Hope Valley School Weekly Update

Valentine's Day is coming up and this is a special day for children. Please remember we have children in the school with peanut and tree nut allergies. It is IMPORTANT that parents NOT send in any items containing nuts (this includes nuts grown on trees and peanuts). Also, there is no homemade food allowed. Prepackaged store items are fine as long as they adhere to no nuts. I appreciate your undivided attention with this request.

The Department of Education is asking all families to provide feedback on how to improve RI Schools. Click HERE and search for Hope Valley School to participate. The survey will be open until March 31, 2022. You participation is always so greatly appreciated! I am thinking of a special event for students if we surpass last year's participation rate. If you have any ideas send them my way. Thank you!

Starting this month, Chariho Regional Schools will be starting our initiative "Look What Chariho Can Do In 2022". We are asking everyone to show their support by helping us promote all of our wonderful students, teachers, staff, community and events that happen every day. Please join in by sharing a photo or words that celebrate all the wonderful things that are happening in Chariho. We ask that you tag @CharihoRegional and @MrG_HVES on Twitter and use the hashtag #candoin22. We look forward to sharing all of the amazing things happening in Chariho.

Please click here to review our FY 23 School Budget Flyer. You will find the top 3 questions for this year's budget, a link to our frequently asked questions document, and a google form to submit any additional questions you may have.

FEBRUARY 2022

2/15 - PCR Collection Screening Event

2/17 - NAEP Testing for Grade 4 only (information below)

2/21-2/25 – February Break

MARCH 2022

3/1 - PCR Collection Screening Event

3/7 - PTO Meeting (6:30 in the library)

3/7 - SIT meeting (5:00 in the library)

3/8 - PCR Collection Screening Event

3/14 - State PD Day for teachers (DL day for students)

3/15 - PCR Collection Screening Event

3/18 - Trimester 2 ends

3/22 - PCR Collection Screening Event

3/23 - Early Release Day (AM PreK attends)

3/25 - Report Cards Distributed

3/29 - PCR Collection Screening Event

APRIL 2022

4/4 - PTO Meeting (6:30 in the library)

4/5 - PCR Collection Screening Event

4/5 - Chariho Budget Referendum (Voting will be at the 3 Town Halls)

4/6 - RICAS ELA Testing Session 1 > Grade 3

4/7 - RICAS ELA Testing Session 2 > Grade 3

4/12 - PCR Collection Screening Event

4/12 - RICAS ELA Testing Session 1 > Grade 4

4/13 - RICAS ELA Testing Session 2 > Grade 4

4/15 - No School for students and staff

4/18-4/22 - Spring Recess - No School

4/26 - PCR Collection Screening Event

MAY 2022

5/3 - PCR Collection Screening Event

5/3 - RICAS Math Testing Session 1 > Grade 3

5/4 - RICAS Math Testing Session 2 > Grade 3

5/5 - RICAS Math Testing Session 1 > Grade 4

5/6 - RICAS Math Testing Session 2 > Grade 4

5/9 - PTO Meeting (6:30 in the library)

5/9 - SIT meeting (5:00 in the library)

5/10 - PCR Collection Screening Event

5/11 - State PD Day for teachers (DL day for students)

5/17 - PCR Collection Screening Event

5/18 - Early Release Day (PM PreK attends)

5/24 - PCR Collection Screening Event

5/30 - No School for students and staff

JUNE 2022

6/20 - LAST DAY OF SCHOOL (as of 2/11/22)

Chariho is currently taking applications for individuals interested in mentoring 5th-12th grade students attending Chariho Regional Middle School (CMS), Chariho Regional High School (CHS) and Chariho Alternative Learning Academy (CALA). If you are interested, please click the link below for more information.

https://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/parent_resources/chariho_mentoring_program

At the beginning of the year we asked all parents to submit a COVID -19 Health Check one-time sign-off for their child/children in PowerSchool. The attestation form has now been revised due to changes from CDC and RIDOH. We need all families to resubmit the form in PowerSchool based on these revisions.

As a reminder, *Students will not be able to submit a COVID-19 Health Check using their account. Parents, please do not log in using your child’s PowerSchool account as the COVID-19 Health Check will not function. A Parent/guardian will need to log into PowerSchool from a computer at https://ps.chariho.k12.ri.us/public/home.html or https://ps.chariho.k12.ri.us/public/. If you need any assistance please contact the school.

Here are directions on how to do this: PowerSchool Student COVID eFORM instructions updated Jan 2022[2].pdf

The CDC has produced new social and emotional climate and learning resources for parents and families. The resources are designed to support schools to increase the focus on mental health through the COVID-19 pandemic to the endemic and beyond. CDC Healthy Schools created a new tip sheet for parents and families to heighten awareness of and improve communication about social and emotional climate and learning. All the resources can be found on the social and emotional climate and learning web page. There are additional resources for mental health and other healthy schools topics in the CDC Healthy Schools Partner Toolkit.

I wanted to share how you can register your child to participate in the weekly COVID testing that we conduct at school (typically on Wednesdays). Our testing company (Concentric by Ginkgo) now offers a way to register digitally. Thank you to those who have already consented. Our population of students being tested more than doubled this week. See directions on how to register below:

How do I provide consent for a child?

Please navigate to https://testcenter.concentricbyginkgo.com/minor-consent/ and complete the consent process if you wish to allow your child to participate in testing.

The access code you will need is HVES2321. If you need to provide consent for more than one child, please complete the process for each child.

