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Barclay Bulletin

August 30, 2020

Barclay BulletinAugust 30, 2020

Placement Updates

We plan to send placement letters home to families at the beginning of the week. Hopefully you will receive these in the mail by the end of the week. I used a different process for placement this year, trying to keep homerooms from the previous year as intact as I possibly could so that students were familiar with a few classmates regardless of the cohort splits. It was not possible to keep every homeroom together because of budget adjustments to sections as well as specific service needs of students, so your child may be with a few familiar faces as well as some new ones. If you have any questions once you receive the placement letters, feel free to reach out to me at scott.morrison@bcs1.org or by calling the school at 637-1840. Even with some familiarity with classmates, your child may find themselves in a cohort with new faces. It will be a great opportunity to establish new friendships as it will be difficult to make classroom changes.

Pick Up Pals

If you plan to pick your student up from school this year at the end of the day, we will have a new procedure at Barclay Elementary School that I hope you will find more convenient. Visitors will not be entering the building to sign students out, but using a Pick Up Pal card that is being sent home in placement letters. Please hang onto the cards, even if you don't plan to pick your student up from school, or if your student is fully remote to begin the year. You never know when your plans might change!


Bring one Pick Up Pal card with you when you head to school for the end of the day dismissal.


  • You will enter the pick-up lane and remain in your car
  • Show Pick Up Pal Card to Barclay School Staff Member
  • Staff member will direct you where to go in the pick up lane
  • Remain in your vehicle, your student(s) will be released to you under adult supervision from our cafeteria
  • Once your student(s) is secured in your vehicle you may proceed out of the Barclay pick up lane
  • Specific procedures and times will be communicated on our website and linked to a future Barclay Bulletin
  • Adults approved to use the Pick Up Pal Card for your child should be indicated on the Student Release Form being sent home with the placement letter
  • Timing will be critical, we will not release students to vehicles before 2:57pm.
  • If you need students before 3:00pm, please pick them up from the main office prior to 2:45pm
  • Adults without Pick Up Pals cards will be instructed to pull into a parking spot while we verify identification. This will mean a prolonged wait to pick up


Specific information about arrival and dismissal procedures will come in the near future. I wanted you to know about the Pick Up Pals system so you hold onto the cards when they arrive home in placement letters.

Visitors

Visitors will be limited this year due to COVID-19 and our mandatory health screens. We have completely modified our end of the day pick up routines to account for this. Parents are not going to be allowed into the building for lunches because of the guidance we've received from New York State. Health screenings are mandatory for anybody entering the building.


We currently do not have any plans to hold a date to tour the buildings before the start of the school year. If that changes, I will notify you via the Barclay Bulletin. Parents will also not be able to walk students to classrooms on the first day of school. While I'm sure this creates worry and concern for some, I want to assure you that I'm looking at modifications to our first day routines to allow students to get connected with their classroom teachers. I'm also working on a virtual tour of the school. I hope to have it completed next week, I'm just waiting for some construction to finish so that the halls and classrooms are in working order.

Computer Distribution

Ginther, Barclay, and Hill schools are coordinating our device distribution. Students who are fully remote for the first 10 weeks of school will be able to come to campus and pick up their devices before the start of the school year. Our dates and times will be coming shortly.


Students who are not fully remote will receive laptops their first day of instruction.