Country Montessori School
Admin Corner
Feb 11, 2022
“Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.”
Dr. Maria Montessori
Upcoming Dates/Events:
- Picture Day Makeups
- Valentine’s Day Classroom Celebrations – Monday, February 14
- Presidents Week-February 21-25 – No school – Required PCR testing upon return
- CMS PCR Testing Partner – Update on email notifications
Picture Day
Picture day was held this past week. Unfortunately, not all sibling photos were taken. A makeup date will be available at a later date at the Gerardy Photography Studio in Escondido. We will let you know of those dates & times when they become available.
Valentine’s Day
Each classroom will celebrate this fun day with a card exchange, craft and special snack! Your classroom teachers will be emailing you with your classroom’s specifics. This day is enjoyed by all!
Masks
As you are aware California announced plans to lift the mask mandate for indoor public places for vaccinated individuals on Feb. 15 and you may be wondering what this means for Country Montessori School.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) guidance that takes effect Feb. 16 does not apply to K-12 schools. The indoor mask mandate, which has been a cornerstone of the state’s COVID-19 strategy since the start of the school year, remains in effect for all K-12 students and staff. The CDPH guidance notes: “The masking requirement in California schools has allowed us to keep schools open when compared to other parts of the country. California accounts for roughly 12% of all U.S. students, but accounted for only 1% of COVID-19 related school closures during the omicron surge.”
CMS will continue to keep our families informed regarding updates to COVID school related protocols. Our mask indoor/outdoor protocol will continue for all CMS students and staff. We will be revisiting outdoor masking prior to the start of summer camp.
Required PCR Testing Upon Returning From President’s Week
We thank our community who has all worked so hard in its efforts to help avoid positive cases. To continue this effort we are requiring that all students and staff get COVID tested before 2/28 after the President’s week. We are currently looking into if Pacific Rim Laboratories will be able to provide testing as they historically are not open on Saturdays for a Friday pick up. If they are unable to provide CMS with testing all families will be responsible to secure their students testing. We will keep you updated on this. If your child has received from COVID-19 in the past 90 days you should use an ANTIGEN test which families need to provide themselves and provide proof of the negative test.
Regular Student Testing
Beginning the week of March 7, 2022 CMS will be requiring weekly testing for all students regardless of vaccination status. Staff will continue weekly testing as well. Our partnership with Pacific Rim has been successful and they can accommodate our enrollment and staffing numbers. We will continue to provide information.
Spring Fling 2022
Your student may begin coming home singing songs they learned in music class with our music teacher, Ms. Tamanaha. We have been hosting our Spring Fling for over 30 years and have not been able to have it for two years due to the pandemic. It is an incredible school wide performance and is held at The Poway Center for the Performing Arts. We currently have a May 11, 2022 date reserved at the PCPA. Preparation for this will continue in weekly classes as a large part of the music curriculum. We feel “The show must go on” however as always will always keep health and safety as the first priority. As we approach this date we will keep our community informed.
PCR Testing Partner – Pacific Rim Communication
CMS is fortunate to have partnered with Pacific Rim Pathology to help with testing needs. They are currently working on an issue regarding sending out individual emails to patients. Pacific Rim works with larger corporations and hospitals that have test results sent in bulk. They are creating a portal system that will allow you to fill out all information online, and you will have access to all test results. They have asked us for patience during this transition time for them. In the meantime, we will send out an email letting you know the results, but it will not contain the actual result paperwork. If you need the actual results, please let us know.
Focus Remains on In-Person Learning
Our focus at CMS remains prioritizing on-site school so that students can benefit from the rigorous academic curriculum as well as the vital social-emotional benefits of attending school in person. CMS will continue to follow and adapt our health and safety protocols to help provide the safest possible environment so that students can stay in the classroom.
We have partnered with a lab to help make follow up covid testing more readily available for CMS families in order to help minimize the burden of testing. Our safety efforts are in conjunction with every family’s individual efforts to keep our community safe.
If your child is not feeling well or exhibits any symptoms, KEEP THEM HOME! This practice is vital to ensuring that students and classrooms remain healthy.
Elementary and Child Care Decision Tree Guidance-January 21,2022
CMS is following the CDPH/ SD County Office of Education guidelines to keep classrooms open and students learning in person. We are following what is referred to as the Group Tracing Model. In the event that a student tests positive for COVID-19 anyone who shares an indoor airspace for 15 minutes or more with the individual who tested positive will be notified of the potential exposure.
Students are able to remain in school as long as they have a covid test on day 3, 4 or 5 after notification (regardless of vaccination status or prior covid infection). We realize finding COVID tests can be difficult which is why we partnered with a Lab. We were told about Pacific Rim Laboratories from a contact that is part of the San Diego County Covid Response team. The offering of COVID testing at CMS is intended to help make these test requirements more manageable for our community.
COVID-19 Vaccination Record-Please Provide a Copy
If your child is vaccinated please provide a copy of their COVID-19 vaccination card.
Please send your COVID-19 vaccination card to Jose Bolanos joseb@countrymontessori.org so that this information can be documented with the school.
