Normandy Park School

As a school, we are excited to welcome all our students back this week!

I truly appreciate the support of the NPS staff and faculty in preparing to open for the 2021-2022 school year. We are eager and ready to begin another amazing school year! By working together, we will ensure students are provided instruction and support to develop academically, socially, and emotionally across in-person and virtual classrooms.

The first day of school will be Thursday, September 9th, 2021.

Teacher assignments & busing information have been sent home and are available on the Parent Portal. Please reach out to the main office with any questions.

If there are changes in your child's dismissal plans (e.g. you are going to pick them up that day, instead of taking the bus), please use the attached form or call the main office.

Please know that I am here to help and support in any way that I can. Feel free to reach out to me directly at christopher.miller@msdk12.net.

Students will be having snack time during the school day, with all necessary safety measures in place. Please send your child in with a healthy snack.

Breakfast and lunch will be served daily at school. All students will have access to school provided breakfast and lunch (if they choose to receive it).

As students enter the building, they will be able to grab-and-go breakfast if they choose to.

Click here for the MSD September breakfast menu.

For lunch, students will be asked at the beginning of the day if they would like to order (providing their choice of either the hot/cold option). Teachers will present the menu choices for the day.

Click here for the MSD September lunch menu.

Where will students eat lunch?

Students will eat lunch at 6 ft apart (seats facing the same direction). We will utilize classrooms, cafeteria, and lab to accommodate all students at 6ft apart.

Masks:

As you already know, masks are required in all indoor school settings and on our buses. They must be well-fitting and completely cover the nose and mouth. Students should already be wearing their masks when they board the school bus or enter our school buildings. Proper mask wearing is essential for determining who must quarantine after an exposure in our classrooms or buses and will enable us to avoid disruptions to in-person instruction for most students.

Last year, our students did beautifully with mask wearing, and we appreciate your support in ensuring our school buildings comply with the State’s mask mandate.

Students are not required to wear masks for outdoor settings.

Quarantine:

Updated quarantine guidelines from the NJ Department of Health align with the State’s emphasis on a return to full in-person learning. The current guidelines indicate that in K-12 classrooms, students who would ordinarily be considered a close contact (that is, they are within 6 feet of a positive individual for at least 15 minutes’ cumulative time over a 24-hour period) are now exempt from quarantine as long as both the infected student and the exposed student(s) correctly and consistently wore well-fitting masks the entire time. This stipulation will go a long way in helping us keep our students in school. (Of course, the positive individual is still required to quarantine.) I will continue to alert the school community whenever there is a positive case and will notify directly those families whose student was within 3-6 feet of the positive individual so that extra vigilance can be taken when monitoring for symptoms.

For additional information, please check the District Update Center by clicking here.

We are adding some additional teachers and specialists to our NPS team. Please read below for additional information:

• Katherine Clark is our new 2/3 teacher. She is coming over from Sussex Avenue School!
• Kristen Radke is our new Art & Enrichment teacher

• Jasmine Dupree is our new ESL teacher

• Melissa Krickus is our new intervention teacher

• Deborah Alicea Romano is our new office Clerk

• Sam Casadevall and Mia Schochet are new K/1 Teaching Assistants

• Amanda Voswinkel is our new LDTC

• Jessica Uscamayta is our new Speech Therapist

• Ellen Kim will serve as maternity leave replacement for Mrs. Mitevski (until mid November)

• Kayla Evans will serve as maternity leave replacement for Mrs. Archibald (until the end of March)

• Suzanne Echevarria will serve as the leave replacement for PE (until January 2022)

Our school theme for 2020-2021 is NPS: Shoot for the Stars, To Normandy and Beyond!

The theme will have a space exploration and growth mindset focus. Throughout the year, we will incorporate the theme into non-fiction read alouds, virtual field trips, mini-lessons, and school wide activities.

Through hard work, learning from our mistakes, and collaboration, we can make meaningful academic and personal growth, as well as foster positive social change.

Hi parents, guardians and students!

I am so excited that we are starting the year off in person this year! I wanted to take a moment to introduce/reintroduce myself. I am Ms. Cheryl Cohen, the School Counselor at Normandy Park. I am starting my 25th year in district and have been thrilled to call Normandy Park home for the last 12 years! Some of the many services I provide are: short term supportive counseling to students and their families as well as groups and class lessons support kindness and connections.

As we are getting ready to reopen full time, I know that all of you (parents, guardians and students) may be having a lot of emotions right now and that is to be expected. This last year and a half have been nothing short of a roller coaster ride so I want you to fill in the blank: This year and a half has been _______________. That last word (or phrase) will be different for everyone. It might be “ challenging, unprecedented, exhausting, interesting, a time to spend with my family, and the list goes on.” There are no right or wrong emotions. Just know that the staff here is eager and ready to support all of you.

