Hi all,
Today is the day that all of you are invited to check your child’s PowerSchool Account. It’s mid-quarter for Quarter One. It’s also “Progress Report Day.” At the Middle School we do not send home a paper Progress Report. We ask you to review your child’s grades in PowerSchool along with checking to see if your child has completed and turned in all assignments. Please make sure you are checking PowerSchool regularly not just on Progress Report day so you will not be surprised at Report Card time. The majority of our students have completed and turned in their assignments but some of our students have decided that completing their work and turning it in is not important. So please check your child’s PowerSchool Account!
CONFERENCE DAY:
Just a reminder that Friday, September 24 is Voyager’s Conference Day. Several of you will receive an email from your child’s teacher requesting a conference with you. If you do not receive an invitation and you feel you need a conference, please contact your child’s teacher. Some of our teachers plan to have In-Person conferences which means anyone coming into the building will need to wear a mask. Other teachers plan to have conferences via Zoom. Your child’s teacher will let you know what type of conference he/she is having.
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. Donations have been pouring in and we are so very appreciative. Donations will be accepted until September 16 as that is the final day of our Step It Up Fundraiser. 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. Thanks to all of you who participated.
We had one of our drawings on Wednesday. The prize was a Mini Refrigerator and it was full of one dollar bills. CONGRATULATIONS to Jaden Clark as Jaden was the winner of the first drawing and took home a Mini Refrig that had 20 one dollar bills in the mini refrigerator. Keira McIlvaine was the winner of the second Mini Refrig which also had 20 one dollar bills in the mini refrigerator. Step It Up has been lots of fun and we look forward to October 8 as we have fun during the Day of Awesomeness. We look forward to hearing the final totals as we are ready to begin our purchases.
EOG READING REPORT:
Our EOG Reading scores arrived this week and reports have been sent home with our students. On Thursday you should have received a copy of your child’s EOG score. If you did not receive the EOG Reading report 1) ask your child about the EOG Score report, 2) If you still do not receive the report, please send me an email. The only students who did not have an EOG report are our new students.
School Accreditation Year
This is the year for Voyager’s School Accreditation. We are in the process of preparing our documentation for the team from COGNIA who will interview staff, parents, administrators, and students. The team interviews will be virtual as well as their visit. Each school will select representatives to meet with the team. The Accreditation Visit is November 17-19. The Accreditation Team has a different agenda for each day.
Make Up Pictures
A few of you have asked about Make-Up Pictures. Our Mak- Up day is October 22. As we get closer to October 22, Ms. Pam will send a picture envelope home with the students who were absent on Picture Day.
Sports
Our sports are either in the process of trying out for the sport or the team could already be in the process of playing. Our Cross Country Team has a meet Friday, Sept. 10 at Excelsior. Our girls’ Volleyball Team played Wednesday. The team played hard but came up a little short! They play again on Monday, September 13. Our boys’ Soccer Team just completed their tryouts and Coach MItchell has chosen the team. There were many students who tried out for soccer. Coach Ryan had an Interest Meeting for our boys who are interested in basketball. The Interest Meeting was Friday, September 10 during lunch. Coach had a big turnout.
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 we can use the buses 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 Background Check and completing a Drug Screening. If you are interested, information is on our Voyager website.
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, if the student is doing some work at home and you complete the attendance link provided below students 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!
Thanks for your continued support and enjoy the long weekend!
Gwen
Gwen Johnson
Middle School Principal
gjohnson@voyageracademy.net