REMINDER: Bryant Schools will be closed on Monday, January 18 in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Day.
Hello my CES Families~
This is your principal, Tami Edwards! We’ve made it halfway through this pandemic school year and I can honestly say this is an accomplishment that makes me so proud and happy! Certainly, we can’t do it alone and I appreciate your ongoing efforts to keep our students both safe and able to attend school. I want to welcome many of our virtual students who have returned onsite! We are continuing to emphasize all the safety measures to keep Covid away while ensuring our students get the very best education possible.
As we embark on the new year, I wanted to share some reminders with you to help do just that.
Please note that any changes in afternoon transportation home must be done IN WRITING (DoJo, SeeSaw, fax, email, written note), and must be received prior to 1:30 pm. Please make sure you get a response back. Teachers are engaged in teaching and only have intermittent times to check email or apps. If you haven't gotten a response by 1:30, you may call the school and ask that those messages be checked. Being consistent with your child's transportation home is always the best way to make sure there are no miscommunication errors. We work very hard to make sure your baby gets to the right place!
School starts at 7:50 am. Our doors open at 7:15 am. If you arrive after 7:55 am in the morning for drop off, or after 3:45 pm for pick up, you must park and walk into the office for sign in or sign out. All car riders must be picked up by 3:45 pm.
If your child is eating breakfast at school, he or she needs to arrive prior to 7:40 to have time to eat before we dismiss students to class.
Tips to help car drop off go more quickly:
No student should exit the car until the duty staff yells, “Unload.”
Your child must be able to unbuckle and buckle him or herself in and out of the car seat. Even our littlest littles can be taught to do this with practice. Parents should never exit your car unless absolutely necessary.
If your car is in the left hand lane that exits to Hwy 5, please make sure your child enters the car drop off in the CENTER walking lane. We are extremely cautious about watching for children and do not allow any cars to move forward until ALL students are safely on the sidewalk. However, it is difficult to see students if they exit towards the parking lot instead of the center lane. If you are in the right lane closest to the building, students can exit directly to the sidewalk.
Remember that NO cars are allowed to enter our campus from Hwy. 5 during drop off or pick up times. You must take the service road from the Reynolds Road exit,
Let’s talk LUNCH for a minute. During normal times, we are always willing to help students open packages they bring for lunch. What seems so easy and convenient, such as pre-packaged items, are often difficult for students to open by themselves. Those fruit cups, go-gurt tubes, lunchables, Capri Sun drinks, even bags of chips or goldfish (the list is LONG, lol) are items that many of our students need assistance opening. With obvious concerns of not touching students’ food, we have noticed how important it is for students to be able to open their own food packages. We are ever mindful of sanitizing our hands between students, but we ask that you please send items your child can open by him or herself/ Again, practicing this skill at home can make all the difference, or transferring it to a container or ziploc bag your child can open will alleviate the chance for germs to be exchanged.
Water bottles are a MUST this year since our water fountains are turned off. We have several bottle filling stations, but students MUST bring a water bottle labeled with his or her name EACH day,
Please take time to wash your child’s coat, mask, and backpack often. Anything we can do to keep items sanitized will help eliminate germs.
In order to follow the Covid-related District Policy related to traffic in and out of our office, our secretaries have been asked NOT to accept items you may drop off in the office. They are not permitted to accept lunch boxes, backpacks, water bottles, or other personal items. If your student forgets one of these things, just message his or her teacher and we will make sure to supply a water bottle, or provide a lunch tray. Please do not bring items to the office to drop off.
Thank you again for being supportive and allowing us to give your child the best education possible in a safe and loving environment! We know you are entrusting us with your most valuable asset and we don’t take it lightly. Looking forward to another great week at CES! As always, I am always available if you have questions or concerns. Have a great week!
~Mrs. Edwards, Principal
tKedwards@bryantschools.org.
