Graphic by Camila Reyes

Ms. Tami Flynn
Principal
Room 211

tflynn@is234.org
718-645-1334  ext 2110

COVID-19 COMMUNICATION TO PARENTS AND FAMILIES FOR THE 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR

Dear Cunningham families,

I would like to thank you for your patience during this unprecedented year. I would like to welcome all of our
new families and welcome back those who have been with us through it all. We transitioned beautifully last
spring to 100% remote learning on a day’s notice and are now embarking on a new school year. This
September, some students will stay 100% remote while others begin the transition back into the actual school
building. While, we still don’t have a DOE calendar for the 2020/2021 school year, I will nevertheless be
posting the ‘Cohort’ groups and days on our website. Please understand that we know that this is not an ideal
way to start the school year and recognize all the challenges that are ahead of us as a school community. We
promise to work with you to provide the best experiences possible for all of our students. We have engaged
the SLT (School Leadership Team) consistently throughout the summer to ensure that we have the best
possible plan for all of our students. We have selected option ‘3B’ for the Cunningham family of learners; that
means each ‘Cohort’ of students will come to school two days in a row and then will transition to remote for
the other three. I have created two different color-coded calendars that will reflect the students’ in-person
learning days. The reason that I have created two is because we don’t have a DOE calendar as of yet and I
want to be cognizant of how that may impact your work/daycare schedules. The Cohorts are as follows:

'Cohort A’ 6 th grade
'Cohort B’ 7 th grade
'Cohort C’ 8 th grade
'Cohort D’ 100% remote learners

When you review the calendar, please ensure that you are creating a schedule for in-person and remote
learning for your child. We will send out nightly reminders of which ‘Cohort’ should arrive at school on the
following day, etc. In the event, your child comes to school on the wrong day; the DOE has created a
permission slip for you to sign allowing your child to walk home. I will attach the permission slip to the school
website and Ms. Guttenplan, Parent Coordinator, will send it home in an email as well. That must be signed
and returned to the school ASAP.

As each school community will face their own unique adversity to reopening, I must inform you that our ‘New
Wing’; traditionally, the building that we have our 6 th grade students in, has not been cleared to reopen.
Having said that, no classes will be held in that building; we will only be using the ‘Old Wing’ for classes. That
will change the way in which we enter and exit the building. All students will enter through the schoolyard and
must remain socially distant at all times. The ‘New Wing’ also contains the elevator and library; both will not
be able to be used until we receive clearance from School Construction Authority and the DOE.
In collaboration with the Parent’s Association, we will be hosting another ‘Zoom Q & A’ session on Tuesday,
September 1, 2020 at 5:30 pm. The Parent’s Association will be sending out a link for you to ask questions
prior to the meeting; by doing this, we can ensure that your questions will be heard and answered on Tuesday
evening.

Many families and students have reached out asking about their individual class; please know that we are
working very hard on programming our school into ‘Hybrid in-person, Hybrid-remote and 100% remote.’ We
will have that information to you shortly. Any typical school year, we begin programming in April and finish
around July; we have only had two weeks to program a school of 1,600 students as the Learning Preference
Survey was only completed and provided to us on August 10 th . Please be mindful that you may not opt into
Hybrid instruction at this time. Below is the timeline for changing from remote to in-person hybrid:

First Day of School – November 13 th = 1 st Quarter
October 26-30 =Blended Learning Opt-In Window for Quarter 2

Week of November 2 = Schools program students newly opted in for Blended Learning
Week of November 9 = Schools inform students newly opted in to Blended Learning of their schedule

Please note that students can change from Hybrid to 100% remote at anytime.

As many of the protocols for in-person learning have changed, I must remind you that if your child has a
temperature in the morning, please keep them home. Do not send them to school on a fever reducer such as
Tylenol, etc. The BRT (Building Response Team) will be taking temperature checks in the morning upon entry.
If a student is deemed to have a temperature by our nurse, you or someone on the blue card will be required
to pick them up. Please make sure that the most up to date telephone number(s), email address, etc. is on file
at the school. Please understand upon entry to the building, adults will have their temperatures checked as
well; anyone with a temperature over 100.0 will not be granted access to the building. Due to the limited
spacing that we have (as we are short one building), we are asking all parents to make appointments prior to
coming to the building; by doing this, we can ensure ample space and social distancing requirements can be
met. All students and adults must wear masks in the building at all times; any person who refuses to wear a
mask will be denied entry. We will be hosting most meetings via ‘Zoom’ or some other platform such as
‘Google Meet’; please understand at this point, the health and safety of our entire school community is our
top priority.

I hope that you enjoy the remainder of the summer; please reach out with any questions or concerns that you
may have.

Your partner in education,

Tami Flynn