Dear GMS Families, The weather this week added the Spring like energy that we were all craving. Despite some cloudy days, the enthusiasm for recess was palpable. Here's hoping for more weather like we saw this week. As you may have noticed, we did see an uptick in our COVID numbers this week. While we continue to strive for no cases, our mitigation efforts have been mostly effective and have lessened the impact that a positive case can have. We thank you and the students for doing your part with our safety and mitigation efforts, they do make a difference. This week the district has created, and sent home with every student, an updated Daily Health Monitoring Form. This revised form reflects the latest advice and recommendations of the CDC and NH DHHS. Please keep a copy of this form handy to reference on a daily basis, prior to arriving at school. Please see the Superintendent update below for a link to the form. Believe it or not, it is already time to start thinking about next school year. Our student placement process will begin shorty and we want to give you an opportunity to share with us. If there are factors, details, or considerations that you would like us to know prior to placement, please take a moment to complete THIS FORM. We ask that you please refrain from naming or requesting certain teachers, but rather provide us with the information (strengths, weaknesses, or concerns) that you think will help us make the best classroom placement for your child. This form will be open until Friday, April 9.
Be Well, Be Safe, and Be Curious, Dan Mitchell, Principal Maura Clinton- Jones, Assistant Principal
Upcoming Dates | April 7, 2021 | Third Quarter Closes | | April 16, 2021 | Report Cards Sent Home and Available |
|
|
GMS NewsWeekly COVID Numbers Currently we have Ten positive cases associated with the school community. We continue to monitor the situation and will communicate out when necessary. Upcoming Parenting Session with Mrs. Hayes and Ms. Poli Hello parents, This is a reminder that the next session with Mrs. Hayes and Ms. Poli will take place on April 1 (no joke) at 10:30 am and then again at 6:30 pm. We will be discussing strategies for resolving conflict. We hope to see you there! Parent Session Flyer A message from our Student Council Please support the GMS Student Council Pet Supply Drive running from Monday, March 22 through Friday, April 2. All donations will benefit the Animal Rescue League of NH and the Manchester Animal Shelter. See the flyer below for more information. Thank you in advance for your support! Flyer Girls on the Run Attention 3rd and 4th graders! Registration is now open for girls on the run! The season starts the week of April 5th. Girls on the run is a physical activity-based youth development program designed to enhance girls’ social, emotional and physical skills. We will meet on Mondays and Thursdays at GMS from 3-430. We will end the season with a 5k celebration! We will be following covid guidelines. Register online at https://www.girlsontherunnh.org/Our-Locations Please click HERE for more information.
News from the SAU/ Superintendent Friday, March 26, 2021 Travel Quarantines - I want to clarify the announcement in last week’s newsletter. Effective on May 3rd, we will no longer require staff or students to quarantine after domestic travel within the US or US territories. This applies to any domestic travel whether it was completed before or after May 3rd and includes travel over April vacation. Daily Health Screener - We have updated the Daily Health Screener and have sent a paper copy home with each student. Please replace any previous versions in your home with the 3/26/2021 update. When determining “Close Contacts”, the 3 foot rule only applies to school settings when proper masking and physical distancing is taught and enforced. In the community, the 6 foot standard is still required when considering close contacts. Text Messaging - PowerSchool has a text messaging feature that allows the schools to send short reminders and announcements directly to parent and guardian cell phones. The week of April 5th, we will send one text from 67587 to all cell phones in our system. The FCC limits our outreach to that single text, and further requires recipients to “Opt-In” in order to receive future messages. Be on the look-out for this text message and follow the prompts to participate. Texts from the school are limited to 160 characters and will be part of our future plan to keep everyone informed of school happenings. I am pleased to announce that many of our staff have been able to be vaccinated against COVID-19 since phase 2a was opened to K-12 staff. Our internal clinic this weekend has over 120 scheduled participants. Please note that the positive case numbers in Litchfield are disproportionately high. Don’t let your guard down early as our community continues to take steps in the right direction. Be Well & Stay Strong! Mike Jette, Superintendent of Schools News from the PTO VIRTUAL GUIDED ART CLASS WITH MRS. STARRETT Wednesday, March 31, 2021. The GMS PTO is pleased to bring a Virtual Art Class with Mrs. Starrett on March 30, 2021 at 4:30pm. Registration is required by March 24, 2021. Students will work on a floral arrangement to bring in Spring. Supplies will be provided. Space is limited and spots will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis. Register today here: https://forms.gle/NnmpTFGYjWAjLHWr9 News from the Community No News at This Time
Repeated News and Announcements From the Learning Commons I am excited to announce that the Litchfield School District now has the SORA app available to all students. This is a library of ebooks and audiobooks that can be borrowed from any computer, tablet or Smartphone. I have included a couple of videos to get you started. SORA overview Parent Information If you search using Litchfield's zip code (03052), you can add two collections to the Litchfield School District one: NH State Library and NH Schools Shared Digital Collection. Please help your children to be able to take advantage of these book borrowing opportunities. They could find the SORA app in their Google apps as well and will need to log on using their Litchfield School District Google account. If you have any questions, please let me know by contacting me at mprevelturmel@litchfieldsd.org. Enjoy! Melina Prevel-Turmel Absence Reporting Email The GMS office now has a dedicated email address to use to report your child tardy or absent: GMSabsences@litchfieldsd.org. You can also find it on the Griffin Memorial School homepage, on the top, left side under “ABSENCES”. When you send an email please include the following information: *Child’s first and last name *Teacher *Reason for absence If you would prefer to leave a voicemail message when your child is absent or tardy you are still welcome to call 424-5931 and then hit “6” when you hear the automated message. Please remember to include the above information in the voice message. Please note that when you email or leave a voice message saying that your child “will be out” then the absence is recorded as unexcused. Please tell us the reason for the absence so it is documented correctly. Don't forget to join the GMS SEL classroom with Mrs. Hayes and Ms. Poli. Click the link to join https://classroom.google.com/c/MTQyODg4MjYzNDIy?cjc=333dr33 End 68 Hours of Hunger Litchfield Schools are pleased to inform you about a free, confidential food program which provides students with meals from Friday after school until they return on Monday morning. The program is sponsored by “End 68 Hours of Hunger,” a local, private food program whose mission is to help families feed their children over the weekends. If meeting the weekend nutritional needs of your child is challenging at this time, we would like to help meet that need. All food is non-perishable as well as easy to prepare and we do our best to accommodate food allergies when necessary. Guaranteeing your child’s confidential participation in the program is also a top priority. For additional information or to sign up, please contact Jennifer Hayes, GMS School Counselor, at 424-5931 x1106 or jhayes@litchfieldsd.org. Powerschool Parent Portal This summer we switched our Student Information System to Powerschool. As part of Powerschool, you are able to access the Parent Portal in the Unified Classroom feature of this system. Please follow the link below to set up you parent portal account. Please contact the main office if you have an issues creating an account. For Parents - Directions for Parent Access
|
