Dear Families,
We are excited to welcome our students to campus tomorrow for their classroom tours; see details below. We also have new information to share about distance learning as well as arrival and dismissal plans for all families.
Classroom Tours, Thursday, Sept. 3
Here are a few reminders to help the day go smoothly.
At Home
- Before leaving home, use the email you receive from Penn Charter to complete a temperature and symptom screening with the CrisisGo Safety iPass tool. Your child will receive a QR badge upon arrival at PC. When we scan the QR code, which is connected electronically to the child's school record, Safety iPass will generate a green "entry" badge indicating that the screening was completed successfully. That will be our daily process. We will attach the QR codes to backpacks.
- Bring your child's backpack.
At School
- Wear your mask.
- Enter campus through assigned entrances. You received this information from your child's teacher, and it is repeated in the table below regarding arrival and dismissal procedures for the year.
- Walk students to screening locations.
Lower School Virtual Tour
Due to our safety mitigation plans, families will not be able to participate in the tours. This deeply saddens us, and we appreciate your understanding and flexibility. With this in mind, we have created a virtual tour for you to have an opportunity to see our spaces, and a pre-K tour. Teachers are working to get the classrooms ready for our students – you may even see some of them hard at work.
Virtual Teachers
Since the parent survey on Aug. 28, we finalized plans for our 100% distance learning students. Your child's virtual teacher will be in contact with you over the next couple of days to share your child's schedule with you. Our virtual teachers are:
Kindergarten and First Grade: Megan Evans
Second and Third Grade: Stacy Master
Fourth Grade: Gretta Ehret
Fifth Grade: Students will join in live.
Megan Evans will transition from pre-kindergarten teacher to virtual teacher for kindergarten and first grade. Megan has been with our pre-K and kindergarten programs for 11 years. She has deep knowledge of most of our kindergarten and first grade students.
Stacy Master has been a substitute teacher for us for a few years and last year was hired as a second grade assistant teacher. She holds two master's degrees, in elementary education and educational leadership. Stacy has a great working relationship with the second grade team and knows our current third grade students and families.
Gretta Ehret is a graduate of Penn Charter and has been a substitute teacher for us for the past two years. She has over 10 years of teaching experience and a master's in elementary education. Gretta will work closely with the fourth grade teaching team this year.
Arrival and Dismissal
Over the past couple of years, we have used the SchoolPass Parent & Student app with our enrichment and after-school dismissal procedures. This year, we will use the app for our overall dismissal plans. With SchoolPass Parent & Student, parents will be able to create a default dismissal plan for their children and, when necessary, change the dismissal plan right in the system. Changes in dismissal plans will go directly to our dismissal team: Kathy MacMurray, Charlie Kaesshaeffer and Jenny Barone.
Dismissal Procedures
- Families and caregivers drive to their designated locations. Siblings: Be sure to go to the youngest child's location; all siblings will be dismissed from that designated location.
- Two dismissal personnel stationed at each location (School House and Fox) will send a notification to the teachers in the classroom indicating which families have arrived for pickup.
- Specials teachers and teacher support team members will dismiss students from class to the runners. Runners are our personnel who will be on each floor, walking students to cars.
- Dismissal personnel will check students out and help them get in cars.
You will receive an email notification form SchoolPass to set up your account. Because this information is for the full school year, we need all families – in-person and 100% distance learning – to set up their accounts.
Here is a tutorial video for families. Use this password to access the video: +9GHLACR.
The SchoolPass Parent & Student app can be downloaded from Google Play or the Apple Store.
Arrival and Dismissal Locations