The Westgate Wire

After spring break, we will have almost 90 percent of our students in-person Tuesday through Friday. As a reminder, students should not be on school grounds before 8:50 a.m. The staff will be outside, starting at 8:50 am, to open the school doors. Students will not be lining up outside the building. If your child is a walker, please do not let them leave early to meet friends. Students will not be allowed to gather around the building. Everyone must wear masks upon arrival and remain socially distanced, 6-feet apart.

As spring break approaches, we ask that you notify your child’s teacher if you will be quarantining after travel or extending your vacation beyond March 28th.

Students who are quarantining will be allowed to attend class remotely due to the recommendation from the IDPH.

Students who are extending vacations will be considered absent and not attending class. Although we want to support our families, it is difficult for teachers to plan for instruction when a student's attendance is inconsistent. In addition, we will not be providing supplies or additional activities to complete while you are gone. Feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher, and they can guide you in what should be completed via the posted class activities on Seesaw, or your child can make up any missed assignments upon your return.

We are beginning to plan for next year. As with last year, we want to offer parents an opportunity to share information they feel is important about their child as we plan for class placements. Feel free to send Mr. Walton or me an email with your thoughts, or if you feel it requires more discussion, you can reach out for a phone conversation.

Please know the class placement process is very complex. Much time is devoted by our staff to form well-balanced classes that support a positive learning environment for all students. Our teachers know their students well both academically and socially-emotionally. Specific teacher requests will not be honored.

Refresher on Attendance Procedures:

• If your child is going to be absent or come late: Please remember to use the WESTGATE STUDENT ABSENCE FORM. This timestamps the absence and helps the office tremendously. If you don't have access to a computer, the second option is voicemail (that we then transcribe to the Google Form). Parents are forgetting to notify the office of absences and it creates extra work tracking the students down.

• When you bring your child late or pick up early: There is a QR code on the front door with the STUDENT SIGN IN/OUT FORM. This timestamps the arrival or departure of your child and is important for proper attendance recording. You can bookmark it, but we prefer that you fill it out at the school, not from home, for accurate timestamps.

• If your child is going home for lunch: Please use the LUNCH HOUR SIGN OUT FORM. We need this information to dismiss your child from the building and check them back in afterward.

We really appreciate everyone taking the time to follow these procedures. We understand this has been a crazy year, full of new and different (understatement!) protocols. Thank you for being so flexible. As you can imagine, attendance is an important albeit time-consuming responsibility of the office. If we aren't notified of an absence directly by the parent, it takes time to call into the classroom and then to the parents to track down the missing students. We're interrupting learning time and causing panic when you see "Westgate" pop up on caller id. Obviously, it's also important to notify the teacher of an impending absence, so those emails are also appreciated.

We want to stay connected to our community! Please complete this form if you have a question, concern, suggestion, or compliment. Mrs. Buch and Mr. Walton will monitor the form weekly and follow up on anything shared.

A huge THANK YOU to those who have taken the time to complete the form!

Summer U 2021 June 16-July 14, 2021 at Thomas Middle School *Dates subject to change pending review of winter weather emergency days. Registration will begin on March 1, 2021, at 9:00 am and end on April 30, 2021. Please visit www.sd25.org/summeru for a full list of courses and times. If you have any questions about Summer U, please email summeru@sd25.org for assistance.

3/12-Report Cards

3/22-3/26- No School- Spring Break

4/2- No School

4/19-SIP Day- No School

5/28-SIP Day-No School

5/31-Memorial Day- No School