Attached are additional instructions to guide you through the consent process. Click directly below for the instruction.

Absences - If your child is going to be absent, please call the school office at 401-539-2321. If your child happens to test positive for COVID, PLEASE be sure to email Nurse Tara, Ms. Donna, and Mr. G with that information.

• Nurse Tara: Tara.McAloon@chariho.k12.ri.us
• Ms. Donna: Donna.Sunderland@chariho.k12.ri.us
• Mr. G, Principal: giuseppe.gencarelli@chariho.k12.ri.us

Student Devices - Students in grades 1-4 have devices that MUST go back and forth to and from school everyday. Please ensure your child has his/her charged chromebook on a daily basis.

Snow/DL Day Information - Devices will need to be used if there is a snow day. Please see information regarding DL days for inclement weather days here. The emergency plan used as last resort is linked here as well. In case of a DL day I will be sure to inform parents like I did for the Jan 7th DL day.

Dismissal - Parent pick up for students in K-4 are arriving while prek dismissal is happening. PLEASE be mindful of our pre-school population and do not arrive prior to 3:10. The entire dismissal process for K-4 takes roughly 10-12 min. We have some amazing staff getting our students out quickly and safely.

Peanut & Tree Nut Free School - We continue to be a nut free school which means no peanut butter and no tree nuts including Nutella.

Cold Weather Alert - Please be sure your children are appropriately dressed for recess weather. Please ensure your children are dressed in coats, hats, and gloves. When I make the decisions for outside recess, I consider the air temperature and wind chill. All the Chariho elementary schools use a specific chart/table to determine if it is safe to go outside.

TOYS - Please make sure that your children do not take any toys from home to school. We continue to see an uptick in this and it is causing problems at school.

Identification - PLEASE be sure parents who are picking up children early from school have proper identification with them when they come to the front door. Ms. Donna is not always the one in the office and we must verify who is picking up the children. Thank you for your undivided attention to this request.

Parking at HVES - The parking spots that are numbered in the school lot are for staff ONLY. We are having issues with parents dropping off children in the morning and taking up a staff parking spot which is causing staff members to be late which is becoming problematic. Also, some staff end up getting blocked since we have double parking at the end of the day. If parents need to come to the building, PLEASE either park in front of the school or at Langworthy Field and walk up the stairs to the main front door.

Celebrations Outside of School - Throughout the district, there have been some inquiries regarding passing out birthday invitations. With the concerns with COVID, schools will not be passing out personal invitations or non-district events at this time unless it’s an approved organization event that is required to follow COVID protocols. We are sorry for this inconvenience.

Hope Valley School 4th graders will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on Thursday, February 17th, 2022. NAEP is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students know and can do in various subjects. NAEP is different from our state assessments because it is a common measure of achievement across the country. Your child will take ONE assessment, either in the area of reading or mathematics. The assessment takes approximately 2 hours for most students, which includes transition time, directions, and completion of survey questions.There is no need to study in preparation for NAEP, but please encourage your child to do their best.

I strongly encourage you to sign up for this texting feature that Chariho has initiated. The purpose of this texting feature is strictly for any emergency notification. In order to participate in this service, you must first opt in by sending a text message of Y or Yes to our school's short code number at 67587. Individuals who DO NOT opt in will NOT receive text messages. You can always opt out at any time by texting STOP to the messages. I recommend signing up to this texting feature right now so you don't forget and miss any notifications. Thank you!

Here is the link to access Superintendent Picard's newsletter (February).

A link to past issues of the newsletter can be found here as well:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1grxKQ2ZjeBENC4UTdO1b8SwStqKmFqPL?usp=sharing

Please find a copy of the January issue of the We Are Chariho newsletter here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PbIxGgZrde_U_dFQpCfNotob6jJXn-Pj/view?usp=sharing

A link to past issues of the newsletter can be found here as well:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1grxKQ2ZjeBENC4UTdO1b8SwStqKmFqPL?usp=sharing

Here are the PTO meeting dates for the rest of the year. All parents are welcome to attend any of the PTO meetings. Hope to see you there!

Feb 7th PTO meeting is cancelled.

March 7th at 6:30pm

April 4th at 6:30pm

May 9th at 6:30pm

PTO Members

Co-President: Kristin Clarke > kristinc49@aol.com

Co-President: Leah Sousa > leah.sousa@hotmail.com

Treasurer: Stephanie DaPonte > sdaponte14@gmail.com

Secretary: Chloe Morgan > cmako28@yahoo.com

Communication: Chelsea Vandeveer> chelseabaker101@yahoo.com

School Contact Information

School Principal: Giuseppe Gencarelli – Giuseppe.Gencarelli@chariho.k12.ri.us

School Secretary: Donna Sunderland – Donna.Sunderland@chariho.k12.ri.us

School Webpage: https://hopevalley.chariho.k12.ri.us/

School Contact Info: Phone - 401-539-2321 Fax - 401-633-7099

Mission Statement:

The mission of the Hope Valley Elementary School is to work in partnership with our colleagues, students and families. We are committed to creating a learning environment where children are expected to achieve their full potential.

Email: ggen@chariho.k12.ri.us
Website: hopevalley.chariho.k12.ri.us
Location: 15 Thelma Drive, Hope Valley, RI, United States
Phone: 401-539-2321
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mr.Gencarelli/?ref=br_rs
Twitter: @MrG_HVES