UNION GAP SCHOOL

Our first quarter of school has ended, and we move into the winter season.

We have an exciting safety and facilities project on the horizon for Union Gap. Our current bond is maturing (expiring) and we are in need of an additional gym as well as safety improvements for the school. You will see this bond on the November ballot. If you have any questions regarding the bond, please contact me at (509) 654-7985 or lgredvig@uniongap.org. You can find additional information on our district website as well.

Our first Cub Academy intersession week took place the week of October 17th. Forty (40) percent of our student body was registered for a class in grades Kindergarten through 8th grade such as Robotics and Basketball Camp. Our next intersession is the week of February 20th.

Throughout this newsletter, you will find articles and information that we believe to be pertinent for our families and community. Please let me know if you have any additional information you would like to be communicated.

Lisa G. Gredvig
Superintendent

Union Gap School is continuing to follow the Yakima Health District guidelines for COVID screening and return to school timeline. Students with mild or significant illness symptoms will need to be tested for COVID or quarantine at home for 5 days.

Parents are responsible to evaluate their child for signs of new illness associated with COVID-19: Fever, fatigue, muscle aches, headache, congestion, runny nose, sore throat, cough, nausea, vomiting, or new loss of taste or smell .

We recognize that identifying mild illness in the morning can be difficult due to the limited time to interact with your child before he or she needs to leave for school.

At minimum, if your please:

1. Take the child’s temperature before school.
2. Keep the child home for any illness during the night.
3. When in doubt, keep the child home for observation.
4. Contact the school to report symptoms of illness.

COVID Testing/Test kits:

COVID testing can be conducted at home, school, the clinic, or at a community testing site. Rapid test kits can be picked up at school in the front office. An adult in the household can test the student at home, but needs to report the result to the school in person, by phone, or in writing.

Once a negative test result has been received by the office or nursing staff, the student can return to school if there has been no fever for 24 hours, without fever reducing medication, and the symptoms of illness are improving.

If a student tests positive for COVID, the student will need to quarantine at home for 5 days from symptom onset. It is recommended that the student wear a mask to school on the 6th through 10th days after symptom onset.

If the student continues to have illness symptoms and test positive on the 6th day, the student needs to continue to quarantine at home until the 10th day after symptom onset.

We thank you for taking this extra step to protect our staff and students from COVID-19.

Please contact the school for any questions.

Thank you,

Suzie Barnes, RN

Union Gap School Nurse

(509) 248-3966, ext. 311

Dear Parent or Guardian:

Union Gap School District uses “Family Access” for parents/guardians/students to view grades, attendance, schedule, etc. online. This service is available for parents at the 3rd through 8th grade levels.

Family Access is currently available in Yakima School District so if your students attend a high school in Yakima School District, you will already be familiar with the service. Once a Family Access username and password has been obtained, it will eventually work for all children in a household regardless of grade level and school attendance. The username and password should work without any problems. If you encounter problems accessing the information, please contact the school.

Family Access will be available through Union Gap’s website at www.uniongapschool.org. You will click on the “For Parents” button at the top of the page and then select the Family

Access link to use the system: To use the system you will need to:

• Have access to the internet (Google Chrome)
• Allow or accept cookies
• Have username and password

Note: Union Gap School District does not provide support for off-site technology or software applications. To allow or accept cookies, please consult your computer dealer or software vendor.

It is Union Gap School District’s policy that usernames and passwords for Family Access must be obtained “in person” at Union Gap so nothing can be sent through US Mail or through email. To obtain a username and password, parents need to complete the enclosed request form, “Family Access Login Form”. Parents will need to present the form along with a legal, photo ID to the Union Gap School Office. Each application will be processed to ensure information is accurate and appropriate access to the appropriate household is secure. Parents must pick up the information “In Person Only” in the school office. Once parents receive their username and password, they will have the ability to change the password to keep their access secure. Usernames that are provided are permanent and cannot be changed. It is important to keep the “Access Card” given to you as it will contain your username and temporary password and directions to access the website.

You may return your Family Access Login Form anytime to the school office between 7:30 am and 4:00 pm Monday through Friday.

Sincerely,

Lisa G. Gredvig
Superintendent

Have you ever put on your child’s coat and shoes so you could get out the door quickly? As parents, we have all felt the time crunch and the need to just do things for our children so we can be on our way. I am going to challenge you to think about how often you do this and the long-term effects of these daily choices.

Habitually doing things for your children that they can do for themselves can send the message that you don’t have confidence in their abilities. This can lead to a child who lacks independence, problem-solving skills and one who can’t or won’t do things for themselves. If this sounds familiar, don’t worry it is never too late to get your child back on track to becoming confident and capable. Here are six tips for teaching kids to be more independent.