Here’s a quick reminder about upcoming calendar dates:
Monday, January 18 / Dr. Martin Luther King Day
Schools Closed
Monday, February 15 / President’s Day
Remote Learning Day (K-12 students work from home)
The 2020-21 school calendar is available here: bit.ly/3hXkXcl
Report cards for our second quarter will be sent home TODAY with our onsite students, and will be emailed to Virtual Parents. Please make sure you sign and return your child's report card tomorrow if it has been sent home as a hard copy. Virtual parents will confirm receipt of the report card via email. As always, please reach out to your child's teacher with any questions or concerns!
January is School Board Recognition Month. In a year full of the unknown, these seven servant leaders have continued their commitment to creating opportunities for success. On behalf of all Bryant Hornets, thank you for your service! #SchoolBoardMonth
District and school offices will be closed December 21 - January 1 for Christmas break. Students return to school on Monday, January 4.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Parents, did you receive the new "Success Happens Here" eNewsletter in your inbox today? If not, please contact your student's school to make certain we have your correct email address. Here's a link to the document:
English: bit.ly/3gUlXgZ
Spanish: bit.ly/2Wlh2w9
REMINDER: A Remote Learning Day is scheduled for Friday, December 18. ALL students (K-12) will work from home. Only PreK students will attend school on this day.
The Food Service Department is preparing shelf stable meals (one breakfast, one lunch) for students to take home on Thursday. Meals will be distributed in classrooms for elementary students. Secondary students may pick up meals in the cafeteria during lunch or at the bus stop at the end of the day. Virtual students will pick up meals on Thursday during lunch.
REMINDER: A Remote Learning Day is scheduled for Friday, December 18. ALL students (K-12) will work from home. Only PreK students will attend school on this day.
Join us in celebrating Arkansas Computer Science Education Week with coding activities for all ages. Take some pics and post using #Hornets_Hr_Of_Code. #ARKidsCanCode
With our Hornets headed to the 2020 State Championship game on Saturday, what better time to #Paintthetownblue?
The Greater Bryant Chamber of Commerce has organized #Paintthetownblue to engage community members and local businesses in school spirit. Anyone can purchase a sign to place in front of their home or business for $25. Four designs are available. Collect all four to show your Hornet spirit!
Order your sign at bit.ly/PaintTownBlue. Take a photo of your sign and post on social media with the hashtag #Paintthetownblue.
For more information, contact the Bryant Chamber at 501-847-4702. All proceeds go to the scholarship fund for our Bryant High School seniors.
The district Point of Contact phone line (501-414-6647) will resume normal hours this week. Parents may reach the POC by email any time at bryantpointofcontact@bryantschools.org. Our POC will respond as soon as possible to all email messages.
Parents, please contact the POC to report a positive COVID-19 case with your student or within your family. Call or email if your child has been identified as a close contact with a positive case outside of school (church, family members, gyms, etc.). It is important that if a parent tests positive, the children who live in the home with them are quarantined.
We continue to rely on cooperation from families in reporting positive cases and identifying close contacts. The better we are with our prevention strategies, the longer we will be able to keep schools open and have children attend school in-person. Thank you all for your diligence in keeping our Hornets healthy!
The district POC phone line will remain open until 8pm tonight (Sunday) for those who have had a positive COVID-19 test or have been designated as a close contact over the break. These individuals will not be able to attend school until their isolation or quarantine period is over. The number is 501-414-6647.
Parents may also email bryantpointofcontact@bryantschools.org if the phone line is busy or unavailable.
With COVID-19 still a real threat, we need to remain diligent in reporting positive cases to our district Point of Contact (POC), even when school is closed.
Our POC phone line will reopen on Sunday, November 29, from 2-8pm for those who have had a positive COVID-19 test or have been designated as a close contact over the break. These individuals will not be able to attend school until their isolation or quarantine period is over. The number is 501-414-6647.
We continue to rely on cooperation from families in reporting positive cases and identifying close contacts. The better we are with our prevention strategies, the longer we will be able to keep schools open and have children attend school in-person.
