Sept. 10, 2021
Dear PS 321 Families,
I know that many of you have concerns about children eating inside in mixed class groups. I’m pleased to report that we’ve worked out a plan where all students will be eating lunch outside, weather permitting. Some will be eating in the back yard, some in front of the school. They will eat with their class and will not mix with other classes while they are unmasked. They will eat inside in case of rain, but hopefully we won’t have too many rainy days. When we do have to eat inside, we will have some classes eat in classrooms, which will reduce the number of children in the lunchroom, gym, and auditorium.
I’m very pleased that we were able to work this out. For the beginning of the school year, we are going to have all children eat on school grounds. We were notified today that we are authorized to close 2nd Street, and I very much appreciate that so many of you reached out to elected officials to help make this happen. If we feel it is too crowded in the yard, we may take advantage of this option at some point. But it is more complicated, and we are going to first try to make it work on school grounds.
We’re very excited about welcoming your children back to school on Monday! On Monday and Tuesday, all Kindergarten Classes arrive at 9am in the back yard, and kindergarten parents will be able to come into the yard and meet your child’s teacher and stay until 9:15. Children in grades 3, 4, and 5 arrive at 8:30 and go to their boxes in the back yard. Children in 1st and 2nd grade arrive at 8:40 and go to their boxes in the back yard. All teachers will have signs with their name and class number.
No children are permitted to enter the yard or the school without showing a health screener. If you did not yet download the screener, please do so before Monday. Go to https://healthscreening.schools.nyc/ and click the “add this tool to your phone” button. If your child already has an activated DOE email account (ending in @nycstudents.net), type in their username (the part before the @) and password to log in. If you have not yet been given your child’s DOE email (kindergarteners and most new students) or did not activate the account last year, please sign in as a guest for now. School staff will send your login info as soon as we can. Children who do not have screeners will have to wait until the other children are admitted to come in. We will be sending home paper screeners (which you can also download and print out) on the first day of school.
Thank you for all your support. Looking forward to a wonderful school year!
Fondly,
Liz Phillips, Principal
