Dear Parents/Guardians,

Fall has to be my favorite time of year. This week, I have noticed the leaves changing and New England is beginning to look like a beautiful postcard. As the temperatures change, I would like to remind families to label all sweatshirts, hats, gloves and coats. Our lost and found fills up fast when sweaters are needed in the mornings and long forgotten by lunch time.

We celebrated our first school-wide assembly on Tuesday afternoon. It was the first time we have been together as a full group in so very long. We practiced expectations for being in a large group and spoke about kindness. Mrs. Wrobel's second grade class shared some examples of what kindness looks like. It was a great opportunity for them to share their writing skills! We learned and sang our school song for the first time! Mrs. Broderick's first grade class also led the school in a patriotic song. The show stopper was a special surprise for a young first grade student in our school. We were given the amazing opportunity to facilitate a surprise reunification with her father who had just returned from deployment. Our students were so excited and I am confident that there were many tears in this assembly. We are grateful that this family allowed us to share this special moment. I have included some pictures for you to share.

Yesterday was Milk with a Cop Day. We had a few of our wonderful Tewksbury Police Officers visit our students during lunch time. We are always grateful for their support and willingness to spend time with us. I even managed to earn a sticker and a trading card from one of our wonderful officers!

November Assembly: We have tentatively set our next assembly for Thursday, November 10th. The focus will be on Veteran's Day. I would like to try to plan to celebrate some of the many veterans in our community. If you are a veteran or have a close relative who is a veteran and you would be available to attend this assembly, please reach out to me at abosworth@tewksbury.k12.ma.us.

Aspen: This week, we sent home Aspen login information for K-2 families who are new to the Dewing School this year. These were sent home in your child's folder.

Bus Driver Notification of Medical Concerns

Please pass along a note to your child's bus driver if there are any medical concerns for your child. It is important to share information with them regarding health matters such as those related to diabetes, seizure disorders, or EpiPen usage. We appreciate your attention to this matter. Your child's health and safety is our #1 priority.

Information from Superintendent Regan's Smore: MyView is an easy-to-use mobile app that allows you to check on the location of your student’s school bus. The app allows you to view a real-time, map-based bus locator which can alert you by email or text when the bus enters a specific zone (i.e., a mile from your bus stop).

All parent information is locked down and password protected within the app to prevent unauthorized people from opening the app and viewing the student’s bus information.

To set up Zonar MyView:

1. Download the Zonar MyView app from the App Store or Google Play.

2. Enter the School Access Code when prompted - STA9559.

3. Go to your child's Aspen account: (If you do not remember your access to ASPEN, please contact your student’s school secretary.)

• Enter your child's LASID which can be found in ASPEN.

• Enter your child's bus route you wish to follow

• Create alert zones around drop-off and pick-up points (usually your own address).

It will take 24 hours for your newly created account to become active. If, after 24 hours, you have any questions about the use of this app, please email Tewksbury Transit at tti@tewksburytransit.com.

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Alexis Bosworth

Principal

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Important Dates:

October 10th-No School

October 21st-PAC Trunk or Treat

November 1-Half Day/No PM PK

Hello from the Gym!!

I am your child(ren)’s new Physical Education teacher and I have really enjoyed working with all

of your students so far. I wanted to give you an idea of what we’ve been working on this year so

far and what we’re going to be doing in the near future. We started out in September focusing

on spatial awareness and working on cooperative games so that I could get the kids working

together as they started the new year and they did a great job! This week we started our unit on

rolling or bowling a ball and will spend the rest of October working on games with the rolling

motion. I think the kids are going to enjoy the games!

Just a reminder to please make sure your child(ren) wear(s) sneakers on days when they have

PE just for their own safety when they are running around. I know it can be hard to keep track

of their schedule so you can always pack sneakers in their bag that they can change into,

especially once the weather gets snowier.

I hope your students are enjoying their school year so far and I look forward to working with

them more!

Paul Bea

TPS will continue to follow guidance from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Department of Public Health(DPH) and Center for Disease Control (CDC). The most recent updates from August 15, 2022 can be found at

• DESE: Update on COVID-19 Matters in K-12 Schools for Fall 2022 .

