Page Contents
January 3, 2021: Return to In-person Learning
Dear Nederland Community,
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful winter break. I am certainly looking forward to getting back into a routine, seeing students in-person, and continuing to support those students learning at home.
As we prepare for in-person learning please reference these documents for all the logistics:
- Return to In-Person Details – This document contains information about pick up, drop off, health and safety protocols, a snapshot of the day, and so forth.
- Google Slides presentation – This has information about mask wearing, washing hands, snack, breakfast, lunch, and other information.
A few specific details:
- Send your child with two masks per day.
- The Buff neck gaiter type mask is strongly discouraged. These are single layer and are not as effective as multi-layer masks. If your child comes with a neck gaiter type mask they will be given a disposable mask to wear for the day.
- Breakfast (grab-n-go in the classroom) and lunch are free for all students.
If you would like to discuss changing your child’s enrollment from in-person to home learning or vice versa please feel free to send me an email – caleb.melamed@bvsd.org – or give me a call (720) 561-5575. And as always please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Here’s to a happy, healthy, and peaceful 2021.
Best,
Caleb
November 11, 2020: Return to Remote Learning (Caleb Melamed)
November 11, 2020
Dear Nederland Community,
As we honor our Veterans today I want to start by sending my respect, honor, and gratitude to our Veterans. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
I am sure you are aware that we will be transitioning to home learning starting next Tuesday November 17th. I understand the need to move to home learning from both a community health standpoint and from a resource constraint standpoint. Personally, however, I am deeply saddened by the need to transition to home learning. Seeing many of our students in the school building these several weeks has only reinforced my belief that children need, and indeed have the fundamental human right to be in school.
I implore you all, over the coming holidays and the next two months, to do everything you can to limit the spread of this disease. I implore you all to make the gut wrenching decision not to see or be with extended family and friends this season. It is not an understatement to say that the future of our children depend on us making these incredibly challenging decisions and sacrifices.
As for the logistics of the transition. On Thursday and Friday we will send home all necessary materials with the students. At this point we are not planning a materials pick up next week. Teachers will send details including schedule information next Monday.
We will not change any class rosters or teacher assignments. This will allow us to be ready to return to in person learning when the COVID numbers improve.
I want to close by expressing my deep gratitude to the entire staff at Nederland Elementary. It goes without saying that these last few months have been incredibly challenging. The entire staff has worked tirelessly to put students first. I am deeply grateful for everyone’s compassion, understanding, and willingness to do whatever it takes to support our students, families, and community.
Best,
Caleb
November 10, 2020: Return to Remote Learning (Rob Anderson)
Dear BVSD Families,
Tonight, during our Board of Education meeting it was announced that the Boulder Valley School District will move to remote learning, starting next week.
While my team and I remain firmly committed to providing in-person learning opportunities whenever it is safe to do so – it has become abundantly clear that we can no longer handle the situation on a school-by-school basis. Unfortunately, the contact tracing team has been overrun with cases and with growing quarantines, we simply do not have enough school or district staff to fill all the gaps.
Our public health partners are equally strained, which has delayed case and contact investigations. We worry that cases may slip by our safety network.
Additionally, significant changes to quarantines under Safer at Home: Level Orange have enlarged the size of quarantines. As more and more staff are pulled from buildings, we are having difficulty ensuring we have enough people to safely supervise all students.
Unfortunately, it looks increasingly likely that this situation will just become more challenging with Thanksgiving break just around the corner. If the trend we have seen so far this school year continues to hold true, holidays and breaks from school lead to increases in cases in our community.
For this reason, we have decided that all students will return to Home Learning until the scheduled beginning of the next semester in January (Tuesday, January 5), provided that case rates have improved.
We remain committed to doing whatever we can to serve the students who need our help the very most, which is why we are looking for ways to bring back students in our most intensive programs.
We will provide more information as it becomes available. We understand that this will be very disappointing news for many of our families. This is not a decision that was made easily, however we have an obligation to keep the safety of our students and employees at the forefront of these decisions.
We thank you for your continuing support.
Sincerely,
Rob Anderson
Superintendent
Boulder Valley School District
October 28, 2020: Individual at NES with Covid-19 like symptoms
Dear Parent/Guardian/Staff:
We are dedicated to keeping our students, families, and staff informed of health and safety situations in their schools. You are receiving this message because your student attends/you work or were onsite at Nederland Elementary School.
