Mark Your Calendars

Friday, April 16, 2021 Report Cards Sent Home (today)

Thursday & Friday April 22 & 23, 2021 Remote Learning Days

Planting Day/Campus Clean Up

Saturday, April 17th (tomorrow) from 8:30-noon please join us to clean up our campus grounds. We can use your assistance during any part of the morning, even for 30 minutes.  We truly appreciate your service and dedication to making our school yard’s appearance look inviting. Our goal is to clean up, clean out, cut back, and haul away all overgrown plants.  We need some muscles and perseverance to make our campus SHINE!  Please wear a mask and maintain safe social distance.  

Carpool

Thank you for adjusting to the new/old carpool procedures.  Please continue to be timely to ensure your child is not tardy.  We have noticed that there are some parents/drivers going around cars who are unloading children and who may be slower than others.  This is a safety concern, please be patient and stay in line until it is your turn.  This will help prevent an accident from occurring.  

Thank you! 

Boosterthon

Thank you for your generosity.  We raised over $22,000 for our school! Your contributions will allow us to buy more flexible seating and paint more classrooms than we originally planned.  We appreciate all of your efforts! 

Yearbooks: 

 We still need pictures of our VA students for the yearbook.  If your child did not have a school picture taken this year, please send us a headshot with a plain background that we can include.  We want to have a picture of every child on the classroom pages, and we hope you will also send some pictures of your VA children doing their school day at home.  We are missing a total of 80 VA student’s pictures. The deadline is April 16th.  

VA Academy Testing Participation Survey Grades 3-5

As part of state and federal legislation, students in grades 3-8 are administered the End of Grade (EOG) tests at the end of the school year. The state requires for these tests to be administered in person. In order for us to plan appropriately, we need to know how many Virtual Academy students will be attending on those days to take their tests. 

If you have more than one Virtual Academy student in grades 3-8, please complete this form separately for each student.

Please complete by or on Friday, April 16th.  

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EfhcenBq231DHLZhNRxmYOxvW6Fs9m09jmWg2PY2AbY/edit 

Bus Transportation: for VA Students returning to In Person Learning

Eligible bus riders currently in Virtual Academy returning to in-person learning must apply for bus service (click here for transportation application). The student must meet all transportation eligibility requirements and must also submit the health attestation form (click here for attestation form). Bus assignments will not be provided until the attestation form is received. Furthermore, transportation requests will be closed after three days if the attestation form is not received.Once transportation requests and attestation forms have been received, students will be assigned to a bus by WCPSS. 

Return To Campus Checklist For Families Changing to In-Person Next Week

Here's what you need to do to prepare for your child's return to campus: 

1. Read the Return to Campus Guide for families. This guide outlines the expectations for students to strictly follow our required health protocols when on our campuses, as well as possible consequences and processes to address non-compliance. Families and students should sign the acknowledgement page and return it to their school.
2. Read Student Accountability and Required Health Protocols and sign the acknowledgement page. If you’ve already completed this form, you do not need to do it again.

BYOD Form

Students using a WCPSS Chromebook should bring it charged everyday with the power cord. Students using a personal device (laptop or Chromebook) may bring it to school labeled with their names after completing the Bring Your Own Device Form. Link:  BYOD Consent Form (Spanish). We will have some extra devices in classrooms.

Planting Day/Campus Clean Up

Saturday, April 17th  from  8:30-noon please join us to clean up our campus grounds. We can use your assistance during any part of the morning, even for 30 minutes.  We truly appreciate your service and dedication to making our school yard’s appearance look inviting. Our goal is to clean up, clean out, cut back, and haul away all overgrown plants.  We need some muscles and perseverance to make our campus SHINE!  Please wear a mask and maintain safe social distance.  

Mark Your Calendars

Monday, April 12, 2021  No School Teacher Work Day

Wednesday, April 14, 2021 Remote Learning Day

Friday, April 16, 2021 Report Cards Sent Home 

Thursday & Friday , April 22 & 23, 2021 Remote Learning Day

Daily Health Screenings Change

In yesterday’s WCPSS parent email, WCPSS announced daily health screenings will no longer be conducted on-site. Starting today, April 7th, we ceased conducting on-site health screenings. We need your help to keep our school communities healthy by keeping your children home if they are not feeling well or have been diagnosed with or exposed to COVID-19. Please read more information about this topic here. Thank you for your cooperation. 

Morning Carpool Change 

Since WCPSS is no longer conducting daily on-site health screenings, our morning carpool line will be like our afternoon one: Cars will turn onto Wills Forest Road from Glenwood Avenue.  Cars will then turn left onto Boylan Avenue and proceed to Devereux Street.  The carpool line will come down Devereux St and not through the parking lot. This will begin on Thursday, April 8th.

