RNESU is piloting a PreK Voucher Lottery for 5 children during the 2021-2022 school year. This is a one year tuition subsidy for PreK in an approved center outside of our 8 towns. Any child attending PreK within our SU towns in an approved center is automatically eligible for a tuition subsidy.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Barstow PreK Registration will begin June 1. If you are interested in having your child attend our PreK program in the fall, please contact Mrs. Raymond in our Main Office (773-3763, krayond@rnesu.org) to get your name onto our mailing list.
Our PreK Screenings will be all day on Wednesday, June 9th and the morning of Friday, June 11th.
If you have registered your child for our PreK program for the 2021-2022 school, please email cfortier@rnesu.org to schedule a time for screening.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Barstow invites community members, parents, teachers and students to a three part workshop on Indigenous Land Acknowledgements May 4, 18 and June 1 5:30-7:30 pm Virtually.
Indigenous Land Acknowledgements: What? Why? And Now What?
The act of creating and speaking an Indigenous land acknowledgement is a practice that is becoming more common in the eastern parts of Turtle Island. While we experience it as a moment at the beginning of a gathering, it is actually part of a bigger process for our society and for the individual.
Throughout this three-part workshop series, we will address the history and purpose of land acknowledgments, examine our unique contexts, and support one another as we each craft a research-based, personalized and heartfelt land acknowledgement. By acknowledging Indigenous people’s relationship to land, and exploring our own relationship to land, we will enter into a process of truth and reconciliation. Time and space will be created to consider the connections to and implications on our teaching practices.
This workshop series is designed for educators, but will benefit anyone interested in deepening their relationship to place. Presented in partnership with Gedakina and Shelburne Farms, this program is offered as a 3-part series, with each session building upon the foundation of the previous session(s). There will be land-based homework to complete between sessions. We ask that you commit to participating in all three sessions when registering.
Workshop Rhythm: 3 sessions; 2 hours per session; gathering every other week on Zoom
Please register to get the Zoom link at https://forms.gle/rTMgq7Y1Wa3ECVwm8
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Parents,
If possible, please use our UPDATED on-line Health Screening form: Version 2 Health Screening Form
You may continue to use paper if you prefer. But it does make the arrival process go faster if you use the online form.
If you use the on-line form, please do so before 7:00 am to give us time to receive and print the results for our staff that are completing the screenings.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Please enjoy the outstanding presentation by Mrs. Jennifer Hogan about Barstow's Art program. You can use this LINK to access the video of the presentation.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Barstow Memorial School is accepting applications for
FLOATING SUBSTITUTES
CUSTODIANS
If you are interested in applying, please contact Principal David St. Germain at dstgermain@rnesu.org.
HELLO and WELCOME!
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2020-2021 school year. Needless to say, it will be a school year like no other! Our goal is to bring everyone back for in-person learning. It was decided to start that process slowly. We recognize having only students in PreK to second grade allowed to learn in a classroom with a teacher is far from ideal. That model has allowed us to assemble the necessary resources to safely bring a smaller number of students.
During the summer, our faculty have been busy revamping their lesson plans, our IT department have been busy securing additional hardware (laptops, webcams, etc.), our custodians have been busy cleaning each classroom and removing items that pose a health risk (cloth furniture, area rugs, etc.).
I have been busy working with our leadership team to develop procedures that will allow our students to stay safe while they are in the building. I have tried to explain our arrival, dismissal, recess and in classroom behavior expectations, for grades K-8, in the sections below. A description of our PreK arrival & dismissal procedures will be released soon.
In the short time I have been the Barstow Memorial School principal, I have had ample opportunity to observe what a special community we have. I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support I have received. I will try my best to live up to and even further the fine reputation our school has.
Please know that there are many people working hard to make the best of this difficult situation with one goal. That goal is to provide the best education possible to our students. To do that, we will need your continued support. Do not hesitate to contact myself and or your child’s teacher(s) when you have a question or concern.
Respectfully,
David St. Germain, Ed. D.
Principal
Barstow Memorial School
223 Chittenden Road
Chittenden, Vermont 05737
Phone: (802) 773-6926
Fax: (802) 747-4814
Follow Barstow on Twitter @vt_barstow
Arrival – We encourage every parent who is able to do so to transport his or her child to school.
Every person in Drop Off Vehicles Must Wear a Cloth Facial Covering When Dropping off and Picking up Students.