Please Note: Those who are directly impacted and are being excluded have already been notified directly.
On 22 and 23 October, an individual was onsite at Nederland Elementary School. On 24 October 2020, this individual developed COVID-like symptoms and is being tested for COVID-19.
Again, you have received this notice because your student attends/you work at/you were onsite on the dates above at Nederland Elementary School. If we determined you or your student might have been exposed, you would have been contacted directly and given more information.
Each situation involving a case of COVID-19 is reviewed by public health and BVSD. As part of this public health review:
- The individual is being kept home from school until they receive their test results
- Their mask use, social distancing, and activities were assessed.
- The people who were close contacts are instructed to stay home from school for 14 days or until a negative test result of the individual is provided. This is called quarantine.
As always, individuals should self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 including:
- Fever or Chills
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or Difficulty Breathing
- Loss of Taste or Smell
- Other additional symptoms that could be early signs of infection: body aches or headaches, congestion or runny nose, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, fatigue, and sore throat.
Current guidance suggests you watch for any of the above symptoms. If you/your student begins to experience symptoms, notify your school, self-isolate, and contact your health care provider for more information. Information on how to self-isolate can be found here: CDHPE Self-Isolate Instructions.
Information on where to access testing can be found at Boulder and Broomfield Counties websites:
- Boulder County Public Health – COVID Testing Information
- City and County of Broomfield – COVID Testing Information
- Call 211 or visit the 211 Colorado website (www.211colorado.org). They provide a listing of testing sites and additional COVID-19 resources across Colorado. Multiple languages are available.
- BVSD offers free COVID testing to employees through COVIDCheck Colorado (you must log into the BVSD intranet first)
- Please notify Health Services if you receive a positive COVID test
If you have questions you may call or email, BVSD Health Services at (720) 561.5544 or health.services@bvsd.org. If you or your family feel they need care for symptoms, please contact your health care provider.
You can find more information about COVID-19 and what you can do to protect yourself, your family, and your community on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Centers for Disease Control websites.
Best,
Caleb Melamed
Principal, Nederland Elementary
October 26, 2020: NES student with Covid-19 like symptoms
Dear Parent/Guardian/Staff:
We are dedicated to keeping our students, families, and staff informed of health and safety situations in their schools. You are receiving this message because your student attends/you work at Nederland Elementary.
Please Note: Those who are directly impacted and are being excluded have already been notified directly.
On October 22, 2020, an individual was on bus route 705 and briefly at school, separated from others, with COVID-like symptoms that have not resolved.
Again, you have received this notice because your student attends/you work at Nederland Elementary. If we determined you or your student might have been exposed, you would have been contacted directly and given more information.
Each situation involving a case of COVID-19 is reviewed by public health and BVSD. As part of this public health review:
- The individual is being kept home from school until they receive their test results
- Their mask use, social distancing, and activities were assessed.
- The people who were close contacts are instructed to stay home from school for 14 days or until a negative test result is provided. This is called quarantine.
As always, individuals should self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 including:
- Fever or Chills
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or Difficulty Breathing
- Loss of Taste or Smell
- Other additional symptoms that could be early signs of infection: body aches or headaches, congestion or runny nose, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, fatigue, and sore throat.
Current guidance suggests you watch for any of the above symptoms. If you/your student begins to experience symptoms, notify your school, self-isolate, and contact your health care provider for more information. Information on how to self-isolate can be found here: CDHPE Self-Isolate Instructions.
Information on where to access testing can be found at Boulder and Broomfield Counties websites:
- Boulder County Public Health – COVID Testing Information
- City and County of Broomfield – COVID Testing Information
- Call 211 or visit the 211 Colorado website (www.211colorado.org). They provide a listing of testing sites and additional COVID-19 resources across Colorado. Multiple languages are available.
- BVSD offers free COVID testing to employees through COVIDCheck Colorado (you must log into the BVSD intranet first)
- Please notify Health Services if you receive a positive COVID test
If you have questions you may call or email, BVSD Health Services at (720) 561.5544 or health.services@bvsd.org. If you or your family feel they need care for symptoms, please contact your health care provider.
You can find more information about COVID-19 and what you can do to protect yourself, your family, and your community on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Centers for Disease Control websites.