Food Box Distribution: Tuesday, November 24, 10:00-11:00am, behind Bryant Elementary. Due to the overwhelming response for food boxes, we may run out of boxes with chicken. If so, the chicken and dressing will be replaced with chili and cornbread.
With the BHS and BJHS campuses closed, bus riders in grades K-7 may be home up to 10-15 minutes earlier than normal on FRIDAY afternoon.
Bryant Public Schools is partnering with Arkansas Foodbank’s Emergency School Pantry Program to provide food boxes to low-income families with children in the Bryant School District. Families must have a student currently approved for free or reduced meals in the Bryant School District to qualify to receive food boxes.
The first distribution day will be Thursday, November 19 from 4:30-5:30pm behind Bryant Elementary. Signs will be posted to direct families to the drive through location. The next food distribution date is Tuesday, November 24, 10:00-11:00am at the same location.
Well Wishes from your Collegeville Principal, Mrs. Edwards!
We are looking forward to the week ahead as we prepare for Thanksgiving Break, which will be November 23-27. I hope you all will have a chance to enjoy some time away from school, spend time with family, and stay safe. I know many of us will be choosing to postpone large family gatherings due to the Pandemic and my heart is heavy about that. I miss having our school open to visitors, but especially this week when we normally have many guests for our Thanksgiving feast.
You are missed in our building!
That said, teachers will be sending out an RSVP for Thanksgiving Feast here at school, which will be Thursday, November 19th. The menu is: Baked chicken, dressing, green beans, mashed potatoes, homemade roll, and brownie. To help our cafeteria staff know how much to prepare for our students, please let your teacher know by Tuesday if your child will be getting a school tray on Thursday.
Progress Reports will be sent home tomorrow for Blended students. Please be watching for these and contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions. You will sign and return your child’s progress report. Remember that Progress Reports are simply a snapshot of your child’s current academic status for reporting purposes to keep you informed.
A note to our Virtual Parents: Tomorrow (Monday, November 16) from 8:30-9:30, we will have a drive through pick up day for Progress Reports and other instructional packets the virtual teachers need your virtual student to have. We will follow safety precautions with masks and social distancing by bringing items to your car as you pull through the car drop off lane.
Onsite, we are still having lots of items like jackets, sweaters, etc. that students are taking off at recess when it gets warm, but leaving them outside. Without a student’s name labeled in those items, we can’t locate the owner. In addition, we are not having a “lost and found” this year due to Covid precautions. Can you please take a moment this weekend to label your child’s outerwear, as well as their reusable water bottles, lunchboxes and backpacks? Thank you for your help with this.
Thank you for all you do to support us and your child’s education! I hope this week brings you sunshine, smiles, and happy moments!
As part of a coordinated response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) in partnership with the Office for Education Policy (OEP) at the University of Arkansas has developed a Parent/Guardian Survey for soliciting family input on what is working now and what may be considered for the future.
We have been encouraged to share this survey link with our families and ask them to complete the survey before November 20th.
https://uark.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6X7aRF3ErNNXFel
A Spanish version of the survey is available here:
https://uark.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3yIElMqjgYCNCLz
The survey seeks to involve families in an organized, ongoing and timely way in planning, review, and improvement. The survey will provide feedback regarding:
* family concerns
* how families are making decisions
* family awareness of options and resources available
* family considerations for the future
The intention of this survey is not to identify individual school or district responses, but rather to establish an understanding of the state as a whole. The information will be aggregated by region only; therefore, families will be asked to identify the region of the state in which they live in order to understand the distribution of the survey without specifically identifying any district or school by name.
OEP will be sharing results at the December State Board meeting.
Copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser to complete this survey:
https://uark.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6X7aRF3ErNNXFel?Q_CHL=email
Thank you to all our military personnel—past and present—for the sacrifices you have made for our freedom.
