Beach School

Dear Beach Parents, Families and Community,

Our car parade and clap out for our 5th graders yesterday afternoon shone light on the love our staff and community has for our children. Thank you so much if you were able to help or participate. I hope your child had fun, and that you had fun! The end of elementary school and being promoted to middle school is such a big, emotional milestone. I hope you will take time to pause and reflect on all your hard work and effort as a parent, and celebrate what you feel most proud of. Remember to include your efforts to build strong relationships with your child’s teachers-- such an important component of children’s success in school, and an area in which our staff wants to do better. Each of our Beach students are beautiful and full of spirit, capacity, potential, and you have everything to do with that! Our 5th graders go out into the rest of their lives representing a very loved group of people from Beach Primary School. We’re still holding them tight right now though. Next Tuesday evening at 5 pm we’ll be posting a virtual ceremony for our whole community to enjoy, 5th grade or incoming K or anywhere in-between. In the video, 5th graders will share reflections, our student body will be represented in a photo clap-out, and many staff will share comments. 

Many of us, including me, recorded our comments pre-Memorial Day, thus before George Floyd was killed. This has brought up some feelings. Our messages will feel cheerful and focused on celebrating our children. I’ve thought about re-recording my remarks, but we have two things running parallel right now-- love for and joyful celebration of our children. And, an urgency to respond to George Floyd’s murder as well as the innumberable Black Americans who have died due to police brutality.

Our community is resilient, empowered and incredible when we come together as a team to make something happen. As we celebrate the way that who we are, and what we can do together, played out yesterday, we can also carry our collective efficacy forward in the most important work we are doing in our own reflection and growth, as well as with our students, every day. Our staff is considering: What do our Black students need to feel safe and valued in their learning spaces? What do our non-Black students need, in order to better understand how to provide support and stand against injustice?

I believe in our staff and know we believe in each other, to carry our love, passion and our ability to do hard things that need our full commitment and a large, diverse collaborative team, forward. I was struck with the many effective and powerful ways that collaboration between family and school resulted in the amazingness of our car parade yesterday.  Our collaboration, spirit, desire to make it happen well, willingness to take on the necessary pieces and belief in ourselves-- was why it worked. Let's remember the power of our collective efficacy as we prioritize racial equity for our school and for the world.

And now, an important logistic for next week (student materials pick up Thursday June 11) and also a reminder: Please join us for Topic Talk this afternoon at 4 pm.

Student Materials Pick Up Plan

Some students still have belongings such as water bottles, coats or beautiful work at school; others have everything from school already.  If your child or children are in the first category, you will be able to come to school next Thursday at a scheduled time to pick up their materials (and drop off library books).  Please know that PPS has decided parents and students are not permitted to enter school buildings for any reason. Here is how this will work.

• Teachers will still provide instruction to students next week. It is possible that there may be a day teachers provide an asynchronous activity vs. a classroom meeting.  Your teacher will let you know their plan for students for next week, as always.
• Next week staff are scheduled at various times between Monday-Thursday to come to Beach following social distancing rules to organize student materials and their classrooms for summer break.
• Our staff will write student names, teacher names, teacher’s room number, and student’s locker number if relevant, onto paper bags, place all student materials (including medication if relevant) in the bags, then organize them for delivery to parents or designee (written permission required) in cars on Humboldt at a time organized by student last name on Thursday (only):
  • Student’s last name begins with A-H:  8-10 am
  • Student’s last name begins with I-Q:  10 am-12 pm
  • Student’s last name begins with R-Z:  12-2 pm
• Organizing bags and pick-up alphabetically by teacher enables parents who have children in multiple grades to pick up items from more than one class at the same time. 
• Please pull up so you are facing the school-side of Humboldt: you’ll want to pull up to the curb facing forward toward Denver (not facing toward Concord/Interstate).
• Parents are encouraged to bring in library and textbooks and place them in a stack (or bins if it’s raining) by the main entrance; our staff will carry them to the library.
• Within your scheduled time (above), please pull up on Humboldt, in front of the auditorium doors (right between the main doors and the entrance closest to Concord).
  • Please bring and hold up a paper out your car window that clearly names your child’s last name and each teacher’s last name so our staff can locate your bag(s) and carry them to the curbside, step back, and you will then pick them up.
• Parents and staff are asked to adhere to Social Distancing guidelines throughout the process.
• If we end up with confusion about locker items we will use this plan at the Pick Up location: a staff member will show the student/parent (who remains in their car) all of the items in the bag and the student can identify if items are theirs. Items that were in the bag but don’t belong to the student will be returned for retrieval by the student to whom they do belong.
• We are starting the day with a smaller band of names to allow us to see where the glitches are and make necessary changes before the next grade band.We hope you won’t have a long wait and apologize in advance if you do. Please plan to arrive during your scheduled time so we don’t end up with (even more) traffic congestion; if you come off-schedule we will have to work differently to find your child’s materials which will create delays.
• Neighbors, friends, family etc. can pick up items for other students as long as the parent provided a note (you could hold up a text requesting that you pick up, or hand staff a paper request, etc.) designating permission.  Please communicate this and provide the note to staff when you pull up.
• Report cards will either be sent home in paper bags or be mailed the week of June 15. Many teachers will still be working on report cards through next Thursday June 11 (June 11 is a district work day intended for writing report cards). Thus, some report cards will be mailed home, but if teachers have completed theirs early, they will come to you in your paper bag.

Warmly,
Lisa