Sincerely,
Caleb Melamed
Principal
Nederland Elementary
October 9, 2020: Grades 3-5 Reintroduction
Dear Nederland Community,
As you are most likely aware it was announced yesterday evening that students in grades 3 – 5 will be returning to in person learning on October 20th.
I will get more information out to you as soon as I have all the details and what this will look like at Nederland Elementary.
In the meantime there are two actions you need to take.
- If you are transportation eligible you should have received this document. Please respond by Friday, October 9th at 5 p.m. to confirm or decline bus transportation for your child. If you do not respond, your child will not have a seat on the bus this school year.
- Students that are not interested or unable to return to school will continue to have the opportunity to learn remotely. If you haven’t already, and wish to opt-out of in-person learning, please do so in Infinite Campus by following these instructions by October 13th.
I look forward to welcoming back all grades to school. Please reach out with any questions and I will be in touch with additional information in the coming days.
Thank you for your support, partnership, and understanding.
Best,
Caleb
9/23/2020: Phase 2+ – Update Information
Dear Nederland Community,
We can’t wait to welcome back our youngest learners in grades K-2 on 9/29. With the latest guidance from BVSD and Boulder County Public Health we are full steam ahead to have students back in the building next Tuesday!
As mentioned previously in order to meet the needs of the in-person and home learning students we will make new classes and some teachers will be changing grade levels. I want to send a special thank you to the teachers for their willingness to jump in, be flexible, and approach these changes with a growth mindset to do what is best for all our students. I am excited to announce the following:
- Mary Wadell will be teaching the at home kindergarten and the at home 1st grade students. Mary brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this position having previously taught both these grades for many years.
- Jamie Curry will be teaching the at home 2nd grade students. Having taught 1st grade last year Jamie knows the students and will be able to pick up right where Meaghan and Katie leave off.
- Meaghan McLuckie will move from 2nd grade to Kindergarten and teach the in-person Kindergarten students. Meaghan taught Kindergarten just last year so she brings a deep understanding of kindergarten to this position.
- Jill Morimitsi-Mahon will be teaching the in person 1st grade students. Jill brings a long history of teaching 1st grade and her knowledge, experience, and expertise is a critical asset during this transition.
- Katie Sylvest will be teaching the in person 2nd grade students. Katie has taught 2nd grade for several years and brings a strong understanding of second grade standards, curriculum, and instruction to the team.
A few critical reminders:
- Please complete the screening prior to your child getting on the bus. If you are dropping your child off at school complete the screener before 8:00 AM.
- It is a requirement to complete the screener even if you will answer YES to a question. This allows us to work with you to ensure the safe return of your child to school.
- If your child gets sick at school you need to pick your child up immediately.
- Please be sure your contact information in IC is current.
- Please be sure your emergency contact information in IC is current.
- Instructions on how to update information are linked here.
- Information from the BVSD Website is linked here.
School Aged Childcare (SAC) Update:
I am extremely pleased to announce that our very own Liz Cooley was recently named the Site Coordinator for NES. We are thrilled to have someone that knows our community and knows our school leading the School Aged Childcare program at NES.
We are in the final phases of licensing, we are hiring providers, and we anticipate being ready to open and serve students in the very near future. So if you are looking for childcare please consider SAC and sign your children up. See this flyer for all the details.
Links:
Communication from 9/17 – includes:
- Changes to class lists and teacher assignments explanation
- Health and safety screening details
- Cohort information
- A snapshot of what your child’s day will look like including drop off/pick up information
Slideshow with more information about your child’s day at school
Zoom Q & A recording from last Friday 9/18
As always please feel free to reach out with any questions. We can’t wait to see our K-2 children on September 29th!
Best,
Caleb
9/23/2020 – IT Usage of Monitoring Program GoGuardian
Dear Parent or Guardian:
In support of Phase 1 and Phase 2+ Learning, BVSD will be enabling GoGuardian Classroom Management features during Tuesday – Friday learning days. GoGuardian was first enabled in August 2019 for all BVSD students. This product provides additional filter options for student BVSD Accounts, and provides student access to resources and focused browsing to enhance lesson engagement.
GoGuardian’s program will operate on students’ BVSD managed accounts on district and personally owned devices. [both on and off of campus via your BVSD.org account Tuesday – Friday 7:30 am – 4:00 pm.]
