Your child's education, safety, and social-emotional health is important, especially during times like this where uncertainly can create many emotional responses.  You and your family matter to us, and we want to partner with you for a successful school year.  Now that we are further into the school year, remote instruction may look differently for students based on their needs.  The time and frequency that teachers are meeting with students may change too due to the addition of small group instruction in addition to whole group instruction.  If necessary, a phone call from our social worker or the principal may occur to help support remote learning at home if we are noticing online absences and/or incomplete/missing work from students.  Please know that we are here to continue to support your child and your family no matter if we provide in person or remote instruction.  We want your child to have school success!  Below are some important guidelines to help families support their child.

Guidelines for Parents/Guardians/Adults at Home:

• Help students to log into live sessions every day.  Try to ensure that your child is in a good learning routine with reduced distractions.

• Ensure that students turn in completed work during the regular school day as much as possible.  Work turned in late or in the evening is difficult for teachers to assess and provide immediate feedback to students.

• Allow for your child to complete work independently.  Adults at home are not to complete work for students.  Do not give answers to your child.  We understand that you must support your child's work at home, however, when something is to be completed by your child independently, please allow them to do so without your help.  It's important that we know what students can and cannot do so instruction can be provided to support their needs and enhance their strengths.

• Teachers are getting a high volume of questions about things that have already been communicated via email and/or newsletters.  Therefore, we request that you read all teacher communication carefully.  If you have a question, please refer back to teacher communication that was previously sent before contacting the teacher with a question that may have already been addressed.

DeWitt Public Schools is in need of instructional assistants.  Please consider applying if you think you would enjoy working in a school with students, or pass this information along to anyone you know who you think this would be a perfect match for.  Thank you!

https://www.applitrack.com/ccresa/onlineapp/1BrowseFile.aspx?id=52766

Until we are in Phase 5, school visitors are not allowed in the building.  Also, we do not allow visitors on our playground during recess.  This is to ensure the safety of our students while outside.  Because Scott is a neighborhood school, it isn't uncommon for pedestrians to walk and ride bikes near our school grounds.  By keeping our large playground strictly for our staff and student body, this allows playground staff to keep their attention on our students instead of investigating the purpose of other adults who enter our playground.  During school hours, the playground is reserved for students and staff only.  Thank you for understanding and respecting this important safety protocol.  

Scott is a neighborhood school, and we have many wonderful neighbors who support our school.  However, a concern that has been communicated many times this year is vehicles blocking driveways at the beginning and end of the day when drop off and pick up occurs.  There are more students dropped off and picked up than typical this year which creates additional traffic on Wilson Street.  Please be respectful of our neighbors by refraining from idling (or parking) your car in front of any driveway while waiting in the parent loop line.  Allowing space for driveway access for all property owners is important and helps us maintain positive relations with our friendly neighbors and demonstrates respectful driver etiquette.  Also, please follow road rules by parking in legal spots when needing to enter the building.  There are an increasing number of drop off and pick up by vehicles not using the loop.  This is strongly discouraged.  Please follow our driving guidelines so pick up and drop off are safe for everyone and to prevent an unfortunate accident from occurring.  Keep in mind, our staff needs to be on time to work to teach and support your child, so please allow staff access to the staff parking lot when they arrive to work each day. Thank you for your attention to these concern areas.

Here is the latest and greatest from our awesome DeWitt PTA.

The DeWitt Elementary PTA Needs YOU!

While this year the PTA events and meetings may look a bit different, our support for our teachers will not. 

For now, our meetings will be happening virtually.  While meeting participation is not mandatory, gathering together helps us to generate new ideas and form a strong connection.  The membership dues help the PTA give money back to our elementary schools through teacher grants, fulfilling building needs and so much more!!  Remember, by joining the DeWitt Elementary PTA, you are showing that you care about our community and are investing in our students and staff!! 

JOIN THE PTA TODAY!

https://dewittpta2018.memberhub.store

Celebrating birthdays are so much fun at school even though we have to adopt new ways to celebrate this year.  To reduce virus exposure possibilities, the following guidelines will help families plan:

• A special celebration such as a game, extra recess, crowning ceremony, etc. are possible ways birthdays will be celebrated at school.

• Unfortunately, no parents or guests will be allowed in the building to attend parties or have a special lunch with their child.

• Birthday treats, trinkets, or party favors are not allowed to pass out to classmates.

• Birthday invitations should not be passed out at school this year.  NOTE:  This is an expectation on a typical year too, unless all students in the class receive an invitation.

School pictures have been scheduled for Friday, January 22nd with hopes that we are moved from Phase 4 to Phase 5 at that time.  This date may be adjusted if necessary to ensure we can follow safety measures and reduce the potential of virus exposure.

As we transition back to in person instruction, it is important that students and families follow our start and end of the day routines and procedures. 

• Students riding a bus will be supervised and guided by school staff to enter and exit a bus in a safe fashion.  All bused students will enter the building through the doors by the bus loop.

• All breakfast students must enter the school at the front of the building which opens at 8:00 a.m. and go directly to the cafeteria to eat before school starts at 8:15 a.m.

• Students dropped off and walking to school will be expected to maintain social distancing from others and only be able to enter the building at the front of the school by the office.  Doors will open at 8:00 a.m.  There will be school staff outside to supervise and guide students to safely enter the building, and please do NOT have your child vacate your vehicle until 8:00 a.m.  Supervision is not available until then, and it's important students are social distancing at all times.  Once drop off students and walkers are inside the vestibule, they will go straight to the cafeteria and sit at designated seats until the first bell rings.  They will then be dismissed individually to their classrooms.  IMPORTANT NOTE:  Student dropped off after bused students have entered the building but before 8:15 a.m., will be directed to use the bus loop doors to enter the building.

• Parents wishing to drop off and/or pick up their child must use the loop to do so.  Parking in front of the building is dangerous for our students and discouraged.  This also prevents our staff from being on time to work since there are limited parking spots at Scott School.  Thanks for your help with this.

• Drop off and/or pick up in the street is never acceptable and local law enforcement help keep our students safe by patrolling Wilson Street before and after school.  Also, drop off and pick up at other locations other than our parent loop is discouraged.  We care about the safety of our students and appreciate families following our procedures and guidelines.

• If your child is going to be picked up after school in the loop, please be sure to post a large sign on your passenger side dash with your child's first and last name (large and legible font please).  This is necessary for staff to efficiently identify vehicles for students to keep our loop moving.  We will be using a microphone and speaker to call student names to also help run a smooth pick up.  Please don't forget to make your dash sign and keep in in your vehicle for use throughout the school year.

Our DPS Transportation Department has made many changes to bus stops and pick up/drop off times.  If you have questions about transportation for your child, please contact George Gibson or Lisa Smith at 668-3020. 

To reduce unnecessary exposure to students and staff, volunteers and other guests will not be allowed in the building during phase 4.  This protocol may be revisited when we reach phase 5 and additional communication will be shared with families if it is determined appropriate to open our building to volunteers and guests. This includes access to our office.  Until then, parents/guardians who enter the building will be required to stay in the vestibule to drop off or pick up items and to sign in or sign out their child.  We are hoping this protocol isn't necessary all year because we love having volunteers and guests in our school.

If your child is going to be "absent" and miss school, even if they are a online learner, please be sure to call our attendance line at 517-668-3458.  We are required to take attendance even when students are learning remotely, so we want to be sure to account for our students and excuse absences in Infinite Campus.  If your child is learning remotely, you should also communicate absences to your child's teacher.  We care about our students and worry about them when they aren't in class or online on days they are supposed to be.