Dear LREI Families, 
I hope that this note finds you and yours well and enjoying the start of the ‘20-’21 school year. It was a pleasure to see those of you who attended ninth/tenth grade Curriculum Night earlier this week. I hope to see all other LREI families at their Curriculum Nights in the weeks to come. These are such important gatherings and are an opportunity for you to learn more about your child’s experiences at LREI. Thanks in advance for attending. We know that we are offering a lot of meetings and are asking much of your busy lives. Much appreciated.
I write to share important information/updates and a number of reminders as we approach our return to in-person schooling for most of LREI’s students. Please read this letter carefully and be in touch with any questions you may have. I also invite you to yet another meeting. On Thursday, October 1 at 6:30 p.m. please join me to review the information in this letter and to hear more specific information regarding the students’ return to campus from the divisional principals. We will begin this gathering all together before we move to divisional conversations. We know this will put some pressure on families with children in more than one division and we thank you for attending these meetings.
Reminders:
Masks – All children and all adults will wear masks throughout each in-person school day. There will be no exceptions to this rule, though our younger students will have scheduled mask breaks. If you have not already started to do so, please begin having your child practice wearing a mask for sustained periods of time.
- Reminder: Gaiters, bandanas, and masks with vents are not allowed.
- Please send your child with at least 2 extra masks and be sure to label them with their name. Best if these are stored in cubbies, lockers, or backpacks in paper bags.
Magnus Wellness Survey – The wellness survey must be completed for each student each day, whether they are attending LREI in person or LREIremote. We must report this information to NY State every day. Please arrive at school having completed the survey. If your child is arriving alone and has a phone please consider sending them a screenshot of the survey each day to speed entry into the school buildings. We are focused on avoiding lines during arrival times. A reminder that adults will not be allowed into the building at arrival or dismissal.
Testing – As you read in my email on Monday (which can be found on my blog in the September 21 letter or on the Reopening ‘20-’21 page, scroll down to “Testing”), all students must have a negative Covid-19 test to return to campus. Please submit your child’s test results to testresults@lrei.org. The test must be conducted between September 26 and September 30.
Illness – Please keep your child home when they are not feeling well and report all illnesses to the school’s nurses. Please take a look at these questions and answers (scroll down to COVID Q&A Symptoms/School Exclusion/Quarantine/Contact).
Travel Quarantine – Please follow all rules for quarantining after traveling to another country or to a state on the NY State Covid-19 Travel Advisory list. There have been frequent changes to this list. A reminder that a negative test after travel does not obviate the need for quarantining.
Lunch Procedures –
Lunch service at LREI will change significantly from years past. Our partners at Cater To You are working hard to continue to provide homemade, healthful, delicious meals while operating within established guidelines in order to minimize the risk of infection during preparation and when we are enjoying our meals.
Families will order student meals ahead of time via an online portal organized by Cater To You. When ordering students will be able to indicate dietary needs and to choose their entree. Meals will need to be ordered by the end of the day on the Wednesday of the week before and can be ordered up to a month in advance. Middle school and high school students should only order lunches for those days that they will be in the school buildings.
You can find a link to the ordering system and instructions on how to use this system at LREI.org. Click on “Calendars/Forms” in the upper right-hand corner, then on “Lunch Menu,” the last item on the drop-down menu.
Lower School families will hear from Faith on Friday regarding pods and locations for lunch delivery.
Online Gatherings:
All Zoom links for community gatherings can be found on the LREI Community Events Calendar.
Curriculum Nights:
Fours – First Grade Curriculum Night – Wednesday, October 14, 6:30p.m.
Second – Fourth Grade Curriculum Night – Thursday, October 15, 6:30p.m.
Middle School Curriculum Night – Wednesday, September 30, 6:30p.m.
Eleventh / Twelfth Grade Curriculum Night – Tuesday, September 29, 6:30p.m.
LREI Community Gathering – Return to Campus
Thursday, October 1, 6:30p.m.-7:30p.m.
We will begin this gathering meeting all together. I will review some of the logistics for our return to in-person schooling. You will then move to divisional meetings to hear updates and reminders from the principals. The link for this gathering will be posted on the LREI Community Events Calendar on LREI Connect.
Finally, I want to reiterate how important it is that we all do our parts in keeping the community healthy. The common sense and proven habits we are asking your children to follow in school will serve all well if we also follow them outside of school.
- We have to wear our masks whenever we are out of the house.
- We should wash our hands upon returning home, arriving at our destination, before and after eating, after riding in public transportation, and any other time we can. TWENTY SECONDS!
- Stay six feet apart from all but those with whom we live.
- If our children are involved in outside activities, we should insist that these be done within the same strict health/wellness guidelines that you have at home and that we have in school.
- Smaller gatherings with a consistent group of people are better than larger gatherings, if we gather at all.
- The more time we choose to stay home, the shorter the time we will have to stay home. Short term pain, long term gain.
- In addition to following these guidelines, as parents we are responsible for helping our children, of all ages, to understand the importance of the seemingly innocuous decisions they make every day.
There are many moments when I find it hard to believe that abiding by the simple rules listed above will actually have an impact. They seem insignificant. However, the science says that they will have a significant impact and, to paraphrase, I believe that the science knows. There is little that will impact the spread of this virus that has taken over 200,000 lives in our country alone more than these simple actions and continuing to stay home when we can. If we want to be in school in-person we have to prioritize this and not go out or gather for other reasons when we have the choice. Prioritize the important and postpone the optional. There are few decisions that we can make at this time that will be more generous and have a greater impact than this very simple one.
Peace and health,
