Dear Arthur Rann Families and Staff:
The following serves as another important update regarding the district plan for the return of our Arthur Rann Elementary School students and staff. Please review the information below in its entirety.
As mentioned within the district's update on January 27th, State law requires all students to complete 180 days of school. Therefore, our plan is to utilize other schools within the district to relocate our Arthur Rann students and staff, until either parts of or the whole Arthur Rann Elementary School has been deemed safe for our students and staff to return. Please note that starting February 2nd student attendance will resume, as these days will begin to count towards the completion of our students 180 days as mentioned above.
We will be approaching our plan in one week intervals, as we continue to work with Servepro project managers daily. Therefore the plan as outlined below will begin on Monday, February 2nd, until further notice. Should there be a need to update our plan that would be communicated to the Arthur Rann School Community.
Transportation (Morning): All Arthur Rann Elementary School students who take transportation in the morning would report to their bus stop at their normal time. All buses will follow their normal route when picking up our Arthur Rann students. After EACH Arthur Rann bus route has been completed the following bus drop off will occur:
Bus Drop Off in the a.m.:
Preschool/Ms. Hafto’s class will be dropped off at Roland Rogers Elementary School first; then
Grades Kindergarten - 3rd grade will be dropped off at GTMS; then
Grades 4 - 6 will be dropped off at the Pomona School
Transportation (Afternoon): All Arthur Rann Elementary School students who take transportation in the afternoon would be loaded on their normal Arthur Rann bus number/route in the afternoon by our staff. The following will be how students will be retrieved for their afternoon bus pick up:
Bus Pick Up in the p.m.:
Grades 4 - 6 will be picked up at the Pomona School first; then
Grades Kindergarten - 3rd grade will be picked up at GTMS; then
Preschool/Ms. Hafto’s class will be picked up last at Roland Rogers Elementary School
Once all students have been picked up in the afternoon the Arthur Rann afternoon bus route will follow their normal routes as they return students to their homes.
Student “ID/Luggage” Tags: After the students arrive on Monday, February 2nd all students will receive the following ID tags in homeroom so that we can clearly identify our Arthur Rann students, especially during arrival and dismissal times.
PreK = bright pink color;
K-3 = Bright Blue color;
Grades 4-6 = Yellow color.
Note: Just like the first days of school this routine will be different for our students, but we feel this is the safest process to follow as our students will remain on their regular bus in both the morning and afternoon and will be received by both Arthur Rann staff that they are familiar with as well as other district staff. Due to the change in their normal routines there will be delays in both their arrival to school and especially their departure going home, but again it is the safest option for our students.
Parent Drop Off and Pick Up: Parents/Guardians that typically drop off their children would need to adhere to the following procedures and times for parent drop off in the morning and/or parent pick up in the afternoon.
Note: Both the drop off times and pick up times may be slightly different than what parents/guardians are used to. However, that is to accommodate those that need to drop off and/or pick up at various locations, and to make sure that parent drop off and pick up does not interfere with our other schools or bus transportation in each location to the best of our ability, therefore if participating in parent drop off or pick up, you must adhere to these times. In addition, we strongly encourage students in grades 4-6 to ride their regular bus as the area surrounding the Pomona School is limited for both bus transportation and parent vehicles. Please also remember to bring identification with you if you are picking up your child each day.
Breakfast and Lunch:
Breakfast: As always FREE breakfast will be provided to our Arthur Rann students at their new school locations.
Lunch: All students will be provided their normal lunch options on a daily basis (both hot and cold options)
All grades PK-6 will have the same menu regardless of location
Additional snacks will not be available for purchase at Pomona during this time
Students who bring their lunch from home will still have that option on a daily basis.
Childcare: We apologize for the inconvenience, but until further notice both before care and after care for our Arthur Rann students will not be available. We will be exploring options to again offer this service, and should that become a reality we would communicate that to our parents and guardians.
Homerooms/Teachers: Please note that all Arthur Rann students are still assigned to their normal homeroom teachers and staff throughout the school day, even within their new locations.
Room Locations: Please know that while space within our buildings is limited we have done our best to keep our Arthur Rann students and staff together by grade levels. In addition, barring any emergencies, use of the student bathrooms in each location will be as a whole class.
Nursing Services: All schools, including the Pomona School, will have a school nurse accessible for our Arthur Rann students.
We kindly ask that you send an extra change of clothes with your student to keep in their backpack in the event of an accident or unexpected need.
If your child requires medication during the day, you will be receiving separate communication shortly to provide you with details on how this will be handled moving forward.
Student Services: All services will continue from guidance, mental health staff, CST, and related services.
Our mental health providers will be prepared to support your child during this time of transition. If you feel your child needs additional mental health support, please reach out to your child’s guidance counselor, mental health specialist or case manager via email.
Related services providers and child study team members will be relocated to continue to provide support for your child and will continue with their current case load.
Again, please continue to monitor your email, as this will be our primary method of sharing further updates. Finally, all information that has been communicated thus far to our parents/guardians will continue to be accessible within the online Arthur Rann Student Backpack (linked).
Thank you for your continued patience and understanding. As I shared with our staff earlier, our students are resilient and our entire staff is extraordinary. We will all continue to take this one minute, one hour and one day at a time, until we can return our Arthur Rann Dragons to their home school.
NOTE: If you're receiving this communication and your child is in preschool, but attends the Gateway Head Start preschool program, they should attend school like normal and follow the Gateway Head Start calendar/schedule.
Sincerely,
Stephen P. Santilli
Superintendent of Schools