Good afternoon Shepherd Families,

Our Kindergarten CARE classroom opens on Wednesday, December 9th with Mr. Verastegui and Mr. Henderson and Ms. Jackson from Alice Deal MS. Thank you so much for the tremendous response to our Term 3 Reopening Survey. We have over 300 responses. This data will inform the Reopening Community Corps’ work. At this point we have had two meetings with two to go to draft our plan. The Corps will report out to the Shepherd community in early January. Thank you to all who are participating in this work.

Attached please find work from Elinor Foley, a student in Ms. McIntyre’s class. She presents it as an exemplar of grade 2 IB students taking action. Elinor’s submission was completely unsolicited. Her dedication to this subject matter, as well as her display of the risk taker and knowledgeable learner profile is noteworthy. It is particularly timely to showcase as our IB reaccreditation team is conducting its evaluation next week virtually with students, staff and families. Wish us luck, and please send good wishes Ms. Mack’s way. Her tireless dedication to the process, her flexibility with working with others and her ingenuity make her a fantastic addition to the Shepherd team. And she coordinates all the technology too-all with a smile!

Beginning this January 2021, our facility will undergo Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) piping updates and replacement. This project will not impact our ability to safely begin CARE Classroom programming on December 9.

We are taking several steps to ensure that we maintain our health and safety commitments related to HVAC enhancements throughout the project. Since each wing has its own HVAC unit, updates will be done in phases. This means there will be no cross pollution from shared air ventilation and filtration systems in other wings. The project is slated to begin in the A wing of the building. During this time, students enrolled in our CARE classrooms programming will occupy the building’s C wing and will have their own entrance and exits separate from any contractors or other onsite staff. Once the A wing is complete, we will move students to that wing and then focus on completing similar work in the remaining wings of the building, employing the same protocols to ensure safety throughout the process. 

During building maintenance, it is our priority to maintain student safety throughout the repair work while limiting disturbance to in-person instruction. We will work closely with the Department of General Services (DGS) and the DCPS Facilities team to ensure students are safe during this necessary building project. 

I am committed to providing updates in my weekly newsletter to families as they become available. Please feel free to contact me directly with questions or concerns at [email protected].                                         

Thank you for your patience and your support.                                                               

With gratitude and love, 

Phyllis Hedlund 

Principal, Shepherd Elementary School