Mustang Family Newsletter
Find the good
- Mrs. Toothaker would like to put a shout-out to Team Toothaker parents that sent in so many donations and donated volunteering time for our December activities!
- Mrs. Wielki would like to make a shout-out to the students, staff, and community for a warm welcome back from her maternity leave.
- Shout out to the volunteers that come in and help us with our lunch and recess duties, we really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to help out our school.
- Shout out to Community Club for helping our garden club continue to grow.
- Shout out to the volunteers and Community Club for making the Giving Fair so special for our students.
Minot School enrolled in Winter Kids again this year! WinterKids is the only nonprofit in Maine dedicated exclusively to increasing outdoor physical activity in children and families during our longest, most sedentary season. The program provides students with different items for students to continue to be active in the winter.
This month, the kindergarten through fourth grades have started reading this year's Chickadee Award books. We will continue reading all ten of the books through March when the students will vote for their favorite. The 4th through 6th graders that are participating in the Battle of the Books have been doing a fabulous job reading! Please remember that the books are also available at the public library and on Sora.
There are new winter pencils in the pencil machine! Bring in a quarter to purchase one!
Children in RSU 16 are currently learning about emotion management in our social-emotional learning curriculum, Second Step. In this unit, children learn to recognize emotions and apply strategies to manage their emotions and reduce stress. Research shows that children who learn emotional regulation skills develop stronger coping skills, are better problem solvers, make better decisions, and build stronger relationships.
This month the RSU 16 SEL Parent Resource Center focuses on the CASEL competency Social Awareness. Social awareness is the ability to understand others and how they feel. This involves recognizing emotions and reading body language. It also involves putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and seeing a situation from their perspective. Students who can empathize with others from backgrounds that are different from their own will build stronger relationships with classmates and future co-workers. Click on items in the resource center to access articles, storybooks, and activities to support the development of social awareness.
In January Community Club has the after-school music program returning for grades 2 and 3 with Ms. Jenkins. Look for the signup form in backpacks to go home with students.
Be on the lookout for the Winter Weekend Event with hot dogs, hot cocoa, and cookies!
Mrs. Moulton and is pairing with the Community Club to plan a Read-A-Thon in February or March. Prizes will be earned by the top readers! Look for details coming soon!
Please keep Mustang Ln a single line. We will move to double lines when DriveLine staff feels that the parking lot is getting backed up, but please wait for the signal from our staff.
Thank you for helping us keep all students safe during DriveLine
LOST & FOUND
Illness in RSU16
Dear Students, Staff, and Families
In RSU 16 we are seeing another increase in viruses like Influenza, Pertussis, COVID-19, RSV (respiratory syncytial viral) and the common cold.
Information on Symptoms
COVID-19 is a viral illness with a wide range of symptoms including fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and or diarrhea.
Influenza is a viral illness characterized by a fever with a cough and/or sore throat.
Pertussis is a bacterial illness characterized by coughing fits which may lead to vomiting or gagging.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV) is a respiratory illness. Symptoms can include fever, coughing, sneezing, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose and wheezing.
Common colds can be caused by many different disease agents but are usually characterized by cough, runny nose, sneezing, and sore throat.
What to do if you have…
COVID-19 -- individuals should consider home testing, isolate for at least 5 days with a positive test, and may return with masking depending on severity of illness.
Influenza – individuals should stay home until 24 hours after fever resolves without the use of fever-reducing medications.
Pertussis – individuals should stay home until they have completed 5 days of antibiotics.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV) -- individuals with RSV are usually contagious 3 to 8 days. Most RSV infections go away on their own in a week or two.
Colds – there is no standardized recommendation for returning during/after a cold. Individuals with colds are typically infectious for 4-7 days after symptoms begin.
COVID-19 Additional Information
- If an RSU 16 staff member or student is positive, call the school nurse or district nurse. We do not need a picture of the positive test. Students and staff will isolate for five (5) days with a positive test. Maine CDC does not recommend requiring a negative test to return to school (for staff or students who test positive and have completed 5 days of isolation).
