Bees are Virtually Buzzing!

I hope everyone had a fun, restful and most importantly, safe Labor Day weekend. I enjoyed some off screen time with my family and hope that you all were able to do the same. As we roll into a shortened week three of virtual learning, please pay attention to some careful notes below. 

1. GOTeam Elections – The election window is currently open for 2020-2021 GOTeam. The Morris Brandon GOTeam is the governing body that helps to make school based decisions as it relates to budget, finance, and school based priorities. Led by the Principal (a non-voting member), the GOTeam consists of 9 voting individuals that make up community, staff, and parent volunteers. This year, Morris Brandon has two parent seats open for election. Each Brandon family will receive a unique voting link to help cast your vote. The GOTeam has had an incredible impact on our school during our first three years together. You can view all candidate profiles HERE and also at www.morrisbrandon.com.
2. Zoom Authentication is coming! – In order to increase our safety measures for the Zoom video conferencing tool, all students in grades 3 through 12 will need to be signed into Zoom using Single Sign On (SSO) by September 14. Teachers will be modifying their settings to allow only “authenticated users” to be able to access APS Zoom accounts. This will affect only students in grades 3-5 at Morris Brandon as well as students in 1st and 2nd grade who go to gifted for WIN times and any students who see Mrs. Knuckles for Math Learning Lab (also in WIN). Please refer to your grade level Friday newsletter for detailed instructions as well as a detailed video on our Technology Support page, which can be found HERE. 
3. Schedule update – Beginning Monday September 14, we will be making some adjustments to our younger students’ schedules to allow for more independent practice and less screen time. Students will be provided an additional 45 minutes of independent practice starting at 11am in both Kindergarten and 1st grade. Stay tuned for more information on how this will look later this week from your child’s teachers. Remember, the school day will still start and end at the same times; however, the amount of screen time will be adjusted based on district recommendations. This will give our students the best chance to adapt to in person learning when the time arrives. 
4. Information on Phase II of virtual learning – Many families have asked about our status for returning to in person learning for the second 9 weeks of school. APS is giving detailed updates on the state of our public health during the weeks of September 8 and October 5. The most recent update can be found HERE. It’s important to note that positive COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Fulton County residents is continuing to trend in the right direction. The end of Phase 1 of our virtual learning plan is October 23. We have made great gains in the reduction of positive cases as we are currently sitting at 200 cases per 100,000 people in Fulton County. In order to get to 100 cases or lower for a rolling two week average and the opportunity to return in person, we MUST continue to limit spread by minimizing large group gatherings, continuing to social distance, and making sure we are wearing masks any time we are in public. 

I hope everyone has a great week three of virtual learning. We have a big week next week as we showcase our IB work during our 5 year International Baccalaureate re-authorization visit followed by our Parent Info Nights the week after. Thank you to all of our parent and student volunteers who have offered their time to speak to our visiting evaluators!

Until next time,

Take care

j