Welcome back to the 2021-22 school year!!
We hope you had a healthy and restful summer break and are refreshed and ready for the new school year! We are excited and can't wait to see all of our returning students, students returning from the Hub, as well as welcome back any newcomers to our wonderful school community!
We have had some staffing changes over the summer that we would like you to be aware of. After a long, amazing career, Mr. Gord Martens has made the difficult decision to retire and we will certainly miss him around here! Mr. Andrew Little who taught kindergarten last year will be joining us to teach grade 2, so welcome back Mr. Little! Ms. Shae Frisby will be joining our kindergarten team this fall.
Mrs. Shaw (lunchroom) is leaving us, and Mrs.T retired from our lunchroom team after many years at DJKM. Mrs. Munro also made the difficult decision to retire from her role in the library.
Ms.Crystal Gleeson will be in during Ms. Eagen's leave, and Ms. Faryal Khan will be in for Ms. Petrie while she is on leave. Although we will miss all of our departing colleagues, we welcome our new arrivals. We also welcome Mrs. Tausif and Mrs. Kniss as well as welcoming back Ms. Holowchuck and Ms. Asad to lunchroom.
We know you may be wondering what has changed with regards to Covid, so here is a summary of Covid updates and reminders:
- Students and staff will still be expected to use the daily checklist to identify if they should attend or stay home
- Staying home when sick – students and staff who present with COVID-19 symptoms must stay at home until symptoms resolve
- Proper hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette
- Enhanced cleaning and disinfection of high traffic/touch areas
- Enhanced ventilation in schools
- Classroom cohorts in kindergarten to Grade 6
- No unscheduled visitors, volunteers or external partners will be permitted in schools at the start of the school year
- Public use or rentals of school facilities outside of school hours will be limited until January 2022
Some health restrictions will be lifted, including:
- At the direction of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, schools will no longer inform close contacts of positive cases, but additional health measures may be implemented as the COVID-19 situation evolves, or if outbreaks occur
- Lockers and change rooms can be used
- Band and sports activities can proceed
- Limited off-site activities will be allowed
- Schools can be occupied for evening and weekend school activities
This is just an excerpt from the CBE Re-entry Information page…if you would like to see the entire back to school plan please visit the CBE Covid page [CBE%20School%20Re-entry%20Information]CBE School Re-entry Information
Although the first day of classes isn't until Wednesday September 1st, we wanted to send you a little information to help that day go smoothly for your child(ren).
- The first day of school is a formal day! Please be sure to send your child in their formal uniform. After Wednesday, formal uniforms are to be worn every Monday, assembly days and any other “special" day that is communicated with you. Our website is kept up to date and formal days are also posted on the calendar. Your child will wear their formal or informal uniform every other day.
- Children must wear masks on the school bus to and from school and are expected to wear them in the school. Please be sure to send your child with a mask, as well as a couple of extras (kept in a Ziploc bag in their backpack) in case something happens and they need to replace the one they were wearing. We prefer not to inconvenience you to bring a mask if they don't have one.
- Please be sure to send your child(ren) with a lunch and multiple snacks as our students require healthy snacks to fuel their learning & playing. Just a reminder that we do not have food for children at the school and we will have call you to bring them food if they forget their snack or lunch.
- Please send your child with appropriate outdoor clothing for the forecasted weather throughout the day. Students go outside every day (unless it's colder than -20 degrees Celsius) and it's important that they are prepared to do so, no matter what the crazy Calgary weather brings.
- If your child takes the yellow school bus and you plan to pick them up at the end of the day, you must let the office know by 3pm and sign them out on the clipboard at the front door before you leave with them. We take bus attendance every day and if your child is not on the bus and not signed out, it delays all bus riders departure.
- If your child is going to be absent, it is very important that you let us know. The absence line is 403-777-6640, ext. 1. Please leave a message, before 9:10am, with your child's name, teacher and their reason for absence. More information regarding attendance can be found on our website.
You should have received a welcoming email from your child's teacher by 3:30 on Friday August 27 (today). If you did not receive this email, first check your junk mail and all other email addresses that you might have on file with the school, but if you still can't find it, please contact the school during business hours (8:15am – 4:30pm Mondays-Thursdays & 8:15am – 3:45pm Fridays) on Monday and we will look into why.
Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. The office can be reached by email (Mrs. Van Oosten or Miss Judy) or by telephone (403-777-6640).
We look forward to seeing your children on Wednesday (or their staggered entry day if they are in kindergarten)!!
Anne Markovich