Morning Arrival Walk Up

We will resume parent walk up for student arrival beginning tomorrow, Thursday, April 8th.  Parents may walk their children to either of our arrival doors: the gated one by the library for grades 3-5 or the lobby door for grades K-2. Parents are still not allowed to enter the school building at this time. Upon arrival, please be conscientious of social distancing.  Face coverings will continue to be required.  

Tardy 

We expect students to be in their classrooms at 8:30 am ready to learn. Please allow yourself enough time to go through the carpool line, for your child to be able to walk to the classroom, and be in his or her seat at 8:30 am.  Carpool ends at 8:25 am.  If you arrive after 8:25, please park and escort your child to the front door to sign your child in to school. Thank you. 

Guidance Update for Handling Suspected, Presumptive, or Positive Cases of COVID-19

To align with updated guidance from the NC Department of Health and Human Services, WCPSS has updated our protocols for handling suspected, presumptive, or positive cases of COVID-19. The list of symptoms that should prompt a student, employee, or visitor to stay home have been updated to now include a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher, sore throat, new cough, new difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, new loss of taste of smell, diarrhea or vomiting, or the new onset of a severe headache. In addition, effective immediately, household members are no longer required to stay home if a student or employee living in the same household is experiencing a symptom of illness, but has not been diagnosed with COVID-19. Students are required to quarantine if someone they live with has been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Deadline for Change Requests is Today - March 31st!

Families wishing to switch from Virtual Academy to In-Person Learning OR In-Person Learning to Virtual Academy

ALL students now have the opportunity to request a change to their current learning environment for the  4th quarter—either by requesting to be moved from Virtual Academy to In-Person Learning or vice versa from In-Person Learning  to Virtual Academy. To make a change, parents/guardians must submit the digital request form https://forms.gle/ymV3h2USiQGzqqfC6 by Thursday, April 1, 2021.

Please Note: Requests made on or after April 1st will not be accepted.

VA Academy Testing Participation Survey Grades 3-5

As part of the state and federal legislation, students in grades 3-8 are administered the End of Grade (EOG) tests at the end of the school year. The state requires for these tests to be administered in person. In order for us to plan appropriately, we need to know how many Virtual Academy students will be attending on those days to take their tests. 

If you have more than one Virtual Academy student in grades 3-8, please complete this form separately for each student.

Please complete by or on Friday, April 16th.  

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EfhcenBq231DHLZhNRxmYOxvW6Fs9m09jmWg2PY2AbY/edit  

Attendance Policy Expectations Under Plan A For Families whose child(ren) will participate in Plan A/In-Person Learning)

Students who are opting for in-person learning in Plan A are advised that the expectation will be for students to attend class in person. If a Plan A student does not physically attend school, the student will be marked absent per Policy 4400. Plan A students should not join a remote learning class unless the absence is due to a required quarantine for a positive  COVID-19 diagnosis or an exposure. Quarantining students will be marked absent-excused and will be provided remote learning access.  

Bus Transportation: for VA Students returning to In Person Learning

Eligible bus riders currently in Virtual Academy returning to in-person learning must apply for bus service (click here for transportation application). The student must meet all transportation eligibility requirements and must also submit the health attestation form (click here for attestation form). Bus assignments will not be provided until the attestation form is received. Furthermore, transportation requests will be closed after three days if the attestation form is not received.Once transportation requests and attestation forms have been received, students will be assigned to a bus by WCPSS. 

No School 4/1 & 4/2

Please also note that Thursday, April 1st is now a Teacher Workday and Friday, April 2nd is a student holiday.

Booster/Dance Fit 

The finale, the DanceFit event, will be held on April 9th during each grade levels’ in-person specials times. VA students will also join at these times. We are working towards helping our school raise $12,000.  The money will be used for painting classrooms and buying flexible seating alternatives.  

As a family you can make pledges, share your student’s fundraising link with others, or both! If this is not the right time for you to financially give, we completely understand. We are doing this Partnership Pioneer DanceFit to provide a safe, fun, and educational experience for every single student.

Please check our school’s Facebook page for more information. Thank you for your support of our amazing school community!  Go Pioneers! 

Return to Plan A – Requests due April 1, 2021

Families wishing to switch from Virtual Academy to In-Person Learning OR In-Person Learning to Virtual Academy

As we have previously shared, ALL students now have the opportunity to request a change to their current learning environment for the  4th quarter—either by requesting to be moved from Virtual Academy to In-Person Learning or vice versa from In-Person Learning  to Virtual Academy. To make a change, parents/guardians must submit the digital request form by Thursday, April 1, 2021.

If you would like to change for the fourth quarter of this school year, you must complete this form: https://forms.gle/ymV3h2USiQGzqqfC6 by Thursday, April 1st. Requests made on or after April 1st will not be accepted.

