Dear Parents and Families,
Hello from the GIA faculty. We hope you are enjoying summer. The past few months have been challenging for everyone and we also hope that you are all safe and healthy. As the state of this public health emergency changes from State to State, day to day, moment to moment, we will remain focused on helping schools be safe, healthy, and prepared with proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Please join faculty and staff for an open discussion on the many changes as we value your input. Some of the changes taking place are explained in this letter and will be discussed more fully on our first Parent Zoom Conference.
YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN US ON A ZOOM DISCUSSION REGARDING THE GIA SCHOOL OPENING NEXT THURSDAY JULY, 9TH AT 7PM.
SEE ZOOM INFORMATION BELOW.
When students finally return to school after months of being away from school, there will be dramatic changes. To re-open GIA safely and responsibly will require everyone to maintain proper distancing while they’re at school and to close the school frequently for sanitizing. Attached are some school updates regarding the many changes:
SCHOOL UPDATES:
START DATE: School will be begin on August 17, 2020 and students will be required to come into the building on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays students will be at home for remote distance learning classes or complete scheduled assignments. Student after-care programs will be available on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Childcare will not be available on Tuesday and Thursdays. However, GIA will be working with many programs for drop- off and pick up when students are out of school.
Download the 2020-2021 School Calendar here.
COVID GUIDELINES:
Safely re-opening GIA will require extra space. To safely distance the students WE ARE MAKING CHANGES TO OUR CAMPUSES. This year grades K-4 will be located at 4265 Northfield Road (formerly the Boys Campus). Grades 5-8 will be located at 4901 Galaxy Parkway (formerly the Girl’s campus). Splitting up the grades in this way gives us plenty of room and space and allows us to divide classes into smaller groups.
DAY TO DAY OPERATION:
Parents and families will have monthly ZOOM meetings to discuss school culture. Below are some of the actions that will take place on a day to day basis:
- Minimize movement throughout the building and restrict mixing between groups. Try to keep the same student and staff groupings together throughout the school day as much as possible.
- Cancellation of field trips. Limit gatherings, events, and extracurricular activities to those that can maintain proper social distancing.
- Restricting nonessential visitors, volunteers, and activities involving groups of people at the same time.
- Spacing student desks and seating at least six feet apart.
- Close communal-use spaces such as the cafeteria and playgrounds and stagger their use and disinfect them in between uses.
- Keeping each child’s belongings separated from others’ and in individually labeled containers, cubbies, or areas.
- Keeping enough supplies to minimize the sharing of high-touch materials to the extent possible (art supplies, math manipulatives, science equipment, etc.), or limit the use of supplies and equipment to one group of children at a time and clean and disinfect these items between uses.
- Student rules on no sharing of electronic devices, books, games, and other learning aids. Students might need their own bin of materials that they use for learning — and these materials will need to be cleaned regularly.
- Student Laptops for Middle School for Remote Learning Days.
We will continue to notify you of our plans as we move along. Please feel to contact Mr. Richard Clark at the front office at (216) 378-9573 or via email at [email protected] if you have any questions. The entire GIA staff is standing by to help our parents and students through this very different upcoming school year.
Thank you and be well.
Sincerely,
April N. Hart
Executive Director
GIA Is Inviting You To A Parent Zoom Meeting!
Topic: SCHOOL REOPENING AND REMOTE LEARNING PLANS
**Time: Thursday July 9th, 2020 at 7:00 PM
Join us in a discussion of our school plans to reopen, social distance and address student learning gaps due to COVID-19.
***CLICK ON THIS ZOOM LINK TO JOIN:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2013202021?pwd=dUI0R0xxSUFRWldoSGRtU1RLbUp0UT09
Meeting ID: 201 320 2021
Password: Inspire13
***Or Dial in at:
1+ 646 558 8656 US (New York)
1+ 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Meeting ID: 201 320 2021
Password: 581980