3/16/20
10:15a.m. EST
COVID-19 MEMO #4
STUDENT WORK AND BREAKFAST/LUNCH DISTRIBUTION
Tuesday, March 17 from 7am - 3pm
Wednesday, March 18 from 7am - 3pm
Dear Parents and Guardians,
STUDENT WORK: The Veazie Community School will be open for the next two days for parents to pickup student work and technology devices (Chromebooks and iPads) Tuesday, March 17 and Wednesday March 18 from 7am - 3pm. In the school lobby, individualized student packets and technology devices will be clearly marked on tables organized by grade level.
CHROMEBOOKS & IPADS: Parents taking home Chromebooks and iPads (with chargers) will need to sign a waiver attached to the device. It is important for parents to know that they are fully responsible for any and all damage to the device and/or charger.
BREAKFAST/LUNCH DISTRIBUTION: At this point in time, we will continue to provide breakfast and lunch for students qualifying for free & reduced lunch. The bus will leave VCS at 8am with a Veazie police officer on board and make a trip using normal bus routes. It will be expected that students or parents meet the bus at the road or normal bus stop….we will not be going door to door. VCS staff will be directly contacting qualifying families today. Our kitchen staff will create brown-bag meals for multiple days at a time in an effort to minimize social interaction. We will send home 2 breakfasts and 2 lunches on Tuesday, March 17, and 2 breakfasts and 2 lunches on Thursday, March 19. Next week, we will send home two breakfasts and 2 lunches on Monday, March 23 and 3 breakfasts and 3 lunches on Wednesday, March 25. We will continue with this Monday/Wednesday schedule should the school closure go beyond two weeks.
INSTRUMENTS: Mr. Arell has placed student instruments on the benches in the lobby for parents to pickup. Keyboard students should have already received home practice instruments. Percussion students should have already received at-home practice pads. Please email Mr. Arell marell@veaziecs.org if you have any questions.
We will do our best to stick with planned and announced schedules, but ask for your flexibility and understanding if new information, guidance or direction forces us to revisit these decisions.
Lately, all of our focus has been on making sure our students have school work, but we must not forget the social-emotional needs of our students. Take care of each other. Talk with your child. Play a game. Go for a walk together. A hug, a smile, and reassurance goes a long way.
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Matthew D. Cyr
Superintendent & Principal
A MESSAGE FROM DIANE DICKERSON, Bangor YMCA CEO
OPEN FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD AND ALL DAY SCHOOL CARE FOR FAMILIES IN NEED, BUT YMCA FITNESS AND AQUATICS CENTER TO CLOSE ON TUESDAY, MARCH 17TH AT 6:30 PM UNTIL MONDAY, MARCH 30TH
March 15, 2020
A MESSAGE FROM DIANE DICKERSON, CEO
To our Y Family and entire region for whom we are so honored to serve,
In an effort to do everything we can to slow down this national health crisis, the Bangor Region YMCA has sadly made the decision to close the FITNESS CENTER and AQUATICS CENTER at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, March 17th. This closure will be in effect until Monday, March 30th. I know many of you will be disappointed with this news, but please know we are going to try in every way to provide you with continued health and wellness activities. All members will be able to sign up for VIRTUAL FITNESS PROGRAMS and will be contacted by our Health and Wellness staff regarding this. In addition, our Y members who are participating in PERSONAL TRAINING OR SMALL GROUP TRAINING will be able to continue this with their Y Trainers virtually if they desire. Again, all will be contacted by your personal trainer here at our Y. We will also be reaching out to our members as we plan any outdoor fitness programs in the next two weeks which would allow for social distancing while getting in shape and breathing the air. Keep a watch on our website and Facebook Page. We are here for all of you and will do our best to STAY HEALTHY during this trying time.
We are restricting the hours of our Y from now until March 17th when we close. We will be opening at 5:00 am and closing at 6:30 pm.
Our Aloupis Pool will be our only pool open for these two days, and the hours will be restricted from 5:30 am to 12:00 noon.
OTHER IMPORTANT CHANGES:
1. Group classes are cancelled EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY to restrict people from being close together. There will be no land or aquatic classes until after we reopen on March 30th.
2. Child Watch will be cancelled EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.
3. Swim Lessons will be cancelled EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY and your session will resume in 2 weeks and will be extended through April Vacation.
4. Our Teen Center is closed EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.
5. All SECOND WIND events and programs are cancelled EFFECTIVELY IMMEDIATELY.
6. Senior College has cancelled all of their activities here at the Y.
7. Caring Connections Support Groups are cancelled. However, our staff is available to respond to each of you individually and provide you with whatever support you might need.
8. Our LIVESTRONG program is cancelled EFFECTIVELY IMMEDIATELY until we reopen.
OUR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND ALL-DAY SCHOOL AGE CARE WILL BE OPEN from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm.
