Brunswick-Brittonkill Central School District

Message from our PTSA: We’ve had a lot of parents asking about picture days! Reminder, Secondary school photos start tomorrow 10/13-10/15. Elementary students are 10/14. You can order you pictures online. Please be sure to send a copy of your receipt in with your child. www.adirondackschoolportraits.com Enter which ever code below applies to your student. High school students: TAMHS20X355 Middle school students: TAMMID20X356 Elementary students: TAMELM20X357 If you have any additional questions that we can help with, please just let us know!

If your child was unable to connect today Please email alammerts@brunswickcsd.org to confirm. We need to ensure that students are not absent due to COVID or COVID related symptoms. Please help us keep Tamarac safe. Have a great three day weekend.

Dear Tamarac ES Families I hope this email finds you well and with electricity - still waiting for it at my house 😞😞. Fortunately, good weather returned today, and our annual Fire Prevention and Safety presentation happened for our kindergarten and 1st grade students. Many thanks to the Eagle Mills, Raymertown, and Brunswick 1 fire departments for working so wonderfully with these students today. The students loved the presentations and the fire trucks, and they learned valuable information to keep them and their families safe. As a reminder, picture day is scheduled for next Wednesday, October 14, 2020. Students attending school in person will be having their pictures taken during the school day between the hours of 10:30 AM and 3:00 PM. Students attending school remotely may come to school from 3:15 PM - 4:30 PM to have their pictures taken. There will be a table set up outside the main entrance for parents and students to check in. A parent will be required to complete a health screening survey at the table, and students will have their temperatures taken prior to entering the building. Only the student will enter the building to have his/her picture taken. Parents will need to wait outside until their child's picture is taken. It has come to our attention that some parents are parking in areas that are not designated parking spaces during elementary pick-up (e.g., lawn areas). We kindly ask that parents who are picking up students at dismissal time park their cars in any available parking spot when you arrive. Parking spaces are no longer assigned and any open parking space may be used when picking up your child from school. We have been having talks about how to celebrate Halloween this year, given all the steps we must observe. Our planning is not complete, but it does look like we will be doing smaller, classroom-based activities to celebrate this year, not the outdoor parades and events that we have been having in the past. I hope the parades can make a comeback next year, but for now, it is on hold. More complete information will be shared as our building meets on this topic further. Looking ahead, we have designated November 9, 2020 as the first day that students who have been learning remotely may begin attending school in-person if the parents decide that this is their preference. Parents of remote learners who wish for their child to begin attending in-person instruction must notify their child’s remote teacher of this decision no later than October 23, 2020. This will allow for us to plan around necessary distancing protocols should classes need to be reconfigured to accommodate additional students. I hope you and your family enjoy this upcoming weekend - my son just texted that National Grid trucks are on our street. Maybe I'll be able to enjoy the weekend, too. Sincerely, Rich Pogue

Update from Dr. Maloney We are thankful to have the power on at school but are very aware that many of our families do not have power and/or internet. Situations like this can be unpredictable therefore we continue to work with our local towns and governments to ensure safety. Tomorrow, barring any unforeseen situation, school will be open. We have checked with Rensselaer Co Emergency Management about the State of Emergency. They stated the State of Emergency is due to road clean up work but schools do not need to stay closed. Our closure today was a lack of power. A wide spread weather incident like this is unexpected and fortunately rare. This year, our situation is much more complicated by the COVID 19 pandemic and remote instruction. If you are out of power and your child cannot report or connect remotely this will be an excused absence. We will work with you and your family and no student will be penalized due to lack of power or internet. As always, you make the best decision for your child. Please just confirm this information through the normal mechanisms when you can. Tomorrow will be the normal schedule. Mr. Rizzo has posted an update for the secondary school that covers current topics such as open house, pictures and tomorrow’s schedule. This is a challenging 24 hours in a challenging year. Brunswick is here for you. Please do not hesitate to reach out if we can support your families. Please remember to check for any updates. I hope you and your family stay well. Angelina Maloney Superintendent

Update: Brunswick CSD is closed today 10/8 due to widespread power outages and road closures due to the storm yesterday. We wish to thank our local forest responders for the hard work to keep our community safe last evening. Stay safe everyone! Angelina Maloney

Due to power outages at all schools, Brunswick CSD will be operating on a two hour delay. Please check back for updates as we continue to monitor the situation

Find a Test Site Near You https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/find-test-site-near-you