We strongly encourage all families to submit these requests as early as possible. Changes will go into effect on the first day of the fourth quarter, April 13th. We will be reaching out to families the week of April 5th with teacher change information.

Virtual Academy Families Considering Switching to In-Person Instruction

To make an informed decision about what to expect should you decide to return to In-Person Instruction. We have implemented multiple health and safety protocols since you were last on campus.

• At this time all students upon arrival must go through a daily health screening.
• If a student does not pass the health screening or exhibits one or more symptoms during the day, the student and any siblings must be picked up as soon as possible and must not return to school for at least 10 days. Students may return sooner if they have a negative COVID test or visit a doctor who writes a note ruling out COVID.
• All students and staff must wear a face covering while on campus.
• Hand sanitizer stations have been installed by all entrances and in all classrooms.
• There is no mandated social distancing required by North Carolina. The WCPSS School Board has directed schools to practice social distancing to the extent possible. Given the small size of our classrooms at PME, students sit at desks with chairs approximately three feet apart in classrooms. 
• Current eating and drinking guidelines now suggest six feet of social distancing and for students to sit facing one direction while face coverings are removed.  Although it is not required to do so, we are making every effort to accommodate these suggestions. Due to space constraints at PME, approximately half of each grade level eats lunch in the multi-purpose room and the other half eats in the classroom.
• Specials take place in homerooms except for PE which is in the multi-purpose room.
• Parents are not currently permitted inside the school building.
• A switch to either In-Person or to Virtual Academy will mean your child’s teacher will change.

Hello Partnership Families! We hope you are enjoying our spring break! This has been a school year filled with changes. WCPSS is providing all families one final opportunity to switch to Virtual Academy or to In-Person instruction for the fourth quarter. If you are interested in changing, you must complete the form linked below before Thursday, April 1st. Requests on or after April 1st will not be accepted.

Please also note that Thursday, April 1st is now a teacher workday. There will be no school on this day. School was already scheduled to be closed on Friday, April 2nd. 

For Virtual Academy Families Considering Switching to In-Person Instruction

We would like to share some information with you so that you may make an informed decision about what to expect should you decide to return to In-Person Instruction. We have implemented multiple health and safety protocols since you were last on campus.

• All students upon arrival must go through a daily health screening.
• If a student does not pass the health screening or exhibits one or more symptoms during the day, the student and any siblings must be picked up as soon as possible and must not return to school for at least 10 days. Students may return sooner if they have a negative COVID test or visit a doctor who writes a note ruling out COVID.
• All students and staff must wear a face covering while on campus.
• Hand sanitizer stations have been installed by all entrances and in all classrooms.
• There is no mandated social distancing required by North Carolina. The WCPSS School Board has directed schools to practice social distancing to the extent possible. Given the small size of our classrooms at PME, students sit at desks with chairs approximately three feet apart in classrooms. 
• Current eating and drinking guidelines require six feet of social distancing and students to sit facing one direction while face coverings are removed. Due to space constraints at PME, approximately half of each grade level eats lunch in the multi-purpose room and the other half eats in the classroom.
• Specials take place in homerooms except for PE which is in the multi-purpose room.
• Parents are not currently allowed inside the school building.
• A switch to either In-Person or to Virtual Academy will mean your child’s teacher will change.

If you have questions, please contact us here at PME. If you would like to change for the fourth quarter of this school year, you must complete this form: https://forms.gle/ymV3h2USiQGzqqfC6 before Thursday, April 1st. Requests on or after April 1st will not be accepted.

Board Approves Grades 4 and 5 to Return to Daily In-Person Instruction March 15

On Wednesday, the Wake County Board of Education approved a plan for students in grades 4 and 5 to return to daily in-person instruction on Monday, March 15th. (Modified calendar schools will begin on March 29th due to spring break.) This means students in grades 4 and 5 currently attending classes in three-week rotations will attend school every day. This decision does not apply to students who are registered in the WCPSS Virtual Academy.

Important Dates:

• March 15th - March 26th Spring Break for all students on Modified Year Round Calendar
• March 29th - ALL K-5 grade in-person students return to school
• April 2nd - No School

Please note at this time, we are unable to switch students from VA to In-person instruction or vice versa.  Class sizes, social distancing, scheduling etc. has been pre-determined based on current student enrollments in Virtual Academy and In-person Instruction.  Thank you for your understanding.  

Dismissal Only -Walk Up

We will resume parent walk up for student dismissal when we return from Spring Break on March 29th.  Parents will wait for their children at socially distanced marked locations at the bottom of the parking lot on the sidewalk where the blue footprints begin. Parents will be required to wear a face covering. Parents will need to hold up their carpool sign to indicate to the teacher on duty the students they are picking up.  

