Happy March Everyone!
As you are aware, Alberta entered Step 2 on March 1 (today). The following changes came into effect at that time:
· Any remaining school requirements removed (for example: Kindergarten to grade 6 cohorting).
- Youth screening activities for entertainment and sport activities removed.
- Capacity on all large venues and entertainment venues lifted.
- Restrictions lifted on interactive activities, table limits, liquor sales and closing times for bars, restaurants and other food serving businesses.
- Indoor and outdoor social gathering limits lifted, including for all wedding and funeral events.
- Mandatory work-from-home requirements lifted.
- Provincial mask mandate lifted except:
- on municipal and intra-provincial public transit for Albertans 13 and older
- at AHS-operated and contracted facilities, and all continuing care settings
With regards to schools,
- Masking is optional for students and staff
- Students and adults must continue to follow Alberta Isolation and Quarantine requirements if testing positive for Covid 19 on PCR or Rapid Antigen Test
- Students are asked to stay home if they are sick
- Cohorting is no longer an expectation – students do not have designated play areas at recess and can play where they would like to play (supervision continues)
- Sanitizing at entry ways not required
- Students continue to be encouraged to wash their hands often especially before eating as a part of regular hygiene routines
- Parents and visitors may come into the school (must continue to check in at the office)
In order to align with the recent lifting of provincial COVID restrictions in schools, parents will now have the option of attending a Student Learning Conference online OR in person next week. For both types of conferences: Please proceed with using our online booking request form. When you book a conference on this page, you will automatically receive a Microsoft TEAMS link for an online conference. If you prefer an in-person conference instead, please book in the same way, and also contact the office to inform us that you will attend your child’s conference in person, so we know to expect you at school at your designated time.
We are working with our CBE team to ensure that we are rolling out any changes to our COVID protocols in a thoughtful manner. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or the main office and we will do our best to respond.
Report cards were available for viewing on February 1, 2022 on your PowerSchool account. Students receive a report card mid-way through the school year and at the end of the school year in June. We know it's important for parents to understand how their children are doing in school. This is one of the ways the school informs parents about their child's progress and achievement. A student's report card corresponds to ongoing assessment done by his or her teacher. Assessing a student's progress is one of the most important ways teachers support the continued learning of their students. It is recommended that you print a copy of the report card at home as it does get removed from your child's account and may not be accessible for parents after that time. If you haven’t already seen it, I strongly encourage you to view your child’s report card before attending Student Learning Conferences this month.
We are also starting to make plans for staffing for next year and although we would love for all of our students to be staying with us next year, we know sometimes children will be changing schools for a variety of reasons. If you know your child will be attending another school next year, due to a move or any other reason, we would really appreciate it if you could let the office know by June 1st. This will ensure we have the transfer process done so student records are ready to go at the end of June to their new school. If you find out after this date, that is fine too…just give us a call in the office and let us know. As we approach the latter half of the school year, students in grade 4 have begun to think about the transition to grade 5. All grade 4 students are automatically reassigned and registered to Colonel Macleod School. If you would like your child to attend a different school for grade 5, then please follow the transfer process outlined on the CBE website CBE transfer process as soon as possible.
Our LOTTERY for the 2022/23 school year (for students who do not currently attend but want to attend Dr. J.K. Mulloy School next year) was held on February 16, 2022, and was witnessed by a member of our School Council. All “Expression of Interest” forms had to be received by noon on February 15, to be included in the lottery. Any registration packages received after 12:00pm on February 15th were & will continue to be added to the end of our call back list following the lottery. As we are currently over capacity, no grade 1 to 4 spots were vacant to be filled during our lottery this year. We know we have a lot of disappointed parents out there, and we want to assure everyone that we will continue to use our callback list to fill any new vacancies up until September 8, 2022 at which time our call back list will be dissolved.
There is a strong positive correlation between regular attendance and a student's success in school. Regular attendance at school maximizes student learning and success, as well as teaching children how to be part of a community and that school is a priority for your family. While it is recognized that enrichment activities or travel present unique learning opportunities for students, excessive or frequent absences can create gaps in student learning and social development. Consequently, it becomes the parent's responsibility to ensure their child is meeting learning expectations during extended absences; the school is unable to provide learning support (ie extra homework) while students are away on a family holiday.
If you are one of our families considering travel out of the country to visit friends or relatives for extended periods of time, please be sure to let the office know in advance of your trip. We will write a letter to document the absence in the student's file, and will update their attendance record. These absences are recorded as “unexcused" in the student's attendance record. Should your extended absence coincide with the start of the school year, this can have an unexpected impact on your child's school placement. If a student does not arrive to school in September due to a family holiday, and will be returning at some point after September 30, 2022, the student may be withdrawn from Dr. J.K. Mulloy School. Your family will be redirected to your designated school. You will be able to reapply to the TLC Program at Dr. J.K. Mulloy the following year. We know that many families book travel plans well in advance of their departure date, so we like to let families know this early on in the school year.
We know that our parents value our school uniform as an important part of the TLC program. We appreciate your commitment to ensuring your child arrives at school daily in the appropriate uniform. If you are not sure of the expectations, please refer to the TLC Uniform Requirements TLC Uniform Requirements We know that this has been a tough couple of years on some families financially, and if you need help to meet the uniform requirements, please contact the office to make an appointment with Ms. Lay or myself (Ms. Markovich) and we will see what we can do to help you out.
The last day before Spring Break is Friday March 18, and classes will resume on Tuesday March 28, 2022! We hope you all enjoy a well-deserved break to spend some quality time with your families. This is an excellent time to have your children bring their indoor shoes (dress &/or gym) home to ensure that they still fit, as we know children typically have growth spurts throughout the school year and often need a new pair of shoes for their growing feet.
For Parents/Legal Guardians of Grade 4 students, by now you will have received a letter from Alberta Education regarding the Alberta Education Assurance (AEA) survey (which replaced the former Accountability Pillar Survey). Your letter contains a Random Access Code (RAC) for completing the survey online and instructions for accessing the survey in other languages. Completing the survey online is the quickest way for Alberta Education to receive a completed response. Families can still choose to complete the survey on paper by requesting a copy from the System Assurance Branch directly (see contact information in your letter), or by contacting your principal. This past 2 years have been unusual, as COVID-19 has brought new challenges, that is why it is more important than ever to hear from parents / legal guardians. Your voice will help shape the future of education in Alberta. Please complete the survey by April 23, 2022, and if you have any questions, please contact me.
Just a reminder that our School Council meeting will be moved to Thursday March 17 at 6:30pm, as Student Learning Conferences fall on the second Thursday of this month. Hope to see you there! We will continue to meet via TEAMs this month, and will let you know if we plan to move the meetings back to in-person.
Sincerely,
Anne Markovich
Principal
Dr. J.K. Mulloy School