In an effort to support our families, and especially our healthcare providers and first responders, we are remaining open. This is being offered to our existing Y Families, as well as to OUR ENTIRE COMMUNITY who needs the support. As healthcare professionals have stated, the best case situation is that everyone stays home and has a relative or friend take care of the child in their home. However, this is not possible for many people, and we need to be here for YOU. I know there are mixed feelings about this, and all I can say is that we are taking every precaution possible. Here are just a few of the things we will be doing:
1. All children will have their temperature taken as they enter the Y.
2. Hand Sanitizers must be administered at the door of the Y, and will be continued throughout the day.
3. We will use this opportunity to teach children about washing their hands, not touching their faces, not touching other children, and to try and keep space between.
4. We will have full use of the YMCA, Teen Center, and Isaac Farrar Mansion so that there will be a lot more space allowing groups to be smaller and much more spread out.
5. If necessary, we also have our beautiful Camp Jordan available for programming over the next two weeks.
We have had many questions from parents:
1. Will homework help be provided? YES
2. Will kids be able to swim? YES
3. Will we need to pack a lunch for our child? YES (We are working with the school district for those children who receive free lunch from the school and will be trying to determine if we can pick up those lunches for the children. I will not have an answer on this until Monday, so please pack a lunch for your child on Monday. We will let you know for the rest of the week.)
If you are needing care for your child during this time, please click on the link below, complete and submit.
https://www.bangory.org/childcare-camps/before-after-school-care/full-day-care-reservation-form/
SUMMARY
The best path is to stay informed on the facts which are being updated on a regular basis. Below are a list of reliable sources of information for you to read from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the State of Maine
https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/infectio
Veazie Community School Closure Memo: March 14, 2020 6:15pm
https://5il.co/dq86
In an effort to proactively slow the spread of COVID-19, I am announcing that Veazie Community School will be closed beginning Monday, March 16 through Monday, March 30th. No classes, clubs, or activities will be held, and our school will be closed to the general public. The length of this closure is subject to change as the situation develops and new information becomes available.
The Acadia Cares Parent Forum scheduled to be held Thursday, March 19 from 4:30 - 6:00p.m. in the VCS Library has been cancelled.
Internet options for families without.
https://www.facebook.com/61230111980/posts/10156979053321981/?sfnsn=mo
I was asked to share the following that may impact some of our students:
2019 and 2020 Orono-Veazie Little League registrants,
Adding to the quickly growing list of cancellations, we will not hold any Orono-Veazie Little League activities in March. This includes the March 28th clinic at Mahaney Dome and pitcher-catcher clinics on March 15, 22, and 29.
We will send an announcement at a later date updating you on the schedule and whether we will need to make additional cancellations in April.
We will keep the webpage updated and send out further announcements as the situation evolves.
https://sites.google.com/view/ovll
Congratulations to the VCS Invention Convention winners!! Dalaney Horr 3rd place, Isabelle Ireland 2nd place, and Kylee Barker 1st place!! Thank you to our community judges for volunteering today!!
Be sure to check out VCS art work at the Bangor Mall Art Show!
Schooldigger.com has Veazie Public Schools ranked 2nd out of 146 school districts in Maine.
This ranking uses testing data for grades 3-8 at Veazie Community School, and SAT scores for our students at their respective high school (we currently have students enrolled at 6 different area high schools).
Veazie Community School alone is ranked 4th out of 255 elementary schools in the state.
Check out the latest edition of The VIKING! There are some great stories about our school and community!
https://5il.co/db9d
We opened a Leap Year time capsule today. Students enjoyed reading letters they wrote to themselves in 2016.
No school today in Veazie (2/27/20)
Members of the Veazie Community School Ci3T development team recently visited schools in Topeka, Kansas who have fully implemented the 3-tiered Ci3T program which focuses on systematic approaches to academic, behavior and social emotional support for all students. They also attended a professional training module at Kansas University with co-founders of the program.
In between travels, the group visited the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site--a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional.
Parent feedback on our first parent forum was overwhelmingly positive......
ACADIA CARES will be providing a second parent forum at the Veazie Community School on Thursday, March 19 in the VCS Library from 4:30 - 6:00p.m. Discussion will focus on Childhood/Teenage Anxiety & Resiliency.
This parent forum is sensitive in nature, and for that reason, is for parents only. Please contact us ahead if you need assistance with child care. Light refreshments will be provided courtesy of VCS.
If you are not able to attend, please visit the Acadia CARES website for helpful parent resources: www.northernlighthealth.org/AcadiaCARES
Please contact VCS School Counselor Lexie Dineen (ldineen@veaziecs.org), or VCS Principal Matthew Cyr (mcyr@veaziecs.org) if you have further questions.
7th grade students had fun helping our Kindergarten friends with their Valentine’s Day Minute to Win it games!!
Veazie Community School is now accepting applications for our all-day Pre-K program and Kindergarten Programs. Stop by the school office and pick up an application package at anytime. Parents with questions are encouraged to contact VCS Superintendent and Principal, Matthew Cyr.
The Veazie Viking Robotics Team presented to the Veazie Town Council last night and were authorized to work with Town Manager Leonard with the placement of bat houses on various town properties. Tonight, they were invited to present to the Old Town/Orono Kiwanis. We are proud!