Part 1 of the Secondary Virtual Open House is now available. Here is the link to the teacher videos: https://sites.google.com/brunswickcsd.org/tamarac-mshs-open-house/home Part II is the virtual meet time with teams/departments tomorrow from 5:15-8:00. Here is the link once again in case you need it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K-4THXc9daHlir-Xb9X633SYwXLi82uF49D03P_yPwA/edit?usp=sharing Thank you!

o the families of Tamarac Elementary School, It is hard to believe that October is here. We have come a long way in our first month of school, and our educational landscape has changed right along with the season. The important things at Tamarac Elementary, however, have remained the same: high quality instruction and a deep sense of community. We have made additional adjustments to our arrival and dismissal processes to maximize instructional time in classrooms, while keeping safety and efficiency for our drop-off and pick-up students, as well as our bus riders, in the forefront of our minds. For the convenience of families, parents may drop off students at 8:30am - we will have someone at the main crosswalk, at the parent drop off zone, to cross students as the buses arrive. At 8:40am, students may enter the building after being screened. We are offloading the buses one at a time once the lines to enter go down - fewer riders and more parent drop offs are speeding up this process. With that, we will return to our 8:55am start time, with tardies beginning after that time. We have now begun calling to dismiss students (beginning with students attending aftercare) at 3:05pm. Students being picked up by parents will be dismissed after that time using the same alphabetical groupings and the same exit points that we have been. Busses are now being released at 3:25pm. Picture day is scheduled for 10/14/20! Our wonderful PTSA is coordinating this effort, and we will be working with them to provide additional information to you on the picture day process for in-person and remote learners. More to come! In a previous newsletter, we mentioned our “SMART” approach to behavior education and support. We would like to highlight the ”S” for “safety” this week! Firstly, our students and teachers have been the picture of health and safety by remaining vigilant about following mask-wearing and distancing protocols. I am so proud to see how our Bengals have risen to the occasion to do what is necessary to take care of each other whether together in person or connecting remotely, so we can continue to learn together. In other “safety” news, October is cybersecurity awareness month. This year, perhaps more than ever, cybersecurity is certainly on the forefront of our minds as we have relied on technology to keep us connected. Our district IT Department is a critical part of supporting cybersecurity awareness in the use of instructional technology with our students. However, families are also partners in supporting cybersecurity with our young learners. Please visit this family tip sheet for more information on supporting online security with our K-5 students. Enjoy your children this weekend. We look forward to seeing them all again on Monday! Sincerely, Rich Pogue

Financial Aid night Virtual Oct 21 6 pm Link to follow

Dear Secondary School Families: Happy Friday! With September now in the books, we are looking ahead to another busy month. Considering where we were with time this summer, I can’t say enough about how smooth of a start we have had! Our goal is to keep the positive momentum rolling as we plan our next steps in the school year. Our Continuity of Instruction Committee has been assessing our current progress to date and starting to build the cohort calendar for the late fall/early winter. If your child is fully remote, it is important to note that parents/guardians have until October 23 to notify the counseling department if there are any changes in your child’s mode of instruction (hybrid learning vs. remote). We will need this information to ensure we are always meeting the needs of all of our students and following safety guidelines. We appreciate your continued support! Here are some important updates for this week: Open House - Wednesday, October 7!: Our new virtual open house program is ready for its test drive! The staff has worked hard to construct a meaningful and safe experience that we hope you will enjoy. The program consists of short videos and live sessions with teachers. : Open house videos: Videos will be sent out to all families sometime before the program begins. The videos will contain important information from your child’s teachers and may be viewed whenever it is most convenient for you! Live Meets with teachers: On the evening of October 7 we will hold 15 minute Google Meet sessions with parents from 5:15-8:00pm. Please click on the link below to view the entire schedule. Mr. White and I hope you will join us to kick off the program at 5:15 pm! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K-4THXc9daHlir-Xb9X633SYwXLi82uF49D03P_yPwA/edit?usp=sharing School Picture Day(s): Please mark your calendars! Adirondack School Portraits will be coming for our annual school picture event. Here is the plan for all students: 10/13: 11th and 12th Grade (Blue Cohort Day) 10/14: 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade (Red Cohort Day) 10/15: 9th and 10th Grade (White Cohort Day) Fully Remote Students: May come into school (check-in at front desk) between 7:30 am-3:30 pm on Oct. 13th, 14th or 15th. ***There will be a window of time on October 13th and 14th from 2:15-3:30 pm after school day hours. Picture Retake Day: November 23 from 11am -3:30pm. Chromebooks: This will be the last week for scheduled Chromebook pick ups - Mon-Fri 9-2:30 in the front lobby of our building. Please email adenovellis@brunswickcsd.org if you need to arrange (for grades 7-12). Principal’s Advisory Committee (P.A.C.): I wanted to inform you that we have a brand new student organization up and running called PAC. PAC is how the school administration at Tamarac High School empower and encourage students to develop leadership skills and take an active role in leading proactive school change. This year PAC is open to all 11th and 12th grade students who will attend monthly meetings and work collaboratively throughout the year. Using a consensus building model, the committee is currently focused on identifying our priority goals. Mr. White and I are truly excited to be working alongside these incredible students to help make our school community even stronger! Stay tuned for more... Calendar: Mon. 10/5 = WHITE DAY, Tues.10/6 = BLUE DAY Wed. 10/7 = RED DAY, Thurs 10/8 = WHITE DAY, Fri 10/9 = Virtual for 7-12 students 10/2: Interim Report Period for Quarter #1 Ends Thank you for your all that you continue to do at home during these challenging times. I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing weekend! #TamaracStrong Sincerely, Ken Rizzo Principal Tamarac Secondary School