In order to support teachers, instruction, and student engagement, we have chosen GoGuardian for teachers to:
- Visually assess and respond to your child’s progress during class time
- Easily distribute teacher determined online resources to your child
- Monitor activity on student devices and intervene if content unrelated to the learning goal is being accessed
- Focus your child’s/children’s learning experience and age-appropriate online resources as determined by their teacher
Please see Student Data Privacy information about GoGuardian.
What are the school’s responsibilities?
BVSD selected GoGuardian in March 2019 and implemented district-wide in Aug 2019 to help teachers direct student learning tasks via digital devices. The use of this classroom device management technology supports our district’s digital citizenship program. Teachers have received training and can use this tool in lesson planning to focus browsing for sites that pertain to the lesson and block other web activity during the lesson.
What are my child’s responsibilities?
We require that your student uses his/her school-issued BVSD account and Chromebook for educational purposes. We also require that children who are logged into their BVSD account at home and school during school hours use their account for educational purposes only.
What are my parental/guardian responsibilities?
When your child is off campus, your child’s BVSD account will be filtered via GoGuardian. If you would like to opt-out of filtering for after school hours, see this document for more information. We encourage you to discuss rules for appropriate internet usage with your child and reinforce lessons of digital citizenship and safety with your child.
9/9/2020: Phase 2+
Dear Nederland Community,
As we continue to move forward through this year, I want to provide you with an update on a Return to In-Person Learning for Kindergarten through 2nd Grade at Nederland Elementary. At the BVSD Board of Education meeting last night, recommendations from a Working Advisory Group were presented that included a plan that allows students from grade Kindergarten to 2nd Grade the option to return to in-person learning for 4 days a week (T-F) beginning Tuesday, September 29. This plan, known as Phase 2+, will continue to evolve over the course of the year and supersedes all previous plans.
What Can I Expect?
Between now and September 25 we will continue to operate under Phase 1, meaning that all students and teachers will continue with online learning. Beginning Tuesday, September 29 students in K-2 will have the opportunity to return to in-person learning with the following parameters in place:
- Four days a week, Tuesday-Friday, normal schedule, not split into A/B cohorts
- Masks will be required for students and staff
- Students will stay with their classroom cohort all day and will not interact with other classes, even at lunch and recess.
- Every effort will be made to maximize outdoor learning and recess time with scheduled mask breaks.
- Everyone is required to use the BVSD Daily Health Check before coming to school each day
- BVSD and our health partners will conduct contact tracing and quarantining whenever there is a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 and will follow this response protocol.
- If conditions are deemed unsafe, we will suspend in-person learning and return to fully online
Families of K-2 students will continue to have the option to remain fully online and all students 3-5 will remain online until further notice.
What’s Next?
We realize that this news will prompt families to once again make some important decisions about their child’s learning and recognize that you may need some time to process this information. Knowing that a number of variables have changed since the beginning of the year, we will once again need to ask you to update your Learning Preferences information in Infinite Campus so that we can plan accordingly. The sooner we have this updated information, the better we can plan, but ask you to finalize your preferences by September 22. If the preference (in-person vs. home learning) that you indicated prior to the start of the year remains the same, then no action on your part is necessary.
What about 3rd-5th Grade?
For now, things remain unchanged for 3rd-5th grade students in terms of learning, but the Working Advisory Group is still exploring ways to expand access to learning at the schools in Nederland for those families that do not have access to high speed internet at home.
Additionally, one of the options specified by the Working Advisory Group is for students grades 3-5 to participate in optional Outdoor Learning Opportunities in-person at the school. We have only just begun to plan what this could look like, so stay tuned for more information.
In-person learning is by no means guaranteed
It is part of the reason that we decided to start the school year with Home Learning. Remote learning will remain our baseline at every step. We, of course, will welcome in-person learning opportunities when the situation allows, but every student, class, school and even the district, as a whole, should expect and be ready to return to remote learning at any time. Students and teachers who do not feel well will be asked to stay home. Students and teachers who have presumptive or confirmed cases of COVID-19 will be quarantined and depending on the situation other students or the entire cohort may be asked to stay home as a precautionary measure – to slow the spread of the disease.
Additionally, we will consider it a privilege to participate in in-person learning. Only students who are able to abide by health precautions on a regular basis will be permitted to participate. No exceptions.
