus transportation, your child’s bus route information is now available in your Powerschool Parent Portal (the same system used to complete forms). Utilize

the Tab marked as Transportation (not Transportation Info) to find your scheduled pick up/drop off location and times. If you need assistance, please contact your child’s school office.

AUGUST 25, 2020