Parent Newsletter August 21, 2021

Our hearts go out to all who are suffering the effects of the flooding this past Tuesday. Driving into Cruso on Friday to deliver meals and then deliver gift cards to a few of our families made me heavy hearted but also proud of our Haywood County community at the same time. In a time when Covid and whether to wear a mask or not had splintered our unity, it took a tragedy like this flood to remind everyone what is most important…working together and taking care of each other.We have been making phone calls trying to make sure we have a good pulse on who has suffered what kind of loss with regard to homes and possessions. There are 12 BES families (as far as we know) whose homes sustained major damage. Although we are going to support all of our students and families through this time, we are focusing our giving toward those 12 families. Folks from all over WNC and beyond have been donating gift cards (grocery store, gas, restaurants, etc.) and we will give those out until our supply is exhausted. If we have missed someone whose home sustained major damage, please alert us to that as it is certainly our intention to help all of those families.

We have a few teachers who have offered to do laundry for folks. If you have a need for that, please let me know and I’ll put you in touch with one of those teachers.

Our teachers are anxious to see their students on Monday to listen to them, love on them, and help them all work through this tragic event in our community.

Many of our families and students have been affected in some way by the flooding that happened this week. When frightening things happen, children often struggle for a while to regain their sense of trust and to return to normal behavior. Your child’s reaction will depend on his or her age, the nature of the event, and how close he or she was to directly experiencing it. Behaviors are your clues to how your child is coping. You might see some of the following common behaviors:

• regression (might wet the bed for the first time in a long time)
• separation anxiety (has difficulty letting you out of sight)
• clinging (needs to be in very close proximity to you)
• sleeping problems (may want to sleep in your room, experiences nightmares)
• acting out (fights for control due to feeling out of control)

You can do a number of things to help your child move through his or her anxiety:

• Follow the routines they know as much as you can or give them a heads up about their schedule for the day.
• Protect your child from media coverage and social media platforms.
• Give special indulgences for a while. If your child wants to sleep in your room maybe allow this on occasion. Leave a night light on, even if they haven’t needed it in years. Give extra hugs. Spend more time together.
• Encourage your child to talk- then listen. Without forcing the conversation or asking too many questions, help your child talk about what happened. It is more important for the child to talk than it is for you to try to reassure him or her with your own perceptions. Using words actually helps children use more of their brain to manage their emotions. Listen more than you talk.
• Acknowledge their fears before you reassure them. After you validate their feelings, you might talk about things that will help them feel safer. Do some problem-solving with them.
• Do your own work. Take care of your fears and emotions. Talk to your friends and family members. Contact me if you need any additional emotional support. Be careful of what you say around your kids. Children hear way more than we know.
• Recognize the good that comes from difficult times. Although none of us would wish terrible events on anyone, we also have to remember that coping well with these events will give us strength to handle other situations for the rest of our lives. We do not build character when life is easy. We build it by meeting life’s challenges. This is true for children as well. Have faith in their ability to cope, recover, grow, and learn.

There is a free app called Help Kids Cope

https://www.nctsn.org/resources/help-kids-cope

This provides further information about how to talk with your child about what a flood is and ways to support you and your child’s emotional needs.

Please do not hesitate to let me know if you need any food, cleaning supplies, clothing, assistance with shelter, and any other resources. I will be talking with every class this week to give space for your children to open up about their feelings. Our amazing teachers will continue to provide support to your child. You can contact me if you have any concerns about your child’s emotional needs at hcavner@haywood.k12.nc.us or 646-3448. I have been amazed by the amount of people that have called saying that they want to help our students and families. We are here for you and your kids.

Monday is a 2 hour delay schedule. The BES doors will open at 7:15 am like we do everyday because we understand that many parents still have to be at work at the regular time. (We also do this on 2 hour delays in the winter.)Bus information for routes that include areas affected by the flood will be communicated to principals Sunday afternoon and we will do a phone message and put the information on our website at that time. Please clear out your voicemail box (or set it up) so you can receive a voicemail when we send an automated message.

Kinder Camp will still begin at 8:30 am on Monday. Kindergarten teachers made phone calls on Friday so all of Monday’s Kinder Camp parents are aware that their kids are scheduled to come on Monday.

We have groups of students from two different classrooms who have already been directed to quarantine and we’ve only been in school for a day and a half. With masks optional, there will most likely be more students directed to quarantine by the Health Dept. than there were last year when masks were required.Our teachers are keeping seating chart records as well as records of who wears a mask and who doesn’t. When someone (teacher or student) tests positive, they are asked for those records and the folks at the Health Dept. decide who will be directed to quarantine.

Although masks remain optional, they are strongly recommended so we can stay in person and not have half the class at home for two weeks every time someone in the class tests positive.

We appreciate in advance that you don’t send your child to school with any of the suspected Covid symptoms. This is a very important piece to our “staying face to face learning” puzzle. Communication with the teacher when your child is sick is vitally important!

The lunch menu for this past W, TR, F will bump up to this coming M, T, W.Monday, 8/23: Chicken & Waffles or a Sticks & Stones Box or PB&J

Tuesday, 8/24: Spaghetti or a Brunchable Box or PB&J

Wednesday, 8/25: Pepperoni Pizza or a Fruit & Yogurt Box or PB&J

The rest of the month should be what was on the original menu.