Viola Rand Elementary

The Back to School Expo for Viola Rand and Alton Elementary School students will be on August 18, 4:30-6:30!

Check out these summer caps at Hirundo!

RSU #34- Alton, Bradley and Old Town Schools The State of Maine and Department of Education have completed the statewide pool testing program. The Pool Testing program has ended, but that is not an indicator that COVID has ended. We have seen increased cases of COVID as of late and wanted to give our families some extra resources to help navigate this time. If your student is not feeling well or there are house members who are ill with COVID or awaiting testing, you should continue to keep your child at home notify the school and perform a rapid COVID test/seek testing at a facility. It may be helpful to have some at-home COVID rapid tests on hand in case of an exposure, or if you/your student develop symptoms that may be consistent with COVID such as: *Fever or chills *Cough *Fatigue *Muscle or body aches *Headache *New loss of taste or smell *Sore throat *Nausea or vomiting *Congestion or runny nose *Diarrhea *Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing How can I get an at-home test? • At-home tests can be purchased over the counter without a prescription at pharmacies, retail stores, or online retailers. • There are local facilities offering rapid testing services including PCHC Walk-In Care, Northern Light Walk-in Care, Curative (curative.com , located at the Bangor International Airport), The Northern Light Drive Thru, Walgreens, and ConvienentMD. • Order free tests through the State Program: There are free at-home tests (five per household) available for Maine residents through the successful Project Access COVID-19 Tests (ACT) pilot at www.accessCOVIDTests.org. These tests can be ordered once per month per household. • Order free tests through the Federal Program: Maine people in need of home tests may also order them through the federal program. The White House recently announced that U.S. residents can order two sets of four free at-home tests through www.COVIDtests.gov. Residents can also call 1-800-232-0233 for help placing the order. If you have any questions or concerns, need to discuss an exposure, or report an illness please contact the school nurse Hannah Cloutier, RN (hannah.cloutier@rsu34.org ) at Alton Elementary School (394-2331) or Viola Rand School (827-2508).

Here is a link to the Pre-Screening Tool https://5il.co/1a64g

Dear RSU #34 Community, You have likely seen in the news that COVID-19 rates are high in our region. We also continue to see the spread of a number of other respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses. Please help us keep kids and staff in school by doing these things: *Please remember to do at-home screening for symptoms each and every day. (link below) *Please order and use your no-cost at-home COVID tests from https://www.covid.gov/tests or https://www.accesscovidtests.org/ *Please keep kids home when they’re sick! *Please consider using masks to reduce transmission of lots of illnesses at school. This week, the week of May 9th, is the last week that the state is conducting the pooled testing program, which makes closely monitoring for symptoms at home all the more important! Thank you, and we’re glad to see the sun shining! https://www.maine.gov/doe/sites/maine.gov.doe/files/inline-files/Maine%20DOE%20Pre-Screening%20Tool%20for%20School%20Attendance%2010

School and Student Safety Late yesterday afternoon, we were informed of a possible threat to the safety of our schools. We immediately initiated an investigation. In cooperation with the Old Town Police Department, we determined that a comment overheard by a student was perceived as a safety threat. The student did what we ask students to do, “If you see or hear something, say something.” Fortunately, there was no criminal or credible threat to the safety of our students. Nonetheless, the comment was perceived as a threat and as such, will be dealt with administratively. RSU#34 maintains our high-level commitment to the safety and wellbeing of all students and staff.

If you would like to learn more about the Covid 19 vaccine for children, here is information about a zoom webinar with a panel of pediatricians from across the state.

If you'd like to sign your child up for pooled testing in RSU #34, the info is below! Pooled testing is a great way to keep more of our students out of quarantine and learning in-person. Participating in pooled testing is optional, and parents must give consent. Pooled testing is a once a week, gentle nasal swab that kids do themselves. Participants qualify for one of the four quarantine exceptions in Maine's Standard Operating Procedure for schools. Each school has a different access code and if you have multiple children, you'll need to repeat the quick process for each child. To give consent for a student to participate in optional pooled testing, start here: http://testcenter.concentricbyginkgo.com//minor-consent PLEASE BE SURE TO ENTER THE CODE FOR THE CORRECT SCHOOL. Alton Elementary School: PJDN15 Viola Rand Elementary School (Bradley): H52L8P Old Town Elementary School: Z1A0SE (note: the fourth character is a zero, not a capital o) Leonard Middle School: O9T2Y0 (the letter o at the beginning, zero at the end) Old Town High School: X67ZUZ You’ll answer a few questions and can give your consent online. No paper needed! If you need a paper copy of the consent, or if the student has reached age 18, please contact your child’s school.

School starts on Tuesday, September 7th!

The state of Maine has updated its data dashboard, where you can explore a variety of information about schools in Maine such as demographics, staffing, funding, and assessment data. You can access the dashboard here: https://www.maine.gov/doe/dashboard If you have any questions about school/district data please do not hesitate to reach out to our district or school administrators! Contact information for each can be found at www.rsu34.org

The March PRIDE Meeting will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, March 3 @ 6:00PM. Topic: PRIDE March Meeting Time: Mar 3, 2021 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/82400254991 Meeting ID: 824 0025 4991 One tap mobile +13126266799,,82400254991# US (Chicago) +16468769923,,82400254991# US (New York)

Good morning, due to a power outage in Bradley, there will not be school at the Viola Rand School today, December 1st. The rest of RSU34 schools ARE in session. Stay safe and dry. We look forward to seeing students again tomorrow!

