Brunswick-Brittonkill Central School District

Correction: Tomorrow is a WHITE cohort day for the Secondary School. Sorry for the confusion.

An update on tomorrow for the Secondary School: - Teachers will run a nine period schedule for students who are typical in-person or hybrid. - Students who are normally fully remote should follow their regular schedule. *Tomorrow is red cohort day - all hybrid students will be on a regular 9 period schedule with homeroom attendance at 7:30 a.m. This includes 6th grade.

Please bring an ID is you are signing out a device.

Hello. Brunswick Central School District will go fully remote for ALL students, K through 12, on Monday, October 26, 2020. Please check your email and our website for further information. Thank you.

Do you want a quick guide to events in our community? Do you have an event you would like to share? Head to our website - select the Brunswick CSD and Explore tab - then select Community. https://www.brunswickcsd.org/o/bcsd/page/community--427

Can't find your breakfast/lunch menu? No problem! Simply check out the dining tab on the webpage or app to see what is being served up today in the cafeteria!

Family Education Webinar Series from the Mental Health Association in New York State. A good resource with upcoming and recorded webinars. https://www.mentalhealthednys.org/family-education-webinar-series/?fbclid=IwAR0tzeO8ECQwdr-CoF-wGGA5jD7MhYoMbjCEwP6Gjg1NKQBjmKnTESV4Prc

The 2nd Quarter Schedule for the Secondary School is now available.

Elementary Parents! We now have a few openings in our childcare program for anyone who is interested in sending their children on a daily basis. Please contact our childcare director, Carol Galbraith at cgalbraith@brunswickcsd.org for availability.

Message from our PTSA: We’ve had a lot of parents asking about picture days! Reminder, Secondary school photos start tomorrow 10/13-10/15. Elementary students are 10/14. You can order you pictures online. Please be sure to send a copy of your receipt in with your child. www.adirondackschoolportraits.com Enter which ever code below applies to your student. High school students: TAMHS20X355 Middle school students: TAMMID20X356 Elementary students: TAMELM20X357 If you have any additional questions that we can help with, please just let us know!

If your child was unable to connect today Please email alammerts@brunswickcsd.org to confirm. We need to ensure that students are not absent due to COVID or COVID related symptoms. Please help us keep Tamarac safe. Have a great three day weekend.

Dear Tamarac ES Families I hope this email finds you well and with electricity - still waiting for it at my house 😞😞. Fortunately, good weather returned today, and our annual Fire Prevention and Safety presentation happened for our kindergarten and 1st grade students. Many thanks to the Eagle Mills, Raymertown, and Brunswick 1 fire departments for working so wonderfully with these students today. The students loved the presentations and the fire trucks, and they learned valuable information to keep them and their families safe. As a reminder, picture day is scheduled for next Wednesday, October 14, 2020. Students attending school in person will be having their pictures taken during the school day between the hours of 10:30 AM and 3:00 PM. Students attending school remotely may come to school from 3:15 PM - 4:30 PM to have their pictures taken. There will be a table set up outside the main entrance for parents and students to check in. A parent will be required to complete a health screening survey at the table, and students will have their temperatures taken prior to entering the building. Only the student will enter the building to have his/her picture taken. Parents will need to wait outside until their child's picture is taken. It has come to our attention that some parents are parking in areas that are not designated parking spaces during elementary pick-up (e.g., lawn areas). We kindly ask that parents who are picking up students at dismissal time park their cars in any available parking spot when you arrive. Parking spaces are no longer assigned and any open parking space may be used when picking up your child from school. We have been having talks about how to celebrate Halloween this year, given all the steps we must observe. Our planning is not complete, but it does look like we will be doing smaller, classroom-based activities to celebrate this year, not the outdoor parades and events that we have been having in the past. I hope the parades can make a comeback next year, but for now, it is on hold. More complete information will be shared as our building meets on this topic further. Looking ahead, we have designated November 9, 2020 as the first day that students who have been learning remotely may begin attending school in-person if the parents decide that this is their preference. Parents of remote learners who wish for their child to begin attending in-person instruction must notify their child’s remote teacher of this decision no later than October 23, 2020. This will allow for us to plan around necessary distancing protocols should classes need to be reconfigured to accommodate additional students. I hope you and your family enjoy this upcoming weekend - my son just texted that National Grid trucks are on our street. Maybe I'll be able to enjoy the weekend, too. Sincerely, Rich Pogue