Dear Tamarac Elementary School Families, We would like to notify you that we are planning to conduct a fire drill in the elementary school Friday September 25, 2020, consistent with New York State requirements. We will take a modified, staggered approach to how the drill is conducted in order to minimize the risk of spreading infection while ensuring that students and staff understand how to get to safety in a situation where evacuation is required. At this point, we are planning on evacuating classes individually by coming to the door of each classroom one-at-a-time to announce the drill. We will not be using the fire alarm at this time. Teachers will escort their classes outside the building using the appropriate exit closest to the classroom. Teachers and students will walk out to the designated meeting area for their classrooms, and attendance will be checked. The class will then be called back into the building. We estimate that the process will take approximately 10 minutes per class. Students will be instructed that in the case of an actual emergency requiring evacuation, an alarm will sound, and the entire building will evacuate at once. We appreciate your understanding and flexibility with these modified fire drill procedures. Sincerely, Rich Pogue Principal, Tamarac Elementary School

Good afternoon: Tomorrow morning you will receive a health screening to complete for your student. You should receive one for each student. It is a quick questionnaire aimed at ensuring our school community is stop the spread of COVID 19 and keep the spread from Tamarac Schools. I would appreciate if all families(in person, remote and hybrid) complete the health screener. A reminder will be sent if you do not complete the initial screening. If you have any questions, please let me know. I thank you in advance for your cooperation. Angelina Maloney Superintendent

Support the Tamarac Senior Class 2021 https://www.boonsupply.com/collections/611081-tamarac-high-school-class-of-2021

Dear Tamarac Elementary School Families, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Kelly Onorato, and I am completing an internship with Mr. Pogue as I pursue my New York State School Building Leader certification. I am so grateful to be continuing my learning in the Tamarac community, and I am happy to support you and your children alongside Mr. Pogue this fall. I will be with Tamarac Elementary full time through October 26, 2020. Mr. Pogue and I are pleased to say that we have successfully completed our first full week of school for the 2020-2021 school year! Whether students are with us in-person or virtually, it is wonderful to finally have our days filled with smiles, laughter, and learning again. Understandably, our necessary health and safety procedures give this year a different feel compared to years past, but our students are already showing great resilience and an eagerness to learn. They may be having the easiest time with our new “normal”. We greatly appreciate your flexibility with modified arrival and dismissal procedures this year. We have been fine-tuning our procedures to protect student and staff health while increasing efficiency as much as possible. Moving forward we will begin allowing students to enter the building at 8:40 AM. We will continue to exercise some flexibility with late arrivals at this time to allow for an orderly temperature screening process. Upon arrival, students will continue to enter the building at their designated grade level entrances after having their temperatures screened. Students with a temperature reading of 100.0 degrees F or greater will be screened a second time. If their temperature reads 100.0 F at that point, they will be escorted to the isolation room and a parent or caregiver will be contacted to pick up their child. For dismissal, we have shifted to beginning the process at 3:00 PM. Once aftercare students have been dismissed from their classrooms, students picked up by parents or caregivers will be dismissed alphabetically. Signs will continue to be placed at designated exits indicating which students may be picked up at which exit (i.e., A-F, G-O, and P-Z). When you arrive to pick up your child, please wear a cloth face covering/mask over your mouth and nose, and maintain an appropriate social distance from those around you when waiting in line. We have painted blue dots on the front sidewalks for your reference to assist in maintaining social distancing protocols. Your cooperation has been vital to a smooth and safe pickup process; thank you for your patience and understanding as we improve this procedure. We are all in this together. As we adapt to our new routines during the school day, we will be re-integrating our “SMART” approach to behavior education and support. For families unfamiliar with this approach, each letter represents a category related to schoolwide behavioral expectations: S = Safety; M = Manners; A = Accountability; R = Respect; T = Task. We will be communicating more about our SMART approach to behavior in the upcoming months, and we believe that consistent and positive behavioral expectations will support our students in retaining a sense of normalcy as they continue through the school year. Enjoy this lovely September weekend with your children, and please give them time to rest and recharge. We all need to build up our stamina after many months away from our typical school routine! I hope they are as happy as I am to return (virtually or in-person) on Monday. Warmly, Kelly Onorato Elementary Principal Intern

