Dear Families,

Happy Friday! We have just two weeks of school left until winter break.

Today at community meeting we heard from fifth graders in Jessica and Luis’s class who shared some of their persuasive writing pieces with our school community. The fifth graders also welcomed families for their first writing celebration of the school year. Writing celebrations are a wonderful CWS tradition where families are able to come into the classrooms and read the published pieces of the students. Other grades will be having writing celebrations in the coming weeks and months.

As a reminder next Friday, December 16 is a half-day with noon pickup for all students. There will not be afterschool clubs on this day either.

We continue to have a high absence rate from illness this week. If your child does not feel well, please do not send them to school. Your child must be fever free for 24 hours without medicine to return to school – if they are absent on Monday with a fever, they cannot return on Tuesday. The earliest they could return is Wednesday assuming the fever is gone by Monday night. Fevers treated with medicine at home in the morning come back during the school day, the students don’t feel well and are sent home, and then they have exposed many other students to their illness. We have a significant number of cases of COVID, flu, and RSV. Many lab companies, including the LabQ van on Ave A and 1st Ave which have no out-of-pocket cost for anyone with any type of insurance, do one swab that now test for all of these illnesses with next day results. Please consider a lab-based PCR test if your child is not feeling well before returning to school. Even if negative for COVID-19, students must wear a mask at school for 10 days from the start of their symptoms. Per DOE health guidelines, teachers will provide students with masks to wear if they are coughing or exhibiting any other symptoms of any illness.

Applications for Kindergarten in NYC public schools have opened and PreK will open soon. Please spread the word about CWS to any families with children born in 2018 (kindergarten in Fall 2023) and 2019 (preK in Fall 2023). Potential families are invited to tour the school during one of our many admissions events. You can share this website with them where they can register for tours.

There is one open seat with a term through Spring 2023 on the School Leadership Team (SLT). SLT meets on the first or second Thursday of the month from 7:45am-8:30am in the building. If you are interested in running for this open seat please contact SLT co-chairs Suma Joseph and Mo Coffey.

Warmly,

Maria