- Students and staff in RSU 16 who were positive and are able to return to school or work on Day 6 should wear a mask for days 6-10. After the 5-day isolation, with 2 sequential negative tests 48 hours apart, masks may be removed before day 10.
- RSU 16 will support personal choice for masking. Masks are available upon request. The choice will be respected and RSU 16 will not tolerate any form of harassment, peer pressure, or persuasion against an individual's masking choice or belief.
- If there is a positive member in the household, it is encouraged that you wear a mask at school for 10 days.
- RSU 16 will follow the Maine Department of Education Communicable Disease protocol and monitor for 15% or greater absenteeism.
The RSU 16 nursing team is ready and willing to assist all of our staff, students and their families!
Dotty Bagley RN, District Nurse, (207) 705-4960, firstname.lastname@example.org
Jessica Bosse RN, BSN, Poland Community School, (207) 998-4915, email@example.com
Mary Wallace LPN, Minot Consolidated School, (207) 346-6471, firstname.lastname@example.org
Laurie Camire RN, BSN Elm St. School, (207) 345-3381, email@example.com
Pam Tracy LPN, Whittier Middle School/Poland Regional High School, (207) 998-3462 firstname.lastname@example.org
Lisa Storer RN, BSN Whittier Middle School/Poland Regional High School, (207) 998-5400 email@example.com
2022 Let's Go! Family Survey
Attention all families: Please take this 5 minute survey from MaineHealth. Even if you completed the survey last year, we need your participation again!
Everyone who completes the survey will be entered into a prize drawing and five lucky winners across the state will each receive a $100 Amazon gift card for their personal use AND if you win, our school will receive $1,000.
Other schools are participating, so the more families from our school who complete the survey, the greater our chance of winning $1,000!
Contact information for the prize drawing will be collected at the end of the survey and will not be connected to your survey responses. All survey responses are anonymous.
Click the following link to begin the survey: https://redcap.link/2022FamilySCH
District Scent Policy
Reminder: Our entire district is scent free. Our school in particular absolutely can not have any scents within the building at all. Please have students refrain from using essential oils, perfume, etc.
We have individuals who are allergic to scents. If you have respiratory issues, scents can irritate these issues and trigger difficulty in breathing. We need to be sure that all staff and students are safe within our building.
Our Tip Line represents one approach our schools and communities may use to share the responsibility of school and student safety and well-being. This Tip Line provides students, staff or other members of the public with a safe and confidential way to report a threat or potential threat to student or school safety. Call 911 in cases of immediate emergency. It is located on our website: rsu16.org and scroll down.
Two Types of Threats
RSU 16 follows a 5-step decision tree to determine if a threat is transient or substantive.
- Transient Threats: can be quickly and easily resolved, often jokes or figures of speech, no intent to carry out the threat, sometimes the results of frustration or expression of anger.
- Substantive Threats: cannot be easily classified as transient and use protective action so the threat cannot be carried out.
Meal Application Form
The COMPLETELY CONFIDENTIAL application is available to print, complete and return to your school or you can complete the online form at www.SchoolLunchApp.com. If you have difficulty accessing either of these methods, the form can also be sent home with a student...just contact your school's office to make the request. If you have any questions please contact Ellen Dore, RSU 16 Food Service Director, firstname.lastname@example.org, 207-998-5400 ext 107.
If you would like a paper copy of the Student Handbook, please contact the school.
There are many benefits to providing families with newsletters electronically. An electronic newsletter conserves paper, is more cost efficient, and delivers the newsletter directly to parents. Minot Consolidated School will be providing newsletters electronically for the remainder of the year. If you would prefer to receive a paper newsletter moving forward, please contact us at (207) 346-6471 or at email@example.com in order to notify us. Newsletters can also be found on the MCS website
Future Newsletter Items
If you have any items you would like to have included in a future Family Newsletter, please forward them to me and I will be sure to add them!
Arrival- 8:30 am