You Belong Here
Lastly, as we ebb and flow through this year, I want to reiterate that we are committed to working with you. Whether your family chooses to remain virtual or return to in-person, we will work to create the best opportunities that we can for your child. Our priority remains to keep everyone safe so that they can learn and grow, even in the midst of this pandemic, so please let us know what you need to make that happen. In an effort to streamline communication, we ask that you direct all questions related to Phase 2+ and the return to in-person learning to me via email at caleb.melamed@bvsd.org. We will do our best to provide you with whatever information is available and commit to keeping you informed as things continue to progress.
Best,
Caleb Melamed
8/24/2020: Pre-submit Questions for Zoom Meeting
Dear Nederland Community,
I look forward to connecting with you all tomorrow evening for the Back to School Question and Answer Zoom.
Before tomorrow evening please take a moment to submit your questions using this Google Form. I will group these questions into general categories and themes. Thank you!
And just a reminder, below is the Zoom information for tomorrow evening:
Caleb Melamed is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: School Year Kick Off and Q & A
Time: Aug 25, 2020 05:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 931 9186 6430
Passcode: 1KRd8k
One tap mobile
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+16699009128,,93191866430#,,,,,,0#,,446380# US (San Jose)
Dial by your location
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+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
Meeting ID: 931 9186 6430
Passcode: 446380
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/acDTaqrZH8
Best, Caleb
8/20/2020: NES Updates
Dear Nederland Community,
We are counting down the days, hours, and minutes until August 26th! With that in mind I want to offer a couple of updates.
- Tuesday, August 25th at 5:00 PM – I will be hosting a start of the school overview and question and answer session on Zoom. The information to join the call is below. The Zoom call will be limited to 100 participants so if families can join from one screen that would be helpful.
- Back to School Night – Back to School Night was originally scheduled for September 2nd. With the delay in the start of the school year by one week, we will be moving Back to School night to September 9th. Look for more information in the coming weeks.
- Class Lists – Reminder that class lists will be available tomorrow, Friday, morning at 8:00 AM on Infinite Campus.
Meeting ID: 931 9186 6430
Passcode: 1KRd8k
Can’t wait to “see” all the families and kids on August 26th. We are all starting to get those wonderful first day nervous jitters!
Best,
Caleb
8/19/2020: NES Yearbooks and Chromebook Distribution!
Good afternoon,
Two quick updates about the Yearbooks and Chromebooks.
For both of these pickups, please remain in your cars and pull to the front of the building in the upper lot. A staff member will be there to assist you. Please bring your own pen to sign for the Chromebooks.
The yearbooks are now available and ready for pick up. We will be distributing them on Monday, August 24, 8-10, and 2-4. If you didn’t prepay you can still get a copy. The cost is $25.00.
If you have contacted us to request a Chromebook, that distribution is at the same day/time, Monday, August 24, 8-10, and 2-4. We have a limited amount of Chromebooks to hand out so you must have contacted the office before arriving.
Please feel free to contact the main office number, 720-561-4800 if you have any questions.
Best, Juanita
8/18/2020: NES School Update
Dear Nederland Families,
As you all know students are beginning school remotely on Wednesday August 26th. Teachers have been working incredibly hard since the last week creating schedules, planning, and learning about technology and instruction to support remote learning. We are deeply committed to ensuring your children have every opportunity to learn, to make new friends and connect with old ones, to have fun, and to be supported by their teachers.
With that said see below for specific information about what you can expect for the start of the school year. It is important to note that we will be seeking frequent feedback from families and students and will respond to that feedback. We will reflect on what is working and where we can improve. We will be flexible and adapt and, as we all learn, the plan we launch on August 26th may look different from where it will be on September 26th.
The School Day
- The school day will go from 9:00 – 3:00. This does NOT mean that students will be on screens in Google Meets all day. The majority of the day will be set aside for small group instruction and independent work time.
- Teachers will have office hours from 8:30 – 9:00 AM and 3:00 – 3:30 PM. Teachers may also use this time for one to one meetings with students and/or small group interventions.
- The teacher work day ends at 4:00 PM. Teaching remotely is exhausting for teachers (and students). Just like students, teachers need time to step away from their work.
- Expect three 15-30 minute mini-lessons per day. These might be live or pre-recorded. If the lessons are live they will be recorded and posted to Schoology or Seesaw so that students can access them at a later time.
