Hybrid Class - J.F. Cook Campus
NEW! Messages from Dahlia Aguilar, Chief Schools Officer, and Principals
Academic RemindersOJO! Virtual Learning for Learning Hubs & Hybrid Model After Spring Break
Board of DirectorsNEW! Board Meeting - April 8
AdmissionsNEW! It’s Time to Re-enroll for School Year 2021-2022!
Heath & SafetyNEW! DC Department of Health COVID-19 Surveillance Testing Update
NEW! DC Re-Open Schools Health & Safety Guidelines Update
Travel Recommendations During Spring Break
Family Communications & EngagementNEW! Conversation with Parents/Caregivers of Black Students - April 19, 6:00pm
NEW! Live Virtual Family Recital with Ms. Loid and Mr. Dietrich - Tuesday, April 6, 6:00-6:30pm
Our School Website is Your Resource!!
Summer ProgramNEW! 2021 Summer Program Details
RecruitmentNEW! Mundo Verde is Hiring
Student & Family SupportsVirtual Session Opportunities with PAVE and WISE - April 8
Student & Family Support Services
School Calendar and Upcoming EventsSCHOOL MESSAGES
As we enter April we are energized by the sun, the signs of life abound, and we know this is a season of planting that which we want to sow in the future.
Sustainability teaches us that a healthy and sustainable future is possible and that we are all in this together [1]. We thank you for helping us design what has been within our means and resources, while cultivating mutually beneficial relationships for the days to come. Thank you for allowing us to care for teachers, so that they can care for children. Thank you for allowing us to serve the most pained amongst us so that we can all have enough, and in advance, thank you for your cooperation as we move through the last few months of school with uncertain realities but a steadfast commitment to serve our students to the best of our ability -be it virtually or on campus.
Many of you may have heard that new restrictions permit us to serve more students. Recently DC officials announced that schools can observe 3ft of distance instead of 6ft [2]. We are reconfiguring our plans to include this change. It is important to understand that there are still regulations and recommendations on the distance students must observe during meal times and nap time.
Next week we will provide an update on enrollment to date, intended enrollment beyond Spring Break, and summer program enrollment.
In community,
Dahlia Aguilar
Chief Schools Officer
Please click the links bellow to read our Principal’s messages:
J.F. Cook Campus - Principal Netta Douglas in English / Spanish
Calle Ocho Campus - Principal Naomi Fortis-Gebreselassie in English / Spanish
Resources from J.F. Cook Virtual Family Session, April 1 :
ACADEMIC REMINDERS
To uphold the safety of our community, in-person classes (Learning hubs and Hybrid model) will resume on Thursday, April 22 after the return from Spring Break. All students are expected to participate in remote learning.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Mundo Verde Board of Directors will be holding a Board Regular Meeting this week on Thursday, April 8. All regular and special board meetings are open to the public, providing the opportunity for stakeholders to observe the board in action. The meeting will take place virtually from 6:30 to 8:30pm. The agenda includes committee updates, Executive Director report and reopening update.
Please RSVP HERE if you are planning to attend this meeting.
For questions related to the meeting email board@mundoverdepcs.org.
ADMISSIONS
DEADLINE - May 5 by 5:00pm
ALL families should have received a re-enrollment letter via email on Friday, April 2, 2021. If you have not received this letter, please contact admissions@mundoverdepcs.org
Please complete all of the necessary paperwork by May 5, 2021, to not risk losing your child’s space at Mundo Verde PCS for SY21-22.
Siblings of Current Students
Starting on April 2, siblings of current students admitted through this year's lottery will be able to be included in the same re-enrollment form. If you do not know if you were accepted, please check your application in MySchoolDC.
Re-enrollment Support
The Admissions team is happy to support families through one-to-one meetings via Zoom, phone call, or email. If you have specific questions or need to contact us, call our frontdesk J.F. Cook (202) 750-7060 or Calle Ocho (202) 803-8967 or email admissions@mundoverdepcs.org. We are available Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 4:00pm for any questions or concerns.