Update from Dr. Maloney We are thankful to have the power on at school but are very aware that many of our families do not have power and/or internet. Situations like this can be unpredictable therefore we continue to work with our local towns and governments to ensure safety. Tomorrow, barring any unforeseen situation, school will be open. We have checked with Rensselaer Co Emergency Management about the State of Emergency. They stated the State of Emergency is due to road clean up work but schools do not need to stay closed. Our closure today was a lack of power. A wide spread weather incident like this is unexpected and fortunately rare. This year, our situation is much more complicated by the COVID 19 pandemic and remote instruction. If you are out of power and your child cannot report or connect remotely this will be an excused absence. We will work with you and your family and no student will be penalized due to lack of power or internet. As always, you make the best decision for your child. Please just confirm this information through the normal mechanisms when you can. Tomorrow will be the normal schedule. Mr. Rizzo has posted an update for the secondary school that covers current topics such as open house, pictures and tomorrow’s schedule. This is a challenging 24 hours in a challenging year. Brunswick is here for you. Please do not hesitate to reach out if we can support your families. Please remember to check for any updates. I hope you and your family stay well. Angelina Maloney Superintendent

Update: Brunswick CSD is closed today 10/8 due to widespread power outages and road closures due to the storm yesterday. We wish to thank our local forest responders for the hard work to keep our community safe last evening. Stay safe everyone! Angelina Maloney

Due to power outages at all schools, Brunswick CSD will be operating on a two hour delay. Please check back for updates as we continue to monitor the situation

Find a Test Site Near You https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/find-test-site-near-you

Part 1 of the Secondary Virtual Open House is now available. Here is the link to the teacher videos: https://sites.google.com/brunswickcsd.org/tamarac-mshs-open-house/home Part II is the virtual meet time with teams/departments tomorrow from 5:15-8:00. Here is the link once again in case you need it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K-4THXc9daHlir-Xb9X633SYwXLi82uF49D03P_yPwA/edit?usp=sharing Thank you!

o the families of Tamarac Elementary School, It is hard to believe that October is here. We have come a long way in our first month of school, and our educational landscape has changed right along with the season. The important things at Tamarac Elementary, however, have remained the same: high quality instruction and a deep sense of community. We have made additional adjustments to our arrival and dismissal processes to maximize instructional time in classrooms, while keeping safety and efficiency for our drop-off and pick-up students, as well as our bus riders, in the forefront of our minds. For the convenience of families, parents may drop off students at 8:30am - we will have someone at the main crosswalk, at the parent drop off zone, to cross students as the buses arrive. At 8:40am, students may enter the building after being screened. We are offloading the buses one at a time once the lines to enter go down - fewer riders and more parent drop offs are speeding up this process. With that, we will return to our 8:55am start time, with tardies beginning after that time. We have now begun calling to dismiss students (beginning with students attending aftercare) at 3:05pm. Students being picked up by parents will be dismissed after that time using the same alphabetical groupings and the same exit points that we have been. Busses are now being released at 3:25pm. Picture day is scheduled for 10/14/20! Our wonderful PTSA is coordinating this effort, and we will be working with them to provide additional information to you on the picture day process for in-person and remote learners. More to come! In a previous newsletter, we mentioned our “SMART” approach to behavior education and support. We would like to highlight the ”S” for “safety” this week! Firstly, our students and teachers have been the picture of health and safety by remaining vigilant about following mask-wearing and distancing protocols. I am so proud to see how our Bengals have risen to the occasion to do what is necessary to take care of each other whether together in person or connecting remotely, so we can continue to learn together. In other “safety” news, October is cybersecurity awareness month. This year, perhaps more than ever, cybersecurity is certainly on the forefront of our minds as we have relied on technology to keep us connected. Our district IT Department is a critical part of supporting cybersecurity awareness in the use of instructional technology with our students. However, families are also partners in supporting cybersecurity with our young learners. Please visit this family tip sheet for more information on supporting online security with our K-5 students. Enjoy your children this weekend. We look forward to seeing them all again on Monday! Sincerely, Rich Pogue