- Expect daily classroom meetings that will include Crew (community building) and social emotional learning. These will be 15 to 30 minutes and will be live.
- There will be specials everyday for 40 to 45 minutes. These will be a mix of live lessons and recorded lessons/activities. Students are expected to attend specials.
- The specials will follow a 2 week rotation. Students will have art for two weeks, then music for two weeks, and then PE for two weeks.
- Teachers are prioritizing small group instruction. There will be small group instruction times throughout the day. The small group schedule for the week will be sent on “Monday Learning Launch” (see below).
- There will be time during the day for students to complete assigned work. Therefore there will be no work required of students after 3:00 PM.
Monday Learning Launch
- Monday is a no-contact day for teachers. Teachers may provide some online activities for students to complete but there will be no live lessons or small group instruction on Mondays.
- On Mondays teachers will spend time planning for the week and engaging in professional learning.
- On Mondays teachers will send out the schedule for the week. This will help families plan their week and set expectations for the week.
- Mondays can be used for students to complete any unfinished work from the previous week or respond to feedback from teachers.
- Mondays are a perfect opportunity for families to engage in experiential learning activities, spend time outside, and participate in extracurricular activities.
Attendance and Grading
- Attendance will be weekly, but we will be monitoring engagement daily during lessons especially in small groups. We will also be monitoring engagement through assignment completion. This is critical in order to:
- Ensure students are engaged and learning
- Build connections and foster relationships with the teachers.
- Attend to the social emotional well-being of the students by maintaining regular contact.
- Teachers will prioritize feedback over grades. Teachers will give students regular feedback on “must do” assignments in order to provide weekly feedback on progress toward meeting the grade level standards.
School Supplies and Class Lists
- Teachers have been creating school supply lists and those will be sent out by the end of the week.
- Class lists will be available Friday August 21st on Infinite Campus Parent Portal. You will also receive a communication from your child’s teacher on Friday. This communication will have additional information specific to the classroom such as the classroom daily schedule.
- In order to meet and connect with each family teachers will ask families to sign up for one to one virtual introductions. These introductions will occur over the first several weeks of the school year. Look for sign up information in the communication from your child’s teacher on Friday.
Materials Distribution
- Chromebooks will be distributed to families that need one on August 24th. If you need a Chromebook and you have not yet emailed Juanita and Caleb please do so ASAP.
- We will be distributing math workbooks, reading notebooks, phonics notebooks for grades K-2, and other paper materials to families. These materials have been ordered and are being delivered to the BVSD warehouse and inventoried currently. We anticipate scheduling an additional distribution day in early September.
As always please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.
Best,
Caleb Melamed
8/12/2020: Child Care/Community Schools is Hiring
Dear NES Families,
Child Care Update
BVSD Community Schools has announced the preschool aged child care and school aged child care are both ready to go on August 26th! This is great news and a significant support for our families. Please see the attached flyer for all the specifics.
Speaking of child care, BVSD Community Schools is hiring. The qualifications are linked below. If you are interested please email Sue Mattingly-Enright at sue.enright@bvsd.org.
Caleb Melamed, NCBT, M.A.
Nederland Elementary School
Principal
8/12/2020: Technology Distribution 8/24/2020
Hello Families,
We know that many of you have Chromebooks from last year. We also know that some of you did not get Chromebooks last year. The good news is we have a number of Chromebooks available for students!
We will distribute these Chromebooks on August 24th. If your child or children need Chromebooks please email Juanita and myself. We will then let you know how to pick up your technology on August 24th.
Thanks and please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Best,
Caleb Melamed, NCBT, M.A.
Nederland Elementary School, Principal
Juanita Gloe, juanita.gloe@bvsd.org
8/10/2020: Cohort Info Coming 8/21/2020
August 10, 2020
Dear Nederland Elmentary School Families,
We know that many of our students and families are eagerly awaiting word regarding who will be their teachers this fall. We appreciate this excitement and are working to provide class lists by Friday, August 21.
While we are starting the school year on Wednesday, August 26 in Phase 1 – Home Learning, it was still important for us to sort students into cohorts (student groups) so that we are ready whenever we are able to transition to higher phases, hopefully beginning with Phase 2+ – Limited In-Person Learning some time this fall. Under our Back Together BVSD reintroduction plan and the latest guidance from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, cohorts are required to ensure that we are able to quickly contact trace and quarantine students following a possible exposure to someone who has a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19.
