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10/16/20 Superintendent & COVID Tracking Update
10/16/20 Superintendent & COVID Tracking Update

10/16/20 Superintendent & COVID Tracking Update

10/16/20 Superintendent & COVID Tracking Update
Posted on 10/16/2020

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Dear Natick Community,
It was a terrific week and we are excited to share sneak peeks at the new KMS through our social media platforms — where, after five years of planning and working and building — we had our first day of staff training in the building, which was very exciting!
We are looking forward to tours for the community and an opening ceremony soon. We open new KMS to students after the Winter Break.
Picture of outside the new Kennedy Middle School
NPS STUDENT IN TOWN-WIDE LEADERSHIP
We are pleased to announce NPS student NHS senior, Nora Elbasha, as the school committee representative on the Select Board's Task for on Equity and Diversity. Ms. Elbasha will join me on this important town board as we seek to make our community a more anti-racist, inclusive, and diversity-supportive one. Ms. Elbasha is a leader at NHS and an advocate for this work. Congratulations!
OPEN HOUSES/CURRICULUM NIGHTS
It is our pleasure to be able to present virtual open houses and curriculum nights broadcast right into your home with flexible nights and hours available to parents to ensure no conflict of events and ample time to visit all the virtual content provided by teachers and principals.
Many have occurred last week, but here are the TIMES FOR CURRICULUM NIGHTS & OPEN HOUSES (View Here)
I would like to hear family feedback on the experiences you had at virtual open houses. This will help us to know if it was a positive experience or not. email annolin@natickps.org or the Speak Up, Natick! portal on our website.
SPEAKING OF FEEDBACK
How's Hybrid / Remote / Live Education going?
NPS is a learning organization and we want to continuously better our educational model delivery. No matter how your child(ren) are attending school this year, we will be seeking feedback from you in the coming weeks. A thought exchange will be conducted for staff, students, grades 7-12 and parents for all models, with particular questions for those receiving special education services.
OFFICE HOURS
In addition, the superintendent and school committee will run office hours with targeted topics for you to pop in and give us feedback. Links for each session will be shared in next week's blast. Please join us to give us feedback on:
  • 10/26: Special Education service delivery/experience, 5pm
  • 11/4: Office Hours and Remote Learning (both fully remote and remote portion of hybrid) Experiences, 5:00pm
  • 11/10: Student Supports , 5:00pm
  • 11/16: Workload for Students, 4pm
FREE AND REDUCED LUNCH APPLICATION
While currently, the federal government is allowing all students to obtain free breakfast and lunch, this will extend until December 31, 2020. If you intend to apply for free and reduced lunch for the second half of the school year, please submit your application now.
COVID UPDATES
In conjunction with the Natick Board Of Health, the following overview of Virus Thresholds and COVID Closure and Communications Procedures. This is a guiding framework for use in the coming months as we work to keep schools healthy.
For your ease, we will update the NPS COVID dashboard every week with the Board of Health. The Board of Health will work with Dr. Nolin, the superintendent, to make decisions about virus impact to classroom, school and district closures or openings.
The Board of Health has some latitude within aspects of the framework relative to virus clusters (i.e. high rates of nursing home infections should not dictate the closing of schools but would create higher overall community reflection rates). Each Friday, we will also indicate any schools who have quarantined cohorts and overall confirmed cases. However, a three week window of data for the community as detailed in the above memo will be the indicators used by the Board of Health to decide our open/closure rates. Classes and individuals who must be quarantined will be notified by both our nurses and the Board of Health. Rigorous contact tracing and COVID notice procedures will then ensue.
All individuals directly affected are contacted personally and in writing. Here are our communication procedures. Cases are tracked by the BOH, NPS nursing staff and the Department of Education Mobile Virus Response Unit.
REMINDER: FOR ALL HYBRID & FULL TIME LIVE STUDENTS
ALL STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO RECEIVE A FLU SHOT BY DECEMBER 31, 2020.
FLU CLINICS WILL OCCUR IN COMING MONTHS
Please call your school nurse office or email your proof of vaccination prior to December 23, 2020 (Start of Winter Break). Click Here for Contact/Place to Send Completed Vaccination
FYI: TRAVEL ADVISORY BELOW
Have a nice weekend,
Anna Nolin

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