Dear Richland Families,

As we close in on the last several school days of this calendar year, I'd like to again let you know how much I appreciate your partnership. These are certainly challenging times for all, and I thank you for your support and communication along the way. We are focusing on what we can control and making memories this December. Check out this week's spirit days below! Thursday includes a virtual assembly!

As a reminder, if our building closes for a day for a yellow alert (lack of adequate staffing), for COVID reasons, or for inclement weather (snow day), all instruction will be virtual. It will still count as a school day, and students will participate in synchronous instruction with details shared by their teachers.

For students receiving in person instruction, please make sure they come dressed for the weather, as we have recess daily.

Enjoy your week!

Nicole Zuerblis

Richland Principal

SNOWMAN CONTEST

Richland Students, let’s see how creative you can be!

The PTO is hosting a Snowman Decorating Contest!

*The Richland PTO will pick one winner per grade.

*All entries must be submitted by Monday 12/14.

*We will be sharing the entries through Richland’s newsletter and Facebook @RichlandPTO!

*Winners will be announced Friday 12/18 during the school announcements.

Each winner will get one gift card for Target!

1. Every student received a bag of cutouts. *Virtual students may pick up a bag in Richland's vestibule. Use the cutouts to start your creation and place on an 8x11 piece of paper.

2. ADD your details! ADD additional decorations, ADD words of encouragement or words that inspire you, even ADD color! ADD whatever you think will help your snowman STAND OUT. Be creative!

3. Take a selfie with your snowman and have an adult submit by email to richlandtpo@gmail.com.

YOU MUST ADD YOUR NAME/HOMEROOM TEACHER to the SUBJECT LINE in the email.

*We will be sharing the entries through Richland’s newsletter and Facebook @RichlandPTO!

*All entries must be submitted by Monday 12/14 to be a part of the competition.

A dedicated section of the website serves as a COVID-19 directory place for families to locate resources and see the impact of the pandemic on the district. It's located in the Community Section and titled COVID-19 directory.

We are so excited to invite Jared Campbell back to Richland for the third year in a row! This Thursday, 12/17, we will have a virtual assembly at 10:00 AM. Teachers will join from classrooms, and virtual students are welcome to join with families from home. Click this link to join the assembly. It will open on Thursday. You can learn about Jared Campbell and find his music at www.jaredcampellmusic.com.

Our holiday sing will be virtual this year, and families are invited to join! To accommodate a large number of participants, there will be 3 Google Meets, all live streaming the Holiday Sing. We will release the Google Meet links by grade level next week.

Students continue to receive these habit tickets in person or virtually when they are "caught" displaying one of the 7 habits. Student names go on a virtual leaderboard, and we will recognize students who are part of forming 10 in a row.

We recognized our first set of winners and are already finding more!

Each day, we read a question of the day that stems from our work with Leader in Me. We encourage you to continue the conversations at home! Below are this week's questions. We'd love you to participate! Share your answers each day on Twitter @RichlandQCSD

MONDAY: What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you?

TUESDAY: What’s the most difficult thing you’ve ever done?

WEDNESDAY: What is your favorite memory?

THURSDAY: What is your earliest memory?

FRIDAY: How can you help others at school?

As part of social-emotional learning lessons (SEL) each week, students will learn how to practice the 7 Habits as part of our Leader in Me philosophy. Click on the image below to visit our interactive Habit rooms to learn along with your child at home! Many icons and books are clickable links.

LIM Habit Rooms

Learn more about the 5 core paradigms, or beliefs, of Leader in Me in this family letter!

As referenced in Dr. Harner’s recent blog, we will send you a Yellow Alert message the night before IF our school has a significant risk of not having enough adults present to safely open for students the next day. Think of the Yellow Alert like a winter storm warning or other weather alert to be prepared for possible closure.

We will review our absence data again the next morning and consult with Dr. Harner. If we cannot open our school safely, you will be notified by 7:30 a.m., and our school will operate virtually for the day. Please note that the notification/closure will apply to the individual school building only and other buildings will operate normally.

We will do our best and exhaust all strategies to avoid having to close our school for lack of adequate staffing, but it may occur. This will be our system that provides you advance notice as soon as we can.

If the school becomes virtual for a day or a period of time, teachers will teach synchronously and will supply all information needed to students and families about daily schedules.

Thank you for your support.

