HCMS Newsletter
March 2021
Principal Phillips Update
Greetings Parents and Guardians,
We are pleased to be transitioning to five full instructional days beginning the week of March 15th. Participation and student engagement on remote Wednesdays was challenging for all.
Feedback from students, parents and teachers has been very supportive of this move.
It has been nearly a year since we began our Covid precautions. We have been fortunate in not having a single positive case amongst students and staff. However, we will continue with CDC recommended precautions of mask wearing, screening all who enter the building, social distancing, and requiring quarantines of those who travel outside New England or display symptoms.
We are looking ahead to Spring with anticipation! Plans are underway for construction of an outdoor classroom and installing a wonderful new playground. These will be community build efforts and can not be done without your assistance. Keep your eyes peeled for news of building dates, once the snow is gone!
Share What you Can Food Drive (organized by Erik King)
STEM Creations
We didn't let Covid take away our Winter Carnival....
After School Fun
True Dedication.....
Nurse Restelli Update
Lions Club Vision/Hearing Screenings
- Woodsville/Wells River Lions Club will be here April 29th/30th to provide free vision eye screenings to all students and free hearing screenings to all 6th grade students. Permission slips will be going home soon, please be on the lookout for them with your students progress report. No student will be screened without a signed permission slip this year.
Covid-19 Vaccine Update
- The first single shot Covid -19 Vaccine (developed by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson) was approved by the FDA for Emergency Use Authorization at the end of February.
- All HCMS staff will be offered to be vaccinated at an SAU-wide staff vaccine clinic at HCMS towards the end of March.
- Masking, social distancing, vigilant hand hygiene, and cohorting will remain in place at HCMS.
COVID-19 Criteria
Any student/staff that presents with COVID-19 symptoms, even mild symptoms, will be dismissed and excluded from school and will need to be tested for COVID-19. The individual will only be allowed to return if they have a negative COVID-19 test result (provided to the school), and the student/staff member is feeling better (general return to school rules apply; fever free for 24 hours without the use of any medication). If testing is declined, the student/staff member will be excluded for an automatic 10 days. Student/staff member may return when at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared and at least 24 hours have passed since the last fever (off fever-reducing meds) and symptoms have improved. Any student/staff exposed to someone confirmed to have COVID-19 will be excluded for 10 days (from their last day of exposure) and may not “test out” of the quarantine. Any student/staff member that has traveled outside of New England will be excluded for a 10-day quarantine (from the last day of travel).
COVID-19 Symptoms (new & unexplained):
· Fever (100.0°F or above) or chills
· Cough
· Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
· Fatigue
· Muscle or body aches
· Headache
· New loss of taste or smell
· Sore throat
· Congestion or runny nose
· Nausea or vomiting
· Diarrhea
***If the student/staff member has a documented medical reason (pre-existing allergies, asthma, migraines, etc.) they would present with any of these symptoms the nurses office would need a written letter from the medical provider at the beginning of the school year, before any onset of said symptom appears. ***
CAPTION THIS?!
Door Decorating & Holiday Spirit
Virtual Music with Mr. Wright
4th Grade Remote Class Update
Your children have been working on writing complete paragraphs and are at the point where they can now write one a day! The students are improving their organization, grammar, usage. mechanics (GUM), as well as descriptive detail. Ask them to show you how their writing has improved over the weeks!
Fourth graders are also learning how to multiply large numbers. Yesterday, I sent them to show you their white boards and say, "I'm in college now!" because the problems they are solving require critical thinking with multiple steps.
I am proud of your kids and today I am surprising them with the movie Zootopia. They will have math and writing this morning, and we will begin our movie at 10:00. Next week, we'll be writing about important themes in this wonderful story. You and other children are welcome to join us with snacks and couch time....
Finally, a lot of effort is going into future plans for remote classes and spring planning for students returning to school.
Contact Information
Email: hcmsoffice@sau23.org
Website: http://hcms.sau23.org/
Location: 175 Morrill Drive, North Haverhill, NH, USA
Phone: (603)787-2100