For more details, visit our admissions website!
HEALTH & SAFETY
Testing is scheduled on a weekly basis for in-person students however students may not always be tested each week. You will receive a notification directly from Curative to the email provided on the consent form when your child is tested. You do not need to do anything with the notification email. Your child’s results will be sent to the same email. There is not a defined schedule so please watch for the notifications. Results are confidential, and Mundo Verde does not receive them.
Covid-19 symptomatic and asymptomatic test consent forms in English and Spanish.
For more information on these programs click here.
On March 26, DC Department of Health and OSSE released their new guidance for re-opening schools in the District. These guidelines can be found on OSSE’s public website. We are currently reviewing the guidelines to see which are inline with our re-opening values and how to operationalize new recommendations from a space, scheduling and staffing capacity lens.
The most impactful change is the guidance to reduce from 6 feet to 3 feet in certain instances the physical distance between students, which is in accordance with the new CDC guidelines, and the removal of the cap on 12 people per room.
The guidelines clearly state three instances that physical distance of 6ft are recommended:
Between adults and other adults
Between adults and children
Between children when masks are removed, such as lunch, snack time and nap. Physical barriers, such as plastic dividers, are not a replacement for the 6ft
We have been preparing for this change as part of our considerations for further expansion of on-campus learning and continue to consider analysis of square feet of space as part of how we define maximum room capacity.
We are currently analyzing our operations to incorporate both the new 3 foot and the 6 foot distance requirements on our campuses. We do not anticipate any other of our safety procedures adjusting for this year at this time, such as mask wearing, staggered arrival and dismissal, increased cleaning and hand hygiene, health screenings and intentional cohorting to reduce the number of close contacts.
As students and staff continue returning to on-campus learning, it is important to clarify the expectations regarding travel during the pandemic. We ask families to limit traveling during Spring Break to reduce and limit the possible spread of Covid-19 in our school. If your family is planning to travel, please do so safely and practice precautions, such as wearing a mask and hand hygiene.
Students enrolled on on-campus learning (Learning Hubs and Hybrid Model) who choose to travel outside of the DMV to a state or country on the DC Health high-risk list MUST do the following process to return to in-person learning even without symptoms:
Quarantine for 14 days OR
Take a COVID-19 test within 48-72 hours of return and provide negative results
FAMILY COMMUNICATIONS & ENGAGEMENT
Families of Black Students at Mundo Verde are invited to join a virtual conversation to continue the discussion on our guiding question:
How do we center Black students in our short term and long term plans of action with a focus on school culture and student experience (e.g., recovery, reentry) based on data (e.g. stakeholder, performance data, etc.), research and best practice?
An initial meeting took place on March 15. For our upcoming meeting, families from both campuses will be joined by Black leadership representing both campuses -- J.F. Cook Campus Interim Principal Netta Douglas, J.F. Cook Campus Acting Assistant Principal Jennifer Kouakeu, Network Director of Talent/General Counsel Robyn Pretlow, and teachers. We will recap some of the data shared in that meeting and discuss specific strategies to support the academic growth of our students.
Please use this link to Join the Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/2896375750?pwd=Vit5V2JwZmVpbDZpeVJsU1JaSHEwUT09
Meeting ID: 289 637 5750
Passcode: MVPCS
One tap mobile
+19292056099,,2896375750#,,,,*540422# US (New York)
+13017158592,,2896375750#,,,,*540422# US (Washington DC)
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/acJlGIW0qT
Join us the Spacials team for a live virtual Family Recital this Tuesday, April 6, from 6:00-6:30pm. Families from both campuses are invited to enjoy a live Flute and Violin RECITAL with Mr. Dietrich and Ms. Loid. You will listen to Bach, Telemann and more! Feel free to bring a cup of coffee or tea.
All family members are invited!
Tuesday, April 6, 6:00-6:30pm
Zoom link:
https://zoom.us/j/98902618206?pwd=blM0NWNWZDZPNFVQSVhaTlRKU3U5Zz09
If you are looking for information relevant to our Hybrid Model, such as arrival and dismissal procedures, how to use the SchoolPass app, among others, click HERE.