The Brunswick CSD is proud to announce that ALL students can eat free breakfast and lunch. The USDA has extended funding to allow BCSD students meals free of change through December 31 2020 or when funding runs out. Please contact Joy Wright at jwright@brunswickcsd.org w/ ?'s

Dear families, We look forward to another year of feeding your students especially from our brand new MS/HS kitchen. If you are learning remote or hybrid and wish to order school meals, we have set up an ordering system to assist you in the process. You will need to order weekly by Thursday at noon for the upcoming week. email us at: foodordering@brunswickcsd.org We will need: Student(s) full name Student(s) grade Number of meals for the week, clarify number of breakfast & lunches Dates you are ordering for: example week of 9/21 - 9/25/20 Guardian contact & cellphone Please note, do not request a meal on the day your student is participating in, in-district learning. Pickup of meals will be every Monday at 9:00am located at the auditorium entrance. If you have a hardship and cannot pick up your meals, please note this in your ordering and we will try our best to accommodate. If you do not qualify for free or reduced lunches you must pre-pay for your meals. We cannot accept cash at pick up. If you need a free and reduced lunch application, please go to our website at brunswickfoodservice.org If you have questions please contact me. Sincerely, Joy Wright Brunswick CSD Cafeteria Director 518-279-4600 ext 2208 Sincerely, Cafeteria Manager Brunswick HS

Parents and caregivers of HS Fully remote students should check their email for a welcome letter

Secondary School families: Have your students check their school emails to look for Google Classroom and/or emails from your teachers!

Good evening Tamarac ES Families: AM Drop Off - Due to the increased number of parents driving children to school this year, we are allowing parents to drop off students as early as 8:30 am and continue through 9:00 AM. Over the first weeks of school, we aim to determine a reasonable window of time for arrival procedures. Generous flexibility will be exercised during the first weeks of school concerning arrival times as we fine-tune the arrival process. For safety reasons, no parents are allowed to drop off students in the bus parking lane - it will be blocked off to all vehicles except buses. Parents are asked to drop off students near the main crosswalk to the elementary school; there will be a faculty member to assist with crossing. This year, we will be employing three entrances to facilitate COVID-19 safety protocols: Kindergarten and 1st grade students will be entering the building at the entrance nearest the playground and Route 2 - this is the entrance/hallway that leads to their classrooms. 2nd and 3rd grade students will enter through the main entrance and 4th and 5th grade students will enter near the cafeteria. Adults will be there to assist getting students to the proper entrance. Social distancing and appropriate spacing does need to be maintained as students enter the building. Once students are in line to enter the building, all students will have their temperature taken and recorded; students with a temperature of less than 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit will be able to enter the building. Any students with a temperature of 100.0 degrees F or greater will be assessed again - no student with a temperature of 100.0 degrees F or greater will be allowed to enter class, and will instead be escorted to our isolation room to await pick up by a parent or guardian. If your child does not have a temperature, they will be brought to their classroom as we prepare for the day. At this time, the student may pick up a grab-and-go breakfast which they may eat in the classroom. PM pickup - To begin, no cars will be permitted to enter the bus parking lane at any time; parents must park in the parking areas near Route 2 or near the football field. To speed up student pickup in the afternoon, we will begin dismissing students at 3 pm. We will start by escorting kindergarten and 1st grade students to the parent pickup area starting at 2:55 PM, which is by the doors near the cafeteria (as we have done the past few years). Then, we will begin calling down the remaining students alphabetically so that families can pick up all their children at one time; this will happen in 3 waves. Students will need to be physically distanced as they wait to be picked up. Our established sign out procedures will continue. Our goal is to have all parent pickup students released from the building by 3:15 PM - hopefully this will reduce some of the congestion of vehicles exiting on to Route 2 at dismissal time. As with all processes this school year, this will probably take longer than usual as we get used to putting names to (masked) faces. We are still fine-tuning many things in this building as we enter this very unprecedented time. Let us know if you have any questions at rpogue@brunswickcsd.org Sincerely, Rich Pogue