Students will be assigned to Group A or Group B. Siblings and students who live in the same household will be in the same cohort, plus there was accounting based on whether students were planning to attend in-person learning or had opted for remote learning through their home school. These cohorts will not impact students’ schedules while in Phase 1 of our Reintroduction Plan, lasting through at least September 22.
Now we, at the school level, are working to make class assignments using this information. Again, we will have this to everyone by August 21, 2020.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions.
Again, we thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
Caleb Melamed
NES Principal
8/8/2020: Phase 1 – Nederland Strong
August 8, 2020
Dear Nederland Community,
As we continue our preparation for Phase 1 of the BVSD Reintroduction Plan I want to update the community on our plans. First, as mentioned previously Rick and I will send a detailed explanation of what the start of the school year will look like on August 14th. But in the meantime I do have some updates that are important and I want to stay in touch with all of you.
Nederland Strong – A Note From Rick and Caleb
Rick and I want to start by acknowledging that these are incredibly challenging times and that as families you are faced with crucial decisions regarding the education of your children. That said, we want you to know that the Nederland schools are poised to serve as the educational foundation for your children. We have no doubt that through the collective strength of our staff we can collaborate to deliver remote instruction that it is exemplary, innovative, and ensures all our students make incredible academic gains. We are fully confident that we can and will be a model for this work.
While there are certainly many programs and tutors who can help support the remote learning experience we encourage all families to say connected with the Nederland schools and work closely with us to support your children. If you seek outside support through tutors or family partnerships we strongly encourage you to be inclusive and include ALL children from the Nederland community.
Our job, whether remote, phase 3, or full normal in-person learning, is to ensure that all students make significant academic progress and that we see to the social emotional well-being of all our students. This is never more so true than now.
Remote Instruction and Learning
Phase 1 does give us a greater degree of clarity moving forward. At NES, our singular focus is to provide students and families with the best possible education. We will be sharing much more information about what you can expect from online learning at NES in the next few weeks, but a few highlights include:
- Consistent learning platforms for both teachers and students. Grades K-3 will use Seesaw and grades 4-5 will use Schoology.
- More direct instruction from teachers in both asynchronous (pre-recorded videos) and synchronous (live teacher-led lessons) formats.
- Higher degree of online individual and group support from classroom teachers and paraprofessionals.
- Tighter feedback and assessment loops between teachers and students.
- Recommended daily schedules to assist families and caretakers with planning.
Again please look for more information in the coming weeks including a detailed overview of remote learning from both schools on August 14th.
Child Care Available at NES
I am thrilled to announce that BVSD will provide childcare at Nederland Elementary. BVSD will provide both preschool and school age childcare (grades K-8). BVSD is working closely with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and Boulder County Public Health (BCPH) to ensure the programs are safe and meet the latest COVID guidelines. Currently, the preschool program is licensed and ready to go. BVSD is in the process of licensing the school aged program. However registration for both programs is open.
For more information including registration please go to https://childcare.bvsd.org/.
Enrollment Information
If you enrolled at Boulder Universal but would like to return to NES you may do so. Please contact the BU registrar, Julie Robbins, to activate the return. Julie’s contact information is julie.robbins@bvsd.org, 720.561.5523. Please do your best to do this before the start of school on August 26th. Mid-year changes will be extremely tough as the scope, sequence and pacing of NES teacher guided online learning is NOT ALIGNED with BU. So please keep this in mind as you make your decision.
While there is a lot to process, I cannot understate our commitment to you and your children. I also want to say thank you for your continued support. School will be different this year but we hold the same values and commitment to your children. We will be ready to receive your students back to school with virtual open arms. We will work tirelessly to ensure this year is filled with learning, laughter, and community.
Take care, be well and stay in touch.
Best,
Caleb Melamed
8/4/2020: Phase 1 (Home Learning Letter) – Caleb Melamed (NES) and Rick Elertson (Ned MS/HS)
August 4, 2020
Hello, Families and Staff:
As you are likely aware, BVSD has made the difficult decision to reopen schools in Phase 1, which is exclusively online home learning. We realize that our families will experience this decision differently. For some, this is welcome news. For others, this creates a great deal of trepidation and angst. We want you to know a few things…
- We have been preparing over the summer for all of the Back Together BVSD Phases of learning, so we are prepared to execute Phase 1. A detailed Parent Update will be sent to you on Friday, August 14, 2020. That Update will make clear all of the Phase 1 expectations. We ask that you please hold tight until then so we can welcome our teams back to work and get everyone ready for home learning.