School COVID Policies/Mandates
We want to thank all of our families, staff and students for working together as a team since the pandemic began in 2020. Our top priority was and continues to be keeping everyone healthy and safe and we acknowledge the emotional aspects that come with mandated policies and procedures. This has been a challenging time for parents and the school.
As you are aware, the COVID-19 vaccination is now available to children between the ages of 5 and 11. What we know at this time regarding the CALIFORNIA STATE MANDATE is although vaccine availability for children 5 to 11 moves us one step closer to California’s plan to mandate vaccines for all school-aged children, the state’s new regulation will not apply until vaccines for juveniles, ages 12-17, and children, ages 5-11, are fully authorized by the FDA.
We have not been given all the specific details regarding the vaccination mandate from the California Department of Public Health, the San Diego County Offices of Education, the San Diego County Superintendent of Schools or any other government agency yet as to when or how this is going to be rolled out. What we do know is that it will affect all public, private and charter schools similar to other mandates and that July 1 is the earliest the mandate is expected to begin.
CMS’ will continue to provide a school environment that makes every effort to keep its students and staff safe and healthy. Once we are given the exact details of the vaccine mandate we will be in communication with our CMS community. We appreciate your support, patience and understanding.
Arrival and Picking Up Parking Lot Procedures
- Please turn right only out of the parking lot
- Please do not reverse your car in the parking lot or curb unless you are motioned to by a staff member
- If you have an elementary student and arrive after 8:30 please drive through the parking lot and an EC teacher will get your student out of your car
Attendance and Tardiness
It is important for your student to be on time each day for school. Daily attendance is taken each morning and recorded. All students should be in class by 8:30 with the exception for early childhood students who are given until 8:40, this does not apply to elementary students. Absences and tardies will be reflected on the students report card and we discourage excessive tardiness and absences.
Late Arrival Procedures
If your student is late to school you need to park and accompany them and wait outside the office in the enclosed area. Administration will take all tardy students to class at 9:00 AM. Please make every effort to have your student to school on time.
Child Care
Morning child care is offered every morning at 7:30AM and after school child care is from 2:45-6:00 PM. Please let Susan know at Susank@countrymontessori.org
New CMS Families – Setting up your Renweb Parent Portal
Be sure to set up your FACTSMgt (RenWeb) Parent Portal account
- Visit https://factsmgt.com
- Click Parent Log in
- Select FACTS Family Portal
- The Family Portal Login Page comes up. – You will click Create New Family Portal Account
- Country Montessori School District Code: CO-CA
- Type your email address and click Create Account
An email will be sent to you with a link Click to change password. This link is only valid for 15 minutes
The browser displays your Name and RenWeb ID
- Type a User Name, Password and Confirm the password
- Click Save Password
A message at the top of the browser, “User Name/Password successfully updated You can now log into ParentsWeb using your new Username and Password
Country Montessori School App
If you have not done so please be sure to download the Country Montessori School App. You can look up the app in the App Store or Google Play Store on your device. Simply search for Country Montessori School or use the following link https://a3a.me/
You can use the Country Montessori School App to:
- Complete your daily sign-in for morning arrivals
- Daily sign out (for Early Childhood students)
- View / Pay child care
- Access Family Directory
- Link to CMS Facebook / Instagram
- Access Admin Corner Newsletters
- View Report Cards (once released)
- Process Re-enrollment
- Additional FACTS (RenWeb) Parent Portal features
- Register for your Walk-A-Thon individual student page
School Health & Safety
Country Montessori School is committed to continuing to provide a healthy and safe environment for all our students, their families, our staff and the community. We will continue to follow the California Department of Public Health, the San Diego County Office of Education, community care licensing and CDC recommended safety measures.
- Daily temperature checks are mandatory for all students and staff before drop-off. Any student with a temperature exceeding 100 degrees will not be allowed to attend school that day.
- Any student or staff member who have any of the symptoms listed on the Decision Tree will be asked to follow the protocol
- Visitors on campus are limited and must be approved by administration
- CMS will follow enhanced sanitation practices and practice frequent handwashing
- Handless sanitizer stations will be in all buildings
- Staff will sanitize supplies and facilities throughout the day
- Daily cleaning and enhanced sanitation will occur at the end of each day with a focus on disinfecting all “high touch” areas
- Lunch areas for all students will be set up to allow for social distancing
- CMS staff will wear face mask throughout the day
- All students are required to wear masks indoors and outdoors.
- Outdoor space will be utilized as much as possible
- Water fountains will be taped off
- All outdoor playground toys / equipment used will be sanitized regularly
- Parents will sign in using a no touch sign in with a QR code they will scan with their smartphone camera app.
- Parents who are dropping off must also wear a face mask that covers their nose and mouth
- Parents will be asked to fill out a daily self-disclosure form
Daily Self-Declaration by Families
In an effort to protect the health and safety of our entire community families and staff will need to fill out a daily self-declaration prior to entering the campus.
Updated Decision Tree