From our Head of School
Dear DCS Montessori Community,
We are excited to “Kick off” the 21-22 school year. We are excited to bring back full 5 days a week in-person learning. We will be returning to normal specials routines, more normal lunch routines, and normal recess routines in recognition of our student communities social and emotional development needs. We are looking forward to the return of Fun Run this fall, a tradition of healthy exercise to support our school and build school culture. We are passionately engaged in the opportunity to return to a more Montessori congruent method of education than we were able to implement in the past year with an emphasis on differentiating to our students’ ability levels, providing improved student choices, but with a strong emphasis on Montessori accountability. Last school year, our entire DCS Montessori (DCSM) community engaged in a strong emphasis in Reading, and while Reading is always an emphasis in any elementary school, we will shift our emphasis to Writing and written expression this year, especially in writing about our reading. Keep your eye out on how to engage in this with your student(s) at home as we look to make this a great year of academic growth in Writing!
While DCSM is excited for a school year which is LESS impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic than a year ago, we can NOT do so without any acknowledgement or expression of the concerns that still exist in regards to the on-going COVID-19 outbreaks. DCSM COVID-19 Protocols for the 2021-22 school year…as of today, and as always subject to change:
1) All classroom cleaning and sanitization protocols from the 20-21 school year will remain in effect at DCS Montessori with high expectations for hand washing, use of hand sanitizer, and surface cleaning. See our DCSM Back to School Plan 21-22 HERE Back to School Plan DCS Montessori
2) Student mask wearing: ALL students, who are not fully vaccinated, are strongly recommended to wear a mask to limit the spread of airborne illnesses, including COVID-19. This is based on CDC recommendations. [NOTE: Mask wearing on public transportation is a federal mandate and will be required when students ride in activity vans or other bus transportation.] Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools | CDC
3) More than 95% of DCS Montessori staff have been vaccinated, and staff who are not vaccinated are required to wear a mask. Volunteers will follow these same protocols either providing proof of vaccination or expected to wear a mask.
4) Students who are of age to be vaccinated, are encouraged to do so, and health records do allow for this to be kept and monitored confidentially by the school. This enables the school to understand its population’s immunity in making health related decisions, but it is voluntary. While DCSM recognizes that no vaccine can be taken without a risk, we do want to encourage vaccination against COVID-19 in regards to the positive outcomes of prior world-changing vaccines. Please consider the following Pre-COVID-19, non-politicized, (2013) article and its info. graphic to understand the positive impacts of prior world changing vaccines like Polio, Diptheria, or Smallpox. How Vaccines Have Changed Our World In One Graphic (forbes.com) Again, DCSM recognizes this is a family decision, and respects whatever family decisions are made.
5) DCSM will follow quarantine protocols and procedures as communicated through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). Noting that students and staff with vaccination records on file are currently excused from quarantine protocols. NOTE: There are no current quarantine requirements, but can be should infection rates rise locally.
DCSM is excited to welcome parents and volunteers back into our facilities! Parents and/or visitors entering the DCSM Facility who are not fully vaccinated are expected to wear a mask. Parent entry into the school is welcome and parents will have active key fobs permitting entry into our facility if parents are comfortable and desire to do so. However, if they are not comfortable then they may use the procedures of 20-21 and communicate with us from the vestibule via the intercom. Unless it is a “Special Event Day”, access beyond the office/lobby, such as visiting your student(s)’ classroom(s), access to classrooms will be limited to planned, pre-communicated, expected visitation or volunteering. All Volunteers will check in at the office.
August is “Grace and Courtesy” month on the COUGARS calendar, and we start the year off with Maria Montessori’s expectations on students’ care for the classroom environment, our procedures to keep the classroom a safe and engaging place to learn, our plans on how to get along with each other and what to do when things don’t go as well as planned, and finally what the weekly and daily schedule and expectations are for our unifying purpose of learning in the Montessori way. You can join in on your own conversation of Grace and Courtesy at home, and engage in conversations of expectations for treatment of family members, expectations of electronics use, and your family’s weekly schedules including when the family sets aside time to Read, and maybe even discussions of rewards and consequences for completing work or homework and positive versus negative teacher feedback. Setting up all of these schedules and paradigms can help us avoid stress and anxiety of trying to fit everything into our busy lives and hectic schedules.
Additionally though, Grace and Courtesy, this year, will include classroom discussions about judging others based upon COVID-19 beliefs, as well as any other forms of potential bias. If unvaccinated students choose to wear a mask (as recommended), they will not be judged, teased or criticized for making this choice. If unvaccinated students choose not to wear a mask (not recommended), they will not be judged, teased or criticized for making this choice. Our DCSM families have a wide range of beliefs and opinions, and all are to be respected in our school. If a student who is eligible for vaccination chooses TO BE vaccinated OR NOT TO BE vaccinated, they will not be judged, teased or criticized for making this choice. Please have a family conversation with your student(s) prior to the start of this school year about your expectations regarding their need to respect the belief and opinions of their peers, and that failure to respect them may have consequences. We do not want this adult conversation to interfere with our Montessori learning experience in the 21-22 school year.
Please note that these conversations will NOT be taught in isolation, though. The conversation about respecting human differences, and treating our fellow students (humans) with respect no matter their differences is a consistent part of the Montessori environment. The Montessori philosophy that blends three (or two) age levels together at one time, is inherently set-up to create imbalance amongst the classroom’s peers and forces the conversation of respecting academic differences and age differences and size difference etc. into the daily conversation about life in the Montessori classroom to a consistent forefront. When this is added to the community-building framework of the Montessori prepared environment, we believe our philosophy is consistently addressing a healthy peaceful respect for all Human Differences, including racial, ethnic and gender, with Grace and Courtesy.
With that we are thrilled to welcome our students and families to the 21-22 DCS Montessori school year, and look forward to seeing you at Open House on August 11th and Back to School Nights to follow. Thank you for being a part of DCS Montessori, your partner in helping your children be inspired for life.
Sincerely,
Jeromy Johnson
DCS Montessori, Head of School