Boosterthon - Kickoff Monday, March 29th

We are excited to announce that when we return from Spring Break, the Boosterthon organization will be bringing us a DanceFit program.  Kickoff for this fundraiser event is March 29th. The finale, the DanceFit event, will be held on April 9th.  We will enjoy seven days of fun and nightly challenges as we work towards helping our school raise $12,000.  The money will be used for painting classrooms and buying flexible seating alternatives.  There are three goals for this year’s program: 

1. Bringing our school community together for some FUN!
2. Inspiring our students to be active and to develop positive character traits.
3. Raising funds to support our school’s needs.

This year, we need more support than ever to provide an excellent educational experience for all our students.   

As a family you can make pledges, share your student’s fundraising link with others, or both! If this is not the right time for you to financially give, we completely understand. We are doing this Partnership Pioneer DanceFit to provide a safe, fun, and educational experience for every single student.

Please check our school’s Facebook page for more information. Thank you for your support of our amazing school community!  Go Pioneers! 

Spirit Week March 8-12th

Monday :  Saddle Up for the Last Week before Spring Break--Western Wear

Tuesday: Traveling Tuesday-Wear your wishful Vacation Outfit

Wednesday: Spring Break Hair, Don't Care--Wacky Hair 

Thursday: We've Got our Eyes on Spring Break--Wear Sunglasses

Friday: Pioneer Pride: Partnership Spirit Wear day or School Colors

Other Dates:

• March 8th-12th All K-3 grade in-person students return to school; Cohort B(2) 4th & 5th grade
• March 15th-March 26th Spring Break for all students on Modified Year Round Calendar
• March 29th K-3 grade in-person students return to school; Cohort A(1) 4th & 5th grade returns to school (Yes, cohort A(1)). Modified Second Semester Calendar.

Single Subject Acceleration (SSA)

Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) is the practice of placing a student in a higher grade level in ONE subject area. This type of acceleration is for the purpose of providing access to appropriately challenging learning opportunities in EITHER Math or English Language Arts for students meeting qualifying criteria in grades K‐7. Only students who are currently enrolled and attending a WCPSS school during the open nomination and testing window are eligible to be considered for SSA. Mr. DeSiato, AIG teacher at PMES, will hold a parent presentation on March 3rd at noon or 4 pm.  Please contact Dan DeSiato at ddesiato@wcpss.net for further information and to obtain the link for the presentation. Please note: Test Request Window is Feb.22- Apr 2nd and the Testing Window is April 19-May 7th. 

Dates to Remember

Cohort A(1) Monday March 1st students in the 4th and 5th grade will return to school.

Wednesday, March 3rd Remote Learning Day

Friday, March 5th  is Picture Day for in-person students. The pictures from the February picture day and this day will be used for the yearbook. Students in remote cohort rotations and Virtual Academy students may sign up for a time slot here to have your child’s  picture taken for the yearbook.  If you have any questions, please contact mmartin@wcpss.net 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050C4BAEAE2FA3FE3-106342

Other Dates:

• March 8th-12th All K-3 grade in-person students return to school; Cohort B(2) 4th & 5th grade
• March 15th-March 26th Spring Break for all students on Modified Year Round Calendar
• March 29th K-3 grade in-person students return to school; Cohort A(1) 4th & 5th grade returns to school (Yes, cohort A(1)). Modified Second Semester Calendar.

Read Across America Day

In celebration of Read Across America Week, we are planning a Story Walk which will be held on the PMES playground on Tuesday, March 2nd for our In-person students. We will have the story available on Wednesday, March 3rd (Remote Learning Day) if parents would like to stop by and read the book with their children. The book we have chosen is Rain Before Rainbows. A StoryWalk® is a fun, educational activity that places a children’s story (literally a book taken apart) outside in the community.

Meal Benefit Applications

Parents, please consider applying for meal benefits if you are in need. The deadline to apply is today  Feb 26.  For every student that turns in the free and reduced lunch application and qualifies, the school system receives federal funds that benefits the student and teachers.Information about applying for Meal Benefits for the 2020-21 school year can be found at www.wcpss.net/Page/1849. You may complete an application online at MySchoolApps.com. Paper applications can be requested by calling 919-588-3535.

Tardy 

We expect students to be in their classrooms at 8:30 am ready to learn. Please allow yourself enough time to go through the carpool line for your child to be able to complete the health screening and walk to the classroom in order to be in his or her seat at 8:30 am.  Carpool ends at 8:25 am.  If you arrive after 8:25, please park and escort your child to the front door for his/her daily health screening and to sign your child in to school. Thank you. 

Spirit Week March 8-12th

Monday :  Saddle Up for the Last Week before Spring Break--Western Wear

Tuesday: Travelling Tuesday-Wear your wishful vacation outfit

Wednesday: Spring Break Hair, Don't Care--Wacky Hair 

Thursday: We've Got our Eyes on Spring Break--wear sunglasses

Friday: Pioneer Pride: Partnership spirit wear day or school colors