Happy New Year!
Dear BLES families,
Happy New Year! My prayer is that 2022 brings you everything you hope and dream of.
COVID cases are on the rise all across NYC and beyond. Recently, a new quarantine policy went into effect which will ensure that our scholars remain in school as much as possible. For students in kindergarten through grade 12, unvaccinated or not yet fully-vaccinated students who were in close proximity to a positive case will no longer have to quarantine and will continue attending school if they do not have symptoms and do not have a positive test result from a COVID test. All students and adults in that classroom will receive a take-home rapid test kit and take two tests over the course of five days. For students in 3-K and Pre-K, the quarantine policy will remain the same, meaning that any 3-K or Pre-K student who was in close proximity to a positive case will still have to quarantine for 10 days.
This month, we are starting our next round of assessments and the results will be shared with you in our mid-year Progress Reports to families. The Interim Assessments include F&P, MAP, Acadience and iReady. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you have questions about these assessments.
I want to inform you of the recent passing of our school's PTA President, Ms. Melody Mann. You should have received a separate letter of notification with details on the wake and homegoing service. If not, please reach out to Mrs. Gibson at simoneg@brooklynlandmark.org. This is a tremendous loss for our school community and we are all deeply saddened. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers.
This month, you will have an opportunity to meet with me and Mrs. Dawson at the next Principal's Coffee Chat. This chat will take place via Zoom on Wednesday January 12th at 9:00 am. Our goal is to provide information, updates and answers to your questions. I look forward to seeing you there.
Finally, please be reminded that there is no school on Monday January 17th in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1994, Congress passed a bill to dedicate the national holiday as a national day of service. Many individuals and community organizations seek opportunities to volunteer in schools and in their neighborhoods. Here is a link to an article that you can share with your children. It may spark some service ideas for January 17th. https://www.pbssocal.org/education/at-home-learning/seven-ways-honor-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-s-legacy-children/
Stay safe and be well,
Joyce Beckles-Knights