• DPH: Exposure Guidance for Children and Staff in Child Care, K-12, Out-of-School Time (OST) and Recreational Camp/Program Settings

In the most recent updates, the Commonwealth is not recommending universal mask requirements, surveillance testing of asymptomatic individuals, contact tracing, or test-to-stay testing in schools.

As always, we will continue to ask that all students and staff who are not feeling well to stay home. People who have symptoms of respiratory or gastrointestinal infections, such as cough, fever, sore throat, vomiting, or diarrhea should not report to school. COVID-19 testing is recommended for people with any of the above symptoms as soon as possible after symptoms begin. Staying home when sick can help us lower the risk of spreading infectious illnesses to other people.

Key information from the DESE and DPH most recent updates has been summarized below.

We wish everyone a happy and healthy school year.

Masking:

Masking is no longer required in our schools but is recommended when there is known or suspected exposure to COVID-19. As always, any individual who wishes to continue to mask, will be supported in that choice. Exposed individuals should wear a well fitted mask around others for 10 days from their last exposure, regardless of vaccination status or history of prior infection. The DPH and DESE do still require masking at all times in healthcare settings, including school nurses’ offices.

Vaccinations:

Staying up to date on routine vaccinations is essential to prevent illness from many different infections. DESE AND DPH strongly recommend that all faculty, staff, and students receive the COVID-19 vaccine primary series and all boosters, as they become eligible for them. Information will be shared regarding equitable access to vaccinations through town-based clinics and accessible information on other opportunity offerings. Throughout this August and September, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) is providing many options for free family-friendly COVID-19 vaccination clinics. If you are interested in finding a vaccination clinic, click here.

Testing at School:

The CDC and DPH no longer recommends routine screening testing in K-12 schools. Students or staff who come to school with symptoms or develop symptoms while at school will be asked to wear a mask while in the building and will be sent home and encouraged to get tested.

• A rapid antigen test, such as a self-test, is preferred to a PCR test in most situations.

• To count days for isolation, Day 0 is the first day of symptoms OR the day the day positive test was taken, whichever is earlier.

• Contact tracing is no longer recommended or required in these settings, but schools or programs must continue to work with their Local Board of Health in the case of outbreaks.

Quarantine & Isolation

Please see the full guidance on Isolation and quarantine guidance for individuals in educational settings. Below are excerpts from the guidance:

Quarantine:

Quarantine due to exposure is no longer required nor recommended for children or staff, regardless of vaccination status or where the exposure occurred. All exposed individuals may continue to attend programming as long as they remain asymptomatic. Those who can mask should do so until Day 10, and it is recommended that they test on Day 6 of exposure. If symptoms develop, follow the guidance for symptomatic individuals, below.

Isolation:

Children and staff who test positive must isolate for at least 5 days. If they are asymptomatic or symptoms are resolving and they have been fever free without the use of fever-reducing medicine for 24 hours, they may return to programming after Day 5 and should wear a high-quality mask through Day 10:

• If the individual is able to mask, they must do so through Day 10.

• If the child has a negative test on Day 5 or later, they do not need to mask.

• If the individual is unable to mask, they may return to programming with a negative test on Day 5 or later.

Mitigation Strategies at School:

We will continue to encourage effective hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette. Hand washing continues to be the #1 mitigation strategy to prevent the spread of germs. We will continue to have hand sanitizer available throughout our schools with supervision. Please help us by teaching and reinforcing your children in covering coughs and sneezes to help keep individuals from getting and spreading infectious illnesses.

TPS will continue to optimize ventilation and maintain improvements to indoor air quality to reduce the risk of contaminants spreading through the air. We will continue to increase outdoor air intake and improve air filtration. For example, safely opening windows and doors, including on school buses and vans, and using portable air purifiers with HEPA filters in all of our buildings. TPS will also continue with increased cleaning of frequently touched surfaces to reduce the risk of germs.

Website: www.tewksbury.k12.ma.us
Location: 1469 Andover Street, Tewksbury, MA, USA
Phone: 978-640-7858