Owen Online Newsletter: Owen Family Update

Hello Owen Families,

It's been a busy week with the deadline on Sept 30th for the switch between in school and the Virtual School. Thank you to Ms Elizabeth for processing all these requests! Students making the switch will begin on Tuesday October 13th, after Thanksgiving.

The board will be doing another re-organization and we hope to hear mid-week to see if our staffing will be impacted. We hope minimal changes will occur.

It's been great being back at school and interacting with our students. They are so curious and love to ask questions. One student pointed to my arm and asked me what that white circle was. I explained it was a glucose monitor to check my sugar. He asked, "Does it hurt?". I said no. Then he said, "Oh" then happily walked away. We don't get these kinds of questions online!

~Caroline

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Parents of the Virtual School

We would like to stay connected with our parents/guardians of the Virtual School so you can be informed of what's happening at Owen. Please make sure you still complete the Parent Contact form. You will also see this form below.

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Parent Council Nomination Form:

We will be running elections for various positions for the Owen Parent Executive Council this month. Parent Council will be looking for:

- 1 Chair

- 1 Treasurer

- 1 Secretary

There will also be opportunities to be involved through committee work and other great ways to contribute to our school community.

Please fill out the Candidate Nomination form below to nominate a parent you know or to nominate yourself. Nominations will end on Thursday October 8th @ 3:00 pm.

https://bit.ly/OwenPCnominationform

Our first Parent Council meeting will take place on Wednesday October 14th from 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm. A Zoom link will be sent closer to the meeting date. At the meeting, candidates will have an opportunity to introduce themselves.

Voting will open Saturday October 17 @12:00 pm and close on Sunday October 18 @ 12:00 pm.

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Parent Contact Form:

Every year, we ask that parents complete the parent contact form to receive all communication from the office. All staff including homeroom teachers, prep teachers, staff in charge of sports teams or clubs and the office staff use this information to contact parents of the students they work with.

Please complete the form at http://bit.ly/OwenParentContactInformation before the end of the week as we will be switching to this email list for the next Owen Online. Parents in the Virtual School may continue to receive our communication by completing this form.

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Safe Arrival:

If your child is ill or absent for an appointment, please let the school know by emailing us at

owenps@tdsb.on.ca or leaving a message at 416.395.2742.

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Daily Health Screening:

Just a reminder to complete the Health Self-Assessment for all your children PRIOR to coming to school.

If students are not cleared, then it means either:

1) the screening indicated a "yes" and the child could be ill

2) the daily health screening was not completed that morning before school.

Students in this case will be sent to the office and a phone call will be made home to ensure your child is healthy and can be in class.

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Start of the Year Online Permission Forms

The Start of Year Forms package will be made available to parents/guardians digitally again this year. The forms will be emailed to all parents/guardians between Monday, September 28, 2020 - Wednesday, September 30, 2020. The Start of Year Forms will be completed for all students (both in-person and virtual). These forms are associated with the student and therefore will move with the student, regardless of the learning model chosen.

The Start of Year Forms package does not replace the Student Verification form that will be sent this week which is used to verify student demographic and parent contact information.

The forms/procedures that will be provided in digital format are:

PR088 - Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources
PR511H - Walking Excursion - Immediate Community
PR511E - Medical Information for Excursions
PR511K - Physical Education Information and Intramural Information/Permission
PR519A - Severe Weather Conditions: Permission to Leave School
PR529B - Student Media Consent Release Form
PR563 - Anaphylaxis
PR571 - Code of On-line Conduct
PR585 - Board Code of Conduct
PR607 - Diabetes Management
PR714 - Asthma Management
TDSB Digital Learning Tool Consent Form (now mandatory for all grades)

An email will be automatically sent to the parent/guardian who is the primary or secondary contact (Priority 1 or 2). The email will include a link to complete these forms for each of your children. The sender will be “TDSB Online Form (noreply@tdsb.on.ca)” and the subject line will contain the School Name, Student Name, Date and name of the form (eg. TDSB School - John Doe - Sept 25: Start of Year Form 2020/2021).

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Terry Fox Week: October 5 - 9, 2020:

We are excited to celebrate the accomplishments of Terry Fox in October. Students will have an opportunity to run on the school grounds during their Physed class and participate in lessons during their other classes.

This year is the 40th Anniversary of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope and Owen Public School is proud to be continuing the legacy of one of our greatest heroes. Please join us and support this wonderful cause by donating to: http://www.terryfox.ca/OwenPSNorthYork. Together, we can all make a difference! #terryfoxschoolruns @terryfoxfoundation

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Bus Transportation:

Thank you for your patience as we navigate our bus transportation this week. This year is unusual in every way and bussing is no different. We have been in regular contact with Transportation and the bussing companies to report service issues and concerns and will continue to work to make things run smoothly.

If a bus is late or there is an issue, I have been sending updates to families through our Remind App. You can sign up here: https://www.remind.com/join/buscont

For details on your bus schedule, times and route, please see the bus planner site here: https://www.torontoschoolbus.org/