- We have read the feedback from the spring surveys. Home learning needed to be improved, and we have been committed to making that happen. We have spent a great deal of time with our teams working through a more defined approach. The changes that are being made will reflect your feedback, and will be communicated accordingly.
- There’s nothing for you to do right now! Try to breathe and enjoy what remains of the summer. You will be hearing from us frequently in the coming days and weeks.
- We are here to help each other, so please reach out with your questions/comments/concerns. That includes venting. If you need to say something, then feel welcome to say something. We’re in this together!
That’s it for now. We will be working with our individual schools, and collectively as a K-12 team, to ensure a smooth start to the school year, but more importantly a great educational experience for our students. We have complete confidence that our school-community will pull together and do the work. Our students deserve our very best, and that is exactly what we will deliver!
We Are Ready!
Caleb and Rick
7/23/2020: A Letter from Caleb Melamed, NES Principal
July 23, 2020
Dear Nederland Community,
I hope you are doing well and enjoying the summer despite the pandemic and these unprecedented and unnerving times.
First, I want to say thank you for the many warm welcome notes. I couldn’t be more excited to come home to Nederland and be a part of the NES community!
Second, thank you for your continued patience as we plan for the upcoming school year. As I am sure many of you know BVSD announced a plan to return to school in Phase 3. Additionally BVSD announced a delay to the start of the school year. School for students will start August 26th. I encourage you to read the email from Dr. Anderson closely. His email contains a lot of important information and will hopefully answer at least a few of your questions.
Starting next week schools will engage in school year planning. I expect to gain clarity and receive more information throughout the week. I also expect to be able to provide school specific information and details by Friday July 31st. I will provide updates as soon as I have information to share. I also hope to host a virtual Q&A session on July 30th or July 31st so please be on the lookout for an invitation.
I fully understand and appreciate the anxiety the uncertainty of this situation may cause. Please know that I will communicate information and updates as soon as I have them. As always please feel free to reach out with any questions. Take care and be well.
Best,
Caleb
Caleb Melamed, NCBT, M.A.
Nederland Elementary School
Principal
7/6/2020: A Letter from Karen Daly, Interim NES Principal
July 6, 2020
Dear Nederland Elementary Parents and Guardians,
I hope that this letter finds you and your family well and enjoying the beautiful mountain lifestyle we find in our community. I am writing today to provide some updates from BVSD about next school year.
The school board received an update from the administrative staff regarding the Reintroduction Plan. I’ve attached the update here for you to review. https://www.bvsd.org/about/news/news-article/~board/all-schools/post/back-together-bvsd-our-plan-for-reintroduction-to-learning
Our tremendous teachers and staff are resting and preparing for the new school year now during the summer break. They are anxious to return to school and are ready to serve your children in the best and safest way possible.
Right now our Kindergarten numbers are hovering at 20 students. This is a lower number of students than we typically see at this time of year and leads me to think that some of our parents might be waiting to enroll their children for fall session. I understand that there are questions that cannot be answered right now about re-entry but I want to assure you that you will have many options this coming school year. It is important for you to enroll your children and encourage other members in our community to enroll in kindergarten now so that we can plan appropriately for re-opening. Our staffing allocation depends on our enrollment numbers.
You have choices and we will be very flexible with our enrolled students in the type of services they require. Parents may enroll their children and have their children attend school if we are approved for in-person learning. You may choose to enroll at Nederland Elementary and keep your child at home and take advantage of our Home Learning options this coming year even if there is in-person learning at the school. The third option is to enroll at Boulder Universal for one year then return to Nederland Elementary in the fall of 2021. We of course want you to enroll at Nederland Elementary school and be a part of our home community but we understand that some may opt for the Boulder Universal option. Here is the link to BU: https://bu.bvsd.org/about/enrollment-information
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Let’s work together to find and enroll our new kindergarten students! We are looking forward to our new school year.
Sincerely,
Karen Daly, Interim Principal
Nederland Elementary School