Hello Parkwood Families,

This is your principal, Ms. Fearrington with your weekly message.  I want to thank all of our panthers for a wonderful week back from a long holiday break!  It was so great to see all of their smiling faces and stories about their winter break.  Here are a few reminders and updates for this week:

Updated Elementary Visitation Guidelines:

When school reopens this month, you will be receiving updated protocols for elementary school visitation during instructional hours.  These changes have been designed to make school more inviting to you, and to ensure that all students are receiving quality instructional services in a safe environment.  We have updated our classroom visitation guidelines to protect your child and all of our students at Parkwood.  The classroom visitation guidelines are built around 5 tenants:  Safety, Relationships, Equity, Independence and Instructional Time.  The visitation policy will go into effect on January 9^th.  The Parkwood Visitation Plan is linked here for you to read and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher, Ms. Fearrington or Ms. Carswell.  Thank you all for supporting all of our teachers, staff and students at Parkwood, we truly appreciate your commitment and dedication to a joyous school learning environment.

Important Holiday and Schedule Reminders:

All DPS students on the traditional school calendar will observe MLK Day on January 16^th and a teacher workday on January 17^th.  Students will not attend school on both of those days.  Please refer to the district school calendar provided and linked here for important dates.

End of Quarter and Report Cards:

On Friday, January 13^th, the instructional quarter will end.  We will begin 3^rd quarter on January 18^thwhen students return from the MLK holiday.  Report Cards will be available via parent portal on January 24^th.  If you do not have access to your parent portal, please reach out to our data manager, Ms. Joanne Brosh at joanne_brosh@dpsnc.net or our school secretary or Ms. Jacqueline Boone at Jacqueline_campbell@dpsnc.net, for assistance on how to access or to create an account.  A printed copy will be available, however, every parent should have access to their portal for easy access to view progress reports, graded assignments and report cards.

Return to School, Attendance and Tardies:

I want to remind all parents that all students are to arrive by 7:45am when the instructional bell rings.  If your student arrives after that time, you will need to come into the front office to sign your student in.  You will no longer be able to drop your student at the front without coming into the school building to sign in.  As we are preparing for the instructional day, our front office staff needs assistance on the amount of students that are coming in after 7:45am.  We have encountered a significant number of students that are tardy and we thank you in advance for your support with this new process moving forward.

Carpool Line/Front Lot:

I would like to remind all of our parents that we want the carpool line to go smoothly and that requires all of us to doing our part.  Please remember that the form you received at the beginning of the school year with your students name and number should be used to ensure your student is sent to the carpool line and will be ready for your arrival.  Please scan the QR code and fill out the short form and it will inform the grade level and teacher.  All parents should use the carpool line to pick up their students.  Please avoid parking in the parking lot and walking across the carpool line to pick up your student.  This creates a lot of traffic when our parents are leaving the line to leave the school.  It is very important that you do not enter the lot through the parked cars to pick up your student against the traffic of the carpool line.  All traffic should flow the same out of the parking lot.  Thank you so much for your flexibility and support, we truly appreciate your time and understanding!

COVID Protocols and Information:

It is important that as we move into 2023, that we remain vigilant with symptoms that can be COVID-19 or Flu related.  If your child has a fever and is showing signs or symptoms that are COVID-19/Flu related it is important to keep your child at home to ensure they receive rest and are symptom free without medication for 24 hours before returning to school.  If your child has symptoms, please get your child tested to ensure they are not positive for COVID-19 or the flu.  You will need to provide proof of a positive COVID-19 test by taking a picture or providing the doctor’s note to your child’s teacher.  If you have any questions, please reach out to your child’s teacher.

There are many ways to stay connected to our community.  Please follow Parkwood Elementary on our Facebook page and website.  Please join the Parkwood PTA!  If you have any questions please visit https://www.durhamparkwoodpta.com/ and/or reach out to Hope Alfaro, our PTA president at durhamparkwoodpta@gmail.com.

Please reach out to me if you have any questions or need assistance!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and as always Parkwood Panthers…Show PRIDE!

Warmly,

Kimberly Fearrington, Principal