1. Give notice: Get your child on board by encouraging her/him to help “you” change. You could say that you are sorry for treating them like a little kid when they are ready to do some big-kid jobs!
2. Target priorities: Tackle one item or task at a time so you don’t overwhelm her/him.
3. Negotiate compromise: If your child digs in their heels and refuses to complete a task, compromise and inject some fun. For example, if your child can dress themselves but you have been doing this for them, tell them that you will put the top on the cake once the bottoms (pants) are on.
4. Forget perfection: Accept that the task gets finished even if it means that you must clean up spilled milk when your child is working on pouring.
5. Praise something: Instead of telling your child that they put their shoes on the wrong feet, say, “Wow you got your shoes on all by yourself!”
6. Encourage thinking: Don’t rush in to solve minor issues but instead ask your child if they can come up with a fix and then give them think time before offering your ideas.

Having a routine at home and set rules is important for your child. It can help reduce tantrums and problem behaviors, and help your child feel safe and secure. Make a daily routine or schedule and follow this every day. As a family, also create rules and set consequences for breaking rules. It is important that parents see that consequences are carried out when the rules are not followed. Here are some websites for ideas on rules and routines:

• How to Create Structure: https://www.cdc.gov/parents/essentials/videos/video_struct_vig.html
• Using Discipline and Consequences: https://www.cdc.gov/parents/essentials/consequences/index.html
• Providing Nurture and Structure: http://centerforparentingeducation.org/library-of-articles/discipline-topics/role-of-parents/
• The Importance of Family Routines: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/family-dynamics/Pages/The-Importance-of-Family-Routines.aspx

Please note that we sell school uniform apparel at cost. We add the cost we pay for the items, along with postage, and then round the overall cost to the nearest dollar. School uniform apparel is not a fundraiser for the school district.

• NOV. 11 Veteran’s Day-NO SCHOOL
• NOV. 15 Picture Re-takes
• NOV. 23-25 Thanksgiving Break-NO SCHOOL
• DEC. 19-30 Winter Break—NO SCHOOL
• JAN. 2 NEW YEARS DAY—NO SCHOOL
• JAN. 16 Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday—NO SCHOOL

On average, students who eat school breakfast have been shown to achieve 17.5% higher scores on standardized math tests and attend 1.5 more days of school per year!

Thank you, Kelly Henley and Paragon Films, for your generous donation of school supplies for our students.

The district posts to media organizations, ParentSquare and our mobile app when school is delayed or closed due to weather. Classes will begin at 10:30 am for ALL students in grades K-8 when we have a two-hour delay. Also, the morning Preschool will not be in session, we will have the afternoon Preschool and breakfast will NOT be served. We may also have to move to snow bus routes so please make a note of this change. Parents: The final decision on whether your child attends school is always your call as a parent. Please call us to let us know you kept your child home due to your local road conditions. Thank you.

Union Gap School District utilizes a variety of state of the art security systems as well as a partnership with the ESD 105 School Safety Operations and Coordination Center (SSOCC) to ensure the safety of all students, staff, and visitors. We wanted to share some of the security features that go into creating a safe environment for teaching and learning.

One the most important features for day to day operations is our visitor management system to ensure all visitors are accounted for and that only pre-screened adults are allowed into the building, this includes parents, contractors, volunteers, vendors, and other guests. Though visitor protocol has changed due to COVID, our safety measures remain.

Additionally, we have a great surveillance system to ensure we have good visibility throughout our campus as well as on our buses and an excellent access control system that helps keep our building secure from the outside and allows us to issue electronic "keys" that can easily be disabled if lost.

Lastly, we utilize a variety of emergency communication systems to help relay important information to staff and local law enforcement, which we feel is critical in the event of an emergency.

Safety is always a very high priority at Union Gap School and we will continue to research and implement new safety features and methods to ensure we continue to offer the safest environment for our staff and students!

These students were honored for their academic excellence for the month of October 2022:

• Valentina Ruiz Haro
• Isabella Dominguez Figueroa
• Penelope Tellez
• James Butler
• Daniela Pacheco
• Brian Cuevas

Kristen Kangas, Penelope Tellez, Amber Heaton, Brian Cuevas, Ryan Ross, Isabella Dominguez Figueroa, Valentina Ruiz Haro, Holly Fife, Sandra Butler, James Butler, Lisa Morris & Daniela Pacheco.

The Union Gap School District does not tolerate discrimination in connection with any programs, activities, or employment based on race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, including gender expression or identity, creed, religion, age, veteran or military status, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts of America and other designated youth groups. Inquiries regarding compliance procedures may be directed to the school district Civil Rights Coordinator, Mr. Patrick Vincent, 3201 S. 4th Street, pvincent@uniongap.org (509) 248-3966. You can report discrimination and discriminatory harassment to any school staff member or to the district's Civil Rights Coordinator, listed above. You also have the right to file a complaint. For a copy of your district’s nondiscrimination 3210 policy and procedure, contact your school or district office or view it online at www.uniongapschool.org.