You can also find lots of questions and answers about the Summer Program and the Hybrid Model from virtual sessions with families HERE. If you missed any of the sessions, you can also access the recordings HERE.
We want to celebrate with you our new photos on the website, check them out!!
SUMMER PROGRAM
Mundo Verde will offer a limited summer program for approximately 100 students in person and 100 students virtually. The four week in-person program will consist of a program serving students in grades PreK3-5th grade including academic skill boosting in English, Spanish and Math. The program will serve approximately 100 students at the J.F. Cook Campus. The program is open to all students across both campuses and will prioritize students who have extended year services (through Special Education) and students whose academic data show they need preference in the program.
We are accepting interest forms now in order to determine staffing for the program. Students will spend a portion of every week outdoors, exploring and engaging in physical activity and recreation.
There will be no shortage of FUN—it is summer after all! We will provide a few field trips as able.
Dates: July 8 - August 4
Times: 9:00am-3:45pm (with specific drop-off times between 8:30-8:55am)
Eligible students: The summer program is only open to rising Mundo Verde students from both campuses—returning in the 2021-2022 or in fifth grade. New students entering PreK-3 in the Fall are not eligible to participate in the program.
Registration: Registration is available for the entire session only (all four weeks). Up to 100 slots will be made available dependent on staffing. Registration will close once that number is reached or on May 1. Families will receive a confirmation when their request has been received, and a call or email once their spot is secure. The space is secured once the registration fee is received.
Notice about Fees: We are committed to continuing our mission-aligned summer programming and keeping it accessible for all of our families through a sliding scale. To that end, we will not increase our fees this year since we increased them by 5% in 2019 [1].
Look out for the Summer School Registration form later this week.
RECRUITMENT
We are currently recruiting for a number of positions including Instructional Coaches, Psychologist, Speech and Language Pathologist, Teachers (including special education and intervention), and Fellows.
Please refer qualified candidates to our school website: https://www.mundoverdepcs.org/join-us for more information including vacancies, FAQs and access to the application. Thank you for spreading the word!
STUDENT & FAMILY SUPPORT
Dr. Michael Brachfeld, of the MedStar Georgetown WISE Center, Mundo Verde's partner in providing mental health services and supports, announces a virtual series being co-hosted by a collaborative effort with Parents Amplifying Voices in Education (PAVE).
In this Virtual House Meeting we invite you to come share your story, connect with other parent leaders and take action! You will also have the opportunity to make a plan to advocate with PAVE for the parent priorities that matter most to YOU!
PAVE + WISE Virtual House Meeting #3: Where the Power Lies in DC Education
Thursday, April 8 from 6:00-7:30pm
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83570265653?pwd=YXY0enlTeURNdkhKOHFHWjI0WU9MUT09
RSVP by emailing Megan Polanin at meganp@medstarwise.org (WISE Center) or Shakira Hall Louimarre at shakira.halllouimarre@dcpave.org (PAVE)
Visit the Student & Family Support section on our Reopening webpage to read more about the services we provide: Behavioral Health Supports for Parents, Social Worker at Mundo Verde, Autism Spectrum Disorder Parent Support Group, Student Services - Child Find, among others.
Upcoming Events:
Apr 6: Live Virtual Family Recital with Ms. Loid and Mr. Dietrich, 6:00-6:30pm
Apr 8: Board Meeting, 6:30-8:30pm
Apr 12 - 15: Spring Break -No School for Students
Apr 16: Emancipation Day - School Closed
Apr 19: Conversation with parents/caregivers of Black Students, 6:00pm
Apr 19 - 21: Virtual Learning for ALL Students
Apr 22: In person learning resumes for Hybrid Classes and Learning Hubs
Apr 22: Coffee with the Principal - Calle Ocho Campus
Apr 30: Coffee with the Principal - J.F. Cook Campus
May 3: Enrollment for NEW Students Deadline
May 5: Re-enrollment Deadline (by 5:00pm)