I want to “talk” to your children for a moment: Those of you who have been virtual learners, I want you to remember this, as you get ready to re- enter school, you might have a whole lot of big feelings; excited, worried, sad, scared. Remember you are not alone. We had a lot of students (and teachers) who were virtual and are entering the school building for the first time since March of 2020, so you are not alone. We will be on hand to help you adjust to the schedule, find your class, the bathrooms, the nurse and even me, the counselor. It might feel strange wearing a mask all day but we will have mask breaks built in and you can and should always let your teacher know if you are having trouble. As an aside, parents, I encourage you to build your child’s mask stamina by having them wear a mask for a while each day and then increasing the amount of time they have to wear it.

Those of you who have been in person will notice many changes too. We will be back to our multi-age classes, you will be having lunch together with your classmates, and you will have all of your specials in person again! The days will feel longer because we are going back to the hours we used to have.

Parents and guardians, please know that I am here to support you as well as your children. If you have any concerns about your child please don’t hesitate to reach out to me by phone or email.

I am so excited to see your children in person this week. We will get through this together!

Ms. Cheryl Cohen

cheryl.cohen@msdk12.net

973-889-7960 x6115

Arrival Procedures: Students are permitted into the building at 8:40 a.m. Students bussed to school will be dropped off in the front of the building.

Drop Offs: Students being dropped off in the morning may enter through the back doors. Please use the drop-off/pick-up line in the back of the building. There is no supervision before 8:40, and children who arrive before that time, will not be permitted to enter the building. A staff member will be at the door between 8:40 and 8:55 a.m. to welcome students. Any student arriving after 8:55 must enter the front of the building and report to the nurse’s office with a parent or guardian to obtain a late pass.

Dismissal Procedures: Dismissal begins at the conclusion of our last period, 3:05 p.m.

All students are encouraged to ride the bus to and from school.

At dismissal, students will be dismissed from the back of the building. When picking up your child, please use the pick-up line. Stay in your vehicle. Teachers will accompany your child to your car.

Pick-Up During the Day:

If a situation arises that requires you to pick your child up during the school day, please use the attached form or call the main office. Students being picked up early are asked to be picked up before 3 p.m. Before leaving, you must sign your child out in the notebook provided in the office. Unless an emergency arises, please refrain from calling the office after 1:30 to make changes to your child’s dismissal.

This year, Morris School District Elementary Schools will be switching from semesters to trimesters.

Trimester Reporting Periods

Trimester 1: September 9th - December 10

Trimester 2: December 13 - March 18

Trimester 3: March 21 - June 20

K-5 report cards are Standards-Based and aligned to trimester reporting periods and provide feedback on student achievement toward learning standards.

The report cards for the first two trimesters align with Parent Teacher Conferences and do not include a narrative.

VERY IMPORTANT: Annual Student Update and PowerSchool Parent Portal Accounts. This past June, we launched the PowerSchool Parent Portal for PreK-5 families, and we are excited that the Parent Portal is now available for all families in the Morris School District.

• Important information is posted to the Parent Portal for your child(ren): attendance; schedules and teacher contact information; bus numbers, stops and times; report cards; and historical grades.
• Please create a Parent Portal account as soon as possible and make sure you can access the portal so that you can view the information listed above (see link to instructions below). Note that paper schedules, teacher assignments, and bus cards will not be mailed out this year. The most current information is shown in the Parent Portal and is updated on a nightly basis.
• Please also complete the Annual Student Update as soon as possible so that you receive all communications from the District and your child’s school (see link to instructions below). The Annual Student Update provides us with confirmed and updated contact information for parents/guardians and emergency contacts and also includes links for your review of key policies.
• CLICK HERE for instructions on setting up your Parent Portal account and completing the Annual Student Update. If you have any questions or encounter any problems, please send an email to msdannualupdate@msdk12.net, or reach out to your child’s school directly.

• If there are changes in your child's dismissal plans (e.g. you are going to pick them up that day, instead of taking the bus), please use the attached form or call the main office.
• For written communication between you and your child's teacher, please utilize Class Dojo and/or e-mail, rather than hand-written letters (when possible).

• September 9th: First Day of School
• September 16th: School Closed (Yom Kippur)
• September 23rd: Picture Day
• September 30th: Back to School Night
• September 15th to October 15th: Hispanic Heritage Month
• October 4th to October 8th: Week of Respect

• Parent Handbook
  
• Arrival and Dismissal Procedures
• School Breakfast and Lunch Information
• Sunset and Sunrise