Wow, I continue to be impressed with our students and our staff. The staff goes above and beyond with the lessons that they prepare for our students. Our students have put forth much effort to do their best during their instructional time. Please make sure you are checking PowerSchool to see if all of your child’s assignments have been completed and submitted whether it be in Google Classroom or a different way at the teacher’s request.
STEP IT UP: We had our Step It Up Fundraiser presentation on Wednesday, Sept. 1. It was a very exciting presentation with students seeing all the prizes they can receive. Our 4-5 virtual assembly (via video) and 6th, 7th, and 8th grade had an In Person assembly one grade level at a time. For the next two weeks, we will accept donations. All of the information was sent home on the gold sheets. The middle school wants to raise funds to purchase additional play equipment, add some shade tents, upgrade classroom technology and possibly add some picnic tables. The fundraiser will end on Sept. 16. Your job is to help your child complete the GOLDEN TICKET on the evening of Sept. 1 and bring the ticket back to school on Sept. 2. More information about Step It Up and our Day of Awesomeness can be found at the following link https://p.stepitupkids.com/
Progress Reports - Can you believe I am referencing Progress Reports? For middle school students, we do not send home a paper copy as all of you have access to your child’s/student’s grades in PowerSchool. For Progress Reports, our teachers make sure that they have all grades entered into PowerSchool by the date for Progress Reports. So September 10 is the date for “Progress Reports” for the first quarter which means on September 10 all grades will be in PowerSchool. It’s a great time for you to talk with your child/children about their grades. You may also check PowerSchool at any time to determine if your child has turned in all work or if your child has missing assignments.
Substitutes and Bus Drivers
If you are interested in being a substitute, we need you! In order to be able to sub, we would need you to complete a background check and have a Drug Screening. Information is located on the Voyager website. We also will have a small training to give you some additional information. All 3 schools need substitutes as we pull subs from the same list. If you enjoy working with children/students, we need YOU!
If you are interested in Driving a Bus, we need you! We need drivers for our Activity Buses so students may possibly use for a field trip or our athletes may possibly use to travel to away games. In order to drive you would need a CDL license along with completing a Backgroud Check and completing a Drug Screening. If you are interested, information is on our Voyager website.
ORIGINS NIGHT: Thursday, Sept. 9 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm Voyager is hosting an Origins Night. Research the places your ancestors came from. Share what you learned. Do you have a talent, skill or craft that is representative of a different culture? Contact Mr. Mitchell at rmitchell@voyageracademy.net if you would like to perform during Origins Night.
QUARANTINE GUIDELINES: Listed below are the guidelines we have been given as they are related to quarantine:
When your children need to stay home to learn, always contact me and your child's teacher.
The teacher will provide assignments for your student. When quarantining as long as the student is doing some work at home and you complete the attendance link provided below they will be counted present. The link to complete your child’s attendance is HERE
Because your student has been directly exposed to someone, outside of school, who has tested positive for COVID, your student needs to quarantine for 10 days. They may return to school after the 10 days of quarantine have been completed AND have no symptoms from the time of exposure.
The 10 day quarantine protocol is not school days, it also includes the weekend. For example, if your child was exposed on Aug. 9, they can return to school on Aug. 20 (10 days).
Please keep me, your child’s teacher, and our school nurse, Mrs. Skoff updated on your child’s symptoms and/or test results.
See below for details for siblings where ONE tests positive, another tests NEGATIVE. Or for students and a parent tests positive, but student tests NEGATIVE.
Your positive student will need to complete a 10 day quarantine and may return to school after those 10 days so long as they are fever free for 24 hours and their symptoms are improving. With regard to siblings - as of now, IF you are able to isolate the positive child from the family, eat in separate spaces, wear masks in the home, use separate bathrooms, etc the negative child may return at the end of the positive child’s 10 day quarantine IF you were able to ensure the above protective measures were taken in the home.
The negative child(ren) would need to have NO symptoms and obtain a COVID test NO SOONER THAN 5 days following their last exposure to the positive sibling. So, if you used Monday as Day 1, they could test after Friday. If that test is negative AND you have been able to keep the positive student isolated the entire time, then the negative siblings could go back to school after the positive child's 10 day quarantine is over. We would request that you provide us documentation of their negative PCR tests before the children return. IF any of your other children develop symptoms at any point, they should get tested. If they then test positive they would then just complete a 10-day quarantine from the onset of symptoms.
These are the recommendations that the Durham Health Department has provided us as of today. They will continue to assess and monitor the situation and may update their guidelines. We will make changes to our protocols here at Voyager if that happens.
WHAT DO I DO IF MY CHILD HAS BEEN EXPOSED TO COVID?
Contact Mrs. Johnson and your child's teacher
Mrs. Johnson or the school nurse will contact the family and talk you through the quarantine/isolation process.
Students may still work from home during this period. The teacher will provide assignments for the student and the parent will
Need Information:
As always if you have questions or have concerns or have suggestions feel free to contact me at gjohnson@voyageracademy.net. I am happy to help you or if I don’t know the answer, I will find out for you!
Loaner Computers
Help, we have not received all of the loaner computers that were provided for the past school year. We need all of the loaners returned so please drop off the loaner during the school day. Make sure you also bring the charger! We really need these loaners ASAP so we can do maintenance if needed and provide students with them.
Thanks for your continued support and enjoy the long weekend!
Gwen
Gwen Johnson
Middle School Principal
gjohnson@voyageracademy.net