Friday Memo - 5/7/21

Important Dates
May 14 - End of Year Celebration at Leslie Bennett's house, after school until 7pm
May 15 - teacher packing day, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
May 20 - Choir Concert
May 22 - teacher packing day, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
May 25 - Pops Concert, 6:00 pm
May 26 - Virtual 8th grade Promotion Ceremony
May 27 - 8th grade celebration activities. More details to come!
May 28 - Last day of school (half day)
August 2 - Teachers can access the building to start setting up their classrooms
August 9 - rising 6th grade orientation; orientation for rising 8th graders who were virtual in 7th grade
August 10 - rising 7th grade orientation
August 11-13, 16-18: Back to school work days for teachers
August 23 - First day of school!

Appreciation messages
We truly hope you enjoyed your appreciation gifts this week. It was a nice way to spread positivity in our school after a very challenging week. Please know that you are loved and appreciated, and we are so very thankful for all you do! Here are some appreciation messages from Hixson parents collected by PTO. I'm sure you will enjoy reading them!

Appreciation messages from parents

Happy Mother's Day to all Hixson staff members who are moms. The journey of parenthood is not always smooth and straight, but it is definitely worth it. Have a great weekend!

Important documents
End of Year Check Out Packet

Last day of school schedule

DOMAIN 1: HIXSON & COVID

Changes in quarantine procedures

St. Louis County Department of Public Health released new quarantine guidelines for COVID-19 exposures that occur in the school setting. If all pre-conditions (listed below) are met, then close contacts of positive cases are able to remain in school during their quarantine, however, they must quarantine at home during non-school hours. The goal is to allow students to continue their classroom learning without disruption when it’s safe to do so. And studies have shown that, when proper mitigating practices are in place (mask mandate, physical distancing, hand hygiene), classroom settings have relatively low transmission rates compared with other settings. 

 

Criteria for modified quarantine:

• The exposure happened at school (not at home or during sports or extracurricular activities).
• Close contacts are under 18 years old or current K-12 students who are over 18 years old.
• Symptoms of the positive case are NOT upper respiratory in nature while at school (no coughing or nasal congestion).
• Masks were worn properly by the positive case and close contacts at all times.
• Additional mitigating strategies (screening and isolation of anyone with possible COVID-19 symptoms, hand hygiene, etc.) were in place, including physical distancing of at least 3 feet.
• There is no suspicion of classroom transmission.

Protocol for teaching remotely 
Click HERE to access the protocol for teaching remotely.

Protocol for substitute teachers who will cover virtual classes
Click HERE to access the protocol for substitute teachers who will cover virtual classes.

DOMAIN 4: HIXSON & CONSTRUCTION

The Big Move!

·       What is the “Big Move”? The Big Move will take place on July 15, 2021. This the day that a moving company will move teachers' belongings to their new classrooms. Due to summer construction and cleaning, teachers cannot be in the building prior to August 2.

·       Moving company – The moving company will provide plastic bins for teachers who are moving from Steger to Hixson and current Hixson teachers who are moving to new construction classrooms to use for packing sometime during the week of May 1, 2021. You will pack your belongings inside of those crates/boxes and put them outside of your current classroom by the end of the day on May 28, 2021 for current Steger teachers and  June 4, 2021 for current Hixson teachers. You will clearly label the crates/boxes with your name and new room number. On July 15, the movers will move those crates/boxes to your new classroom for you. The crates must be returned to the moving company sometime during the last week of August. Therefore, you will need to have the crates emptied and ready to return by August 27.

·       Labeling your belongings – You will receive a set of labels from the main office so that all labels are clear and easy to read.

·       Moving your own belongings – You are welcome to move your own belongings if you’d like. You will still need to abide by the aforementioned timeline and process.

Our furniture at the Service Center - Our furniture at the Service Center will remain there until we know more about social distancing for next year. If social distancing guidelines are relaxed, then we will bring our furniture back from the Service Center. If we can bring our furniture back from the Service Center, then that will add another layer onto our moving process.

No access to the building June 4 - August 2
The S. Elm parking lot is going to be completely demolished and redone this summer. If you are a current Hixson teacher and plan to do any packing between June 1 and June 4 (the building will be closed on May 31 due to Memorial Day), you will need to park on the Moss Field parking lot and enter the building through the Shop entrance. The construction workers will take up the majority if not all of the parking near and around the cafeteria entrance because the S. Elm lot will be gone.

Saturday hours
Mike, Aimee, and I will offer Saturday hours for teachers to pack on May 1, May 15, and May 22 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm for teachers who would like additional time to pack up their classrooms.