COVID Advisory Council Application: https://forms.gle/wX1tH3haStRsZnSZ8 We are excited to launch the 2020-2021 school year, and very much look forward to welcoming our students in person and remotely! Our schools and community will break new ground this year, navigating the pandemic together, as will schools and communities around the world. Each school is forming a continued input/feedback team of parents and staff, called the “COVID Advisory Council.” (AES and VRS will have one combined council). The principal will chair the team for each school, which will have these responsibilities: Receive and share input about what is working as intended, and what can be improved on, Review emerging research, Review public input, Report to the Board with issues discussed, and whether consensus exists on any recommendations. The membership of each school’s team will be as follows: (Ex Officio: Superintendent of Schools, Director of Curric/Instruction/Assessment, Special Education Director, School Nurse) Chair: Building administrator(s) Teacher representative 4 Parent Representatives. If you are interested in being a parent representative, please complete the form below by September 11th. On the form, please indicate if you’re comfortable with the current RSU #34 plan, if you think the plan is too cautious, or if you think the plan is too risky. We will seek to have a representative balance of parent perspectives on the team. The team will be formed, with participants notified, by Friday, September 11, and the first meeting will take place on late afternoon/evening of Monday, September 14. If you have any questions, please call or email your principal.

Parents of Alton Elementary students, please use this link to receive information about the first day of school. We have some new drop off and pick up procedures along with screening information. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hQnzqA0Z55OA3a8u1K4ewTvShQy6GYyuNGuXflMyQ5Q/edit?usp=sharing

We are planning a "Meet the Teacher" day on Tuesday, September 1st. Please use this link for more information and to sign up for a time slot for your child(ren). If you have already received this information, please disregard! :-) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1viBqpgUcPJ8iR857-ShssmU98Z1TGDUApx0Gk7tFz3w/edit?usp=sharing

Update! The school board voted last night to move the start date of school to Tuesday, September 8th. If you are having trouble signing up through the google doc for a "Meet the Teacher" time, please email cheryl.leonard@rsu34.org. We are planning 15 minute time slots from 10:00-12:00 and 12:30-2:30 on Sept. 2nd.

“Meet Your Teacher” at Viola Rand Elementary School! We will be arranging times for your child to meet his/her new teacher on Tuesday, September 1st. Please click on the link to your child’s grade to choose a time to visit at the school! (Pre-kindergarten has already made arrangements with Mrs. Talon.) Kindergarten: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C1aaCwn588zeLqLzus1cUG90zv11EIZZxSrqYLGQdNA/edit?usp=sharing First grade: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C1aaCwn588zeLqLzus1cUG90zv11EIZZxSrqYLGQdNA/edit?usp=sharing Second grade: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZMea-7qYj6pNze4M67ZuZxOaL7SdboUbhIAIyd3YpiI/edit?usp=sharing Third Grade: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOaWSF2GacCe3iZF7exTolWCnHwE1vmawzCKCY39kZQ/edit?usp=sharing School address: 55 Highland Ave., Bradley Phone: 827-2508 Principal: cheryl.leonard@rsu34.org

There will be a lot of changes at the Viola Rand School this school year! We are excited to welcome new and returning students to our school!! To spread students out, enabling more in person instruction, we have added classes . All of the Viola Rand School students will be coming to school all 5 days! There is a lot of moving under way to be ready for students on September 2nd. Here are the teachers at each grade level: Pre-k - Mrs. Talon K - Mrs. Rand Grade 1 - Mrs. Berube Grade 2 - Mrs. Vose Grade 3 - Mrs. Harper There will be a new faces, both students and staff, which be a lot of fun!! We are making plans for an open house at each grade level to ease any anxiety our families may be experiencing. This will be a different year, with masks and distancing between kids and adults, but we are determined to make the best of it and look for ways to have fun in this crazy new situation!

Required parent form for RSU #34 students - Fall 2020 Dear Parents/Guardians of RSU #34 Children, Our district has put together a form through which parents/guardians will inform the schools of their family’s plans and needs for the upcoming start to the school year. Please submit one form per RSU #34 student in order for us to coordinate family plans PreK-12. We estimate this form will take no more than 5 minutes per student to complete. Please submit this form as soon as possible and no later than Friday, July 31st. You can watch the presentation of our planning to the School Board here: https://www.rsu34.org/article/272060?org=rsu-34 RSU #34 anticipates needing to move flexibly between three “lanes” in 2020-2021, depending on things such as community transmission rates of the novel coronavirus and the rates of student and staff illnesses with symptoms similar to COVID-19. These lanes are: fully remote learning, a combination of in-person and remote learning, and in-person learning five days per week. Families that wish to participate remotely all year long may do so. More details and background about the district’s plan can be found here (tinyurl.com/y9o23gmk). Here is the link to the form: https://forms.gle/qzbHRsjgZQuNAkuNA Any questions should be directed to the building principal of your student. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. We thank you for your hard work, patience, and community spirit supporting our children throughout the pandemic. Sincerely, RSU #34 Planning Team

The school board meeting on Wednesday, July 15, 2020 included a presentation by the RSU34 administrative team on a reopening plan for this fall. The video of the board meeting and chat file can be found here: https://www.rsu34.org/article/272060?org=rsu-34