***This letter was emailed to families 8/11/2020 and will be mailed via USPS the week of 8/17/2020***
August 11, 2020
Dear Van Buren Middle School Families,
I sincerely hope that your family was able to make the most of this very unusual summer. Alongside Hancock Public Health, we’ve been working to plan a school year unlike any other! This year is going to require patience, understanding, and communication – which is why this letter exceeds the typical one-page length!
Please refer to our district reopening plan, which includes general guidelines for all students and staff including the different models (traditional, hybrid, remote, and committed virtual). It can be found here: https://bit.ly/VBrestart The hard copy of the calendar for the Hybrid Model is included in this mailing - student groups are based on last names (A-L is group “A” and M-Z is group “B”).
All Van Buren students and parents including those opting into the committed virtual learning experience must complete OneView, our electronic student registration process PRIOR to Monday, August 31st. This digital process will be used for obtaining Emergency Medical Information and Parent/Student agreements. Your cooperation and participation is greatly appreciated. Step by step details can be found on the school website (www.vbschools.net) - click “For Parents” under Explore. For those who require assistance or internet access for this process, please contact the school office.
Our staff and student leaders are working as #VB1team to advance the Van Buren Experience, even in the midst of this pandemic. The remainder of this letter is specific to our middle school restart plan.
Student School Day is 8:00am – 2:05pm
Start date is Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Arrival and Dismissal
School bus
Arrival
Students will have temperatures checked prior to entering the building
Bus riders will enter through the auditorium lobby (door #9)
Students will go directly to their first class – we will not use lockers and no gathering in the cafeteria, etc.
Departure
Students will be dismissed at 2:05pm and should go directly to their bus
Walkers or students driven
Arrival
Students should not arrive prior to 7:35am
All MS students walking or dropped off enter at door #27 (around the corner from the office)
Students will have temperatures checked prior to entering the building
Dismissal
Students will be dismissed at 2:05pm and should go directly to the parking lot to meet their ride or walk home
Class Schedules
To minimize contact, students will remain in a consistent “cohort” (approximately 20 students in traditional [yellow] and 10 students in hybrid [orange]) throughout the school day – teachers will rotate and students will stay in one classroom for core courses
All students will have one exploratory course such as phys ed, health, art, STEM foundations, etc.
Seventh and eighth graders will not make any exploratory requests - all students will rotate through a common set of courses
Band and choir will meet utilizing distancing and alternatives for student safety
Advanced math students will remain in a “cohort” as these courses accelerate academic content
Advanced language arts students will likely be split between two different cohorts
Class fees will be assigned after the school year begins - these will be payable online this year. Stay tuned for details.
Extra-Curricular Activities & Experiential Learning Opportunities
Athletics: We will follow the recommendations of the Ohio High School Athletic Association and Hancock Public Health for seventh and eighth grade athletics. All teams have started practices at this point.
Clubs and Activities: Middle school clubs will meet outside the school day at this point and will work to minimize contact including using Zoom for video meetings. We want our students involved, so watch our daily announcements for details as these groups ramp up for the year!
7th Grade Camp Nuhop Outdoor Education
We have rescheduled our trip to Camp Nuhop from the fall to March 22-26, 2021. We will meet in January to evaluate the likelihood of this trip.
8th Grade Washington, DC Trip
This trip is tentatively planned for late May. We will meet in January to evaluate the likelihood of this trip.
Lockers
Because students will remain in one classroom for the majority of the day and to eliminate the possibility of congregating, we will not utilize hallway lockers.
Lunch & Breaks
Students will eat lunch here at school (with their “cohort”) and may pack or buy. A free/reduced lunch application is included in this mailing.
Adjacent to the scheduled lunch is a break that will allow students to go outside (or to a larger area) and take off their face covering, moving about. Our grade level teams will also take additional, shorter breaks throughout the day.
Drinking fountains will not be operational - students are encouraged to bring a personal water bottle for use during the school day.
Opening Knight orientation/open house
We will not hold our annual Opening Knight event this year
School pictures will be taken later in the fall during the school day
Remote Learning Model
If Hancock County is classified as a “red” or “purple” county, our district will move to remote learning (all online).
Details for this will be shared if and when this determination is made.
Schoology
The Van Buren School District is committed to a consistent Learning Management System (LMS) for all staff and students. This will be used in place of Google Classroom, Moodle, OTUS, and other various platforms of the past.
See enclosure for details and account information.
Student Support
Our core teachers will be available from 2:05-3:00pm for online student support - they will share more details with students and families as we start the year.
Supplies
Our student school supply list was updated since June to reflect a few changes. You will find a copy in this mailing.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions - while we’ve attempted to address every aspect of school, there’s likely something we’ve overlooked. This is also fluid as our guidance from the local and state levels change.
Stay connected to VBMS! Our daily announcements are posted on the middle school webpage - to navigate there goto www.vbschools.net, click Van Buren Middle School under Schools and our announcements are updated daily in the news section of that webpage (left column). As a parent or guardian, follow @VanBurenMS on Facebook or Twitter to stay in touch with the amazing things our students and staff are doing!
Sincerely,
Jay Clark
Principal
jclark@vbschools.net