•
Starting at 7:50 am, family vehicles will enter the back lot and pull follow the signs indicating the route to follow to get to the south entrance. This is the entrance nearest the playground.
•
Once you are near the south entrance, a staff member will direct you to drive to our check in area.
•
Children and adults must remain in their vehicles.
•
Before opening the door, a staff member will ensure that everyone in the vehicle is wearing an appropriate facial covering.
•
Each student will be directed to answer a few screening questions and have his or her temperature taken.
•
Any student with a temperature above 100.5 or answers the questions in a manner that indicates they may have been exposed to someone with an infection will not be allowed into the building.
•
After the student is cleared to enter the building, the driver will be directed to exit the parking lot.
•
After screening, students will enter at the south entrance and directed to do directly to his or her classroom. We have rooms designated for students in grades 3-5 and 6-8 who wish to learn online but be in the building.
•
There will be staff members stationed in the hallways to ensure social distancing.
Arrival by Bus and/or Walkers
Buses will enter the parking lot at the front of the school. Buses will unload one at a time. A staff member will direct students to disembark the bus one at a time and move to the front of the building where they will be screened. Bus schedule and expectations will be coming from RNESU. Please remind students to social distance at the bus stop.
Once in the Classroom
•
PreK - 2 students will learn in-person.
•
When numbers allow, students in grades 3-5 will be in one pod while in the building and students in grades 6-8 will be in a different pod.
•
For safety reasons, interaction between students will be limited.
•
We encourage any 3-8 grade student coming into the building to learn remotely to bring head phones so they can listen to their teacher and instructional videos without disrupting other students.
•
A number of parents have requested remote learning and their child will be able to do so through a combination of live-streaming from the classroom and asynchronous connection with the teachers and other students.
•
All of our classroom teachers will provide schedules for students learning in-person and remotely.
•
Students will be required to wear a mask while in the building.
•
Masks breaks are being built into the instructional schedules.
•
There will be assigned seating in each classroom.
•
These steps are being taken to ensure efficient contact tracking if the need arises.
Breakfast and Lunch
All students, whether onsite or remote, are invited to participate in our food service meal program, pricing, payments, and meal charging policies apply.
Meal prices for fiscal year 2020/2021:
> Elementary Breakfast $2.00, Lunch $2.75
> Breakfast and/or Lunch for eligible students will be provided free of charge
•
Meals will be available for families to pick up daily (mid-day) and will be sent home with students who are onsite.
•
For on-site students, breakfast will be provided to the classroom (as ordered) and lunch (as ordered) will accompany the student home for consumption.
•
Students will be allowed to bring a snack and a bag lunch.
•
A form will be sent by email every Wednesday, with the menu, for families to place orders for the following week. If you do not wish to order meals you do not need to complete this form.
•
Families are encouraged to apply for Free/Reduced meals anytime throughout the year, if approved your child(ren) status will be approved for the entire school year. Applications are available online at www.rnesu.org, if you have questions on the Free/Reduced application please contact Suzanne Denis at sdenis@rnesu.org or your school secretary.
•
Students who are joining us in the afternoon, will eat their lunch from 12:00 PM-12:30 PM. Students departing at 12:00 PM will take their bag lunches with them.
Dismissal: We will have transportation home for students at:
NOON, 2:30 pm, 5:30 pm
Noon Car Pickup
•
Students being picked up will exit from the south entrance. Drivers will follow the same route (behind the school) that was used at the morning arrival.
•
We will have staff stationed outside and at the south entrance to coordinate students leaving the classroom and getting into the correct vehicle.
2:30 PM Car Pickup
•
Students will be dismissed in a similar fashion to our noon dismissal. Because there will far less students, families may arrive starting at 2:20 PM for pick-up.
Bus Riders
•
Bus riders will be dismissed by bus number beginning at approximately 11:50 AM and then again at 2:25 PM. There will be a 5:00 pm bus available to take students home who participate in the Boys & Girls Club program.
Sanitizing
•
The facilities team has created a schedule of cleaning specific touch points throughout the school according to the A Strong and Healthy Start: Health Guidance for Vermont Schools.
•
While the facilities team will be doing the majority of the sanitizing, all staff will be trained in proper sanitizing procedures according to the products we will use, to be able to properly take care of incidental spaces in the classroom.