A great way to express gratitude. I share these weekly with staff. Keep the shout outs coming!

The free food program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture.

The United States Department of Agriculture has extended a nationwide waiver to allow the Quakertown Community School District to provide FREE meals to ALL students regardless of need. No qualification or identification is needed.

ALL students are eligible to receive FREE breakfast and FREE lunch through the end of the school year in June.

Breakfast will be served at Richland in our lunch room or classrooms from 8:45-9:00.

Lunch will have three selections daily: A sandwich/wrap/hot entree, a salad with a protein and roll, or a Grape/Peanut Butter Uncrustable. An assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables along with milk will be available daily. Students will order their lunches in the morning and will eat lunch in their classrooms. Lunches will be assembled by the cafeteria staff in bags, with aides delivering to rooms at the scheduled lunch times.

For Virtual Learners, free meal pickup is now held two days a week, Mondays and Wednesdays. On Mondays, students can receive meals for two days, and on Wednesdays for three days. Pickup remains at the Quakertown Community High School bus loop from 11:15 AM until 12:30 PM.

If you have a technology issue that requires a device repair or swap in person, please click here for the Sign Up Genius. There are appointment slots for Tuesdays through October 20th between 1 and 3:30 pm. This will take place at the district office, 100 Commerce Drive, Quakertown, at the loading dock on the side of the building opposite of Route 663.

If you have a technology issue that can be handled virtually (ie. login information, Clever badge, PowerSchool related questions, etc.), fill out the form by clicking here.

What should you or your child do if asked to quarantine due to exposure to Covid-19? After an exposure to Covid-19, it may take between 2-14 days for symptoms to appear. When ordered to quarantine, you must stay inside of your home until cleared by the Department of Health. Even if you have no symptoms, you or your child should not be outside of your home having close contact with friends and neighbors. If you become infected with the virus, with or without symptoms, interacting with others not in your household can cause community spread of the disease.

While in school, we require children and staff to be masked, wash their hands often, and socially distance to prevent our Richland community from becoming ill. Even if your child has been diagnosed with a common cold, please ensure they avoid contact with other children to prevent transmission and missed school days. Following these same good habits outside of school will prevent you, your children, and others from becoming sick, whether it be from Covid-19, Flu, or any number of common fall and winter illnesses.

For more information, please read QCSD Exclusion from and Return to School Requirements.

Attendance is mandatory for school age children, and the live portion of our school day is 9:00-2:00, with additional time allotted for work after these hours.

Every day Monday through Friday is a school day.

Please keep your child home if they show any symptoms and call to let us know. You will receive a follow up call from our school nurse. We will confirm if your child will become a virtual learner for a period of time so they are not marked absent from in person instruction while staying home with symptoms.

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE PHYSICALLY IN THE BUILDING:

Attendance will be taken as in the past, and students will be marked absent if they are not physically present. *Please note, only students who need to quarantine or are approved by the school nurse will learn virtually instead of in person.

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE 100% VIRTUAL LEARNERS:

Attendance will be taken daily. All students are to complete their "check-in" activity as explained by their teachers by 2:00 daily. To allow for the completion of work asynchronously, students may complete other school activities after 2:00, but the check-in must be completed by 2:00 in order to be marked as present.

IF YOUR CHILD IS ABSENT:

You will receive an email at 3:00 on the day your child is marked absent. The school must receive an excuse from you within 3 days of the absence.

New this year, you may respond to the email with your absence reason. If you prefer, you may send in an absence note to the office. All excuses must be received within 3 days of the absence.

Thank you for your support in making the changes to this year's drop off and pick up run so smoothly! To accommodate more car riders, that location has been moved to the back of the school. Please enter in the morning and afternoon from 313 on Chestnut Street.

The live school day begins at 9:00 and ends at 2:00.

Please note AM Kindergarten pick up at 11:00 and PM drop off at 12:00 are in the front of the school.

All buses will drop off and pick up in the front of the school.

Each year, Richland staff adopts one word. This year called for two! We invite you to join us in supporting each other with courage and grace and explore what these words mean to you.

Click here for Spirit Day Calendar

Click on this link to join the assembly.

Email: nzuerblis@qcsd.org
Website: https://res.qcsd.org/
Location: 500 Fairview Avenue, Quakertown, PA, United States
Phone: 215 529-2452
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RichlandQCSD/
Twitter: @RichlandQCSD