Financial Aid night Virtual Oct 21 6 pm Link to follow

Dear Secondary School Families: Happy Friday! With September now in the books, we are looking ahead to another busy month. Considering where we were with time this summer, I can’t say enough about how smooth of a start we have had! Our goal is to keep the positive momentum rolling as we plan our next steps in the school year. Our Continuity of Instruction Committee has been assessing our current progress to date and starting to build the cohort calendar for the late fall/early winter. If your child is fully remote, it is important to note that parents/guardians have until October 23 to notify the counseling department if there are any changes in your child’s mode of instruction (hybrid learning vs. remote). We will need this information to ensure we are always meeting the needs of all of our students and following safety guidelines. We appreciate your continued support! Here are some important updates for this week: Open House - Wednesday, October 7!: Our new virtual open house program is ready for its test drive! The staff has worked hard to construct a meaningful and safe experience that we hope you will enjoy. The program consists of short videos and live sessions with teachers. : Open house videos: Videos will be sent out to all families sometime before the program begins. The videos will contain important information from your child’s teachers and may be viewed whenever it is most convenient for you! Live Meets with teachers: On the evening of October 7 we will hold 15 minute Google Meet sessions with parents from 5:15-8:00pm. Please click on the link below to view the entire schedule. Mr. White and I hope you will join us to kick off the program at 5:15 pm! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K-4THXc9daHlir-Xb9X633SYwXLi82uF49D03P_yPwA/edit?usp=sharing School Picture Day(s): Please mark your calendars! Adirondack School Portraits will be coming for our annual school picture event. Here is the plan for all students: 10/13: 11th and 12th Grade (Blue Cohort Day) 10/14: 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade (Red Cohort Day) 10/15: 9th and 10th Grade (White Cohort Day) Fully Remote Students: May come into school (check-in at front desk) between 7:30 am-3:30 pm on Oct. 13th, 14th or 15th. ***There will be a window of time on October 13th and 14th from 2:15-3:30 pm after school day hours. Picture Retake Day: November 23 from 11am -3:30pm. Chromebooks: This will be the last week for scheduled Chromebook pick ups - Mon-Fri 9-2:30 in the front lobby of our building. Please email adenovellis@brunswickcsd.org if you need to arrange (for grades 7-12). Principal’s Advisory Committee (P.A.C.): I wanted to inform you that we have a brand new student organization up and running called PAC. PAC is how the school administration at Tamarac High School empower and encourage students to develop leadership skills and take an active role in leading proactive school change. This year PAC is open to all 11th and 12th grade students who will attend monthly meetings and work collaboratively throughout the year. Using a consensus building model, the committee is currently focused on identifying our priority goals. Mr. White and I are truly excited to be working alongside these incredible students to help make our school community even stronger! Stay tuned for more... Calendar: Mon. 10/5 = WHITE DAY, Tues.10/6 = BLUE DAY Wed. 10/7 = RED DAY, Thurs 10/8 = WHITE DAY, Fri 10/9 = Virtual for 7-12 students 10/2: Interim Report Period for Quarter #1 Ends Thank you for your all that you continue to do at home during these challenging times. I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing weekend! #TamaracStrong Sincerely, Ken Rizzo Principal Tamarac Secondary School