Cross Words

Important Dates

• Friday, November 6 - End of Trimester 1, No School for Students, Teacher in-service

• Wednesday, November 11 - Veteran’s Day, School Closed

• Thursday, November 12 - Parent Teacher Conferences via Zoom, No School for Students

• November 25, 26, & 27 - Thanksgiving Break, No School for Students

School News and Information

SAU70 is hiring morning Bus Monitors, for both Norwich & Hanover

The job includes greeting students at each stop, taking the students' temperatures with a contactless thermometer prior to boarding, helping students to find assigned seats, making sure seatbelts are fastened, monitoring student behavior, and assisting the bus drivers with reinforcing rules and regulations.

Annual Fall Clean Up Week - Oct 19 - 23 

MCS students will all be participating this week in our annual "Fall Clean Up Week" community service event. Every class will have a work project helping to clean up and take care of the school, nature area, and our Giving Gardens. This is an annual event which we all really enjoy. A huge amount of great work is always accomplished, as the students unfailingly dig right in and work hard. Our projects this year will be trash pickup, raking leaves to use in the compost bins, pulling invasive plants in the Nature Area, mulching Nature Area trails and garden paths, putting the gardens "to bed", shelling beans to donate to Willing Hands, and managing the compost bins. 

Each class is working on a different day. Your classroom teacher will communicate their particular schedule. Wearing clothes and shoes that can get dirty, and bringing in a personal pair of gloves if possible, will help facilitate this work. Thank you so much. I am looking forward to sharing some photos in the next Cross Words. Enjoy for now a few photos from previous years. 

Ms. Lindsay (LEEEP) 

TICKS ARE ACTIVE- PLEASE MAKE SURE TO DO TICK CHECKS

Here are some helpful resources about ticks

https://www.healthvermont.gov/disease-control/tickborne-diseases/prevent-tick-bites-tickborne-diseases

https://www.cdc.gov/ncezid/dvbd/media/stopticks.html

Flu Clinics - Public Drive Thru Flu Clinics at Dartmouth Hitchcock for Ages 9+, Colburn Hill Parking Lot at DHMC, Lebanon, NH- Call Flu Hotline: 603-653-3731 for appointment required- limit 4 people per vehicle.

Each year, there are cases of lice at school. Lice do not cause infections or illness. Classroom checks are discouraged by the Board of Education. They have been found not to be effective in the prevention of the spread of lice and can cause embarrassment to the child affected. Parental checks have been found to be more effective. The recommendation is for parents to check children weekly at home. Here is some information about lice and what to look for when checking.

What to look for: 

Natural light is the best light to check hair. You may use a bright light if necessary and a magnifier. 

If the person has adult lice or nits, you will see the following:

Adult lice: These look like one or more light-brown objects that resemble sesame seeds, often moving quickly. You can find these on the scalp or the hair.

Nits (Eggs): These are yellow, brown, or tan objects that look like tiny seeds and appear to be cemented to individual hairs close to the scalp.  Sometimes dandruff and hair product are mistaken for nits, nits will not brush off easily. As you look through the hair, look closely at the hair behind the ears and around the nape of the neck.

What if you find lice and/or nits:

Please let the school nurse know.

There are many treatment options available: over the counter treatments, prescription treatment, and natural treatments. You may check with your child’s health care provider.

There are also professional lice treatment centers in some parts of NH and VT.

Regardless of what treatment you chose to use, combing and manual removal of live lice and nits is the most effective part of any head lice treatment regimen.

There are no over-the-counter or prescription treatments that are 100% effective against head lice and nits.  

Checking hair after treatment:

Your child’s hair should be checked daily for nits for at least a week after the last nit has been seen. This is a very important step because the nits are eggs that can hatch into more lice and then they lay more eggs. This can take a lot of time but it is a necessary step. If you miss just a few tiny lice or eggs, the lice cycle will start over again. Most of the time, parents believe their child was re-infested, but in fact, all the lice/nits were never eliminated with the first attempt.  

Combing is an important step:

A metal fine-toothed lice comb should be used for combing. Conditioner on hair while combing helps to loosen the nits on the hair. Apply conditioner to hair and comb with lice comb section by section. It is helpful to use hair clips or pins to make sections. The first comb-through could take a couple of hours depending on how much hair your child has. 

Some recommendations show that using essential oil overnight on the hair can help kill the nits. If you choose to use oil, it should be applied for 7 days after the last nit is seen. 

Wash hair with essential oil shampoo every day and make sure all the overnight oil is removed.  

Then rinse the hair again and dry hair so you may check for lice/nits. If you still see nits then manually remove them. Use your fingernails to grab nit and pull off the hair shaft.

Clean lice comb in boiling water. Make sure all hair is removed from the comb before boiling.

•    Drying bedding and pajamas on high heat for one hour everyday for at least 4 days can help with treatment. 

•    If you can, throw all old brushes and combs away as well as hair ties. If that is not possible, remove all hair from the hair supplies and boil them in very hot water or wash in the dishwasher. 

Please talk to your children about these steps to help prevent the spread of head lice.

•   Avoid head-to-head (hair-to-hair) contact during play and other activities at home, school, and elsewhere (sports activities, playground, slumber parties, camp). Lice do not jump or fly.

•    Do not share clothing such as hats, scarves, coats, sports uniforms, hair ribbons, or barrettes. Store hats and scarves in coat sleeves. Do not share combs, brushes, or towels.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Thank you so much for following the guidelines to help keep Marion Cross School healthy.  The school is following the Vermont Department of Health guidelines closely regarding illness and/or exposure to COVID.  When a child or staff member is ill or exposed to COVID, decisions for return to school will be based on these guidelines.

Thank you everyone who has informed the school when their child is sick at home. This communication is essential. We appreciate that you are doing the daily health screenings with your children prior to coming to school.

If a child answers “yes” to any of the following symptoms, they should not come to school.

According to the state guidelines, if your child has only one of the following symptoms for less than 24 hours then your child will not be able to return for 24 hours after the symptom is gone.  These symptoms include:

Fever less than 24 hours (without fever-reducing medication), sore throat, runny nose, muscle aches, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or headache.

If there is a combination of these symptoms or a fever alone (100.4 or greater), you will be asked to call your child’s PCP to determine the need for COVID testing. If a test is done and it is negative, then your child may not return until they are 24 hours without symptoms. If a test is NOT done then the child will need to remain out of school for 10 days from the start of symptoms and 24 hours without a fever (without the use of fever-reducing medications).  The Vermont Department of Health and the CDC mandate these 10 days.

The following symptoms require a COVID test. If the child has a cough or shortness of breath or a loss of taste or smell with or without a fever (100.4 or greater) then their PCP should be called to arrange for a COVID test.

If your child has been in close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID 19 then they may not attend school.  According to the CDC, a close contact is someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from 48 hours before illness onset or 48 hours before a positive test result until the time the patient with COVID 19 is isolated (these guidelines may change but this is the current information).  Anyone who has been in close contact will be asked to quarantine and should be contacted by the department of health for guidance.  The school will work closely with the state department of health and the SAU to assure accurate contact tracing for the time the child or staff member was in school.  The school may not be involved if the child or staff member was not in school 48 hours prior to the positive test result.

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to the school. We are all working together to keep our community healthy and communication is important.

Ford Sayre Ski Programs

Alpine, Nordic, Recreation and Jumping

Registration Now Open

Limited Spots Available

Check us out at www.FordSayre.org

PTO Bulletin Board

• PTO Fall Grant proposals are due this coming Thursday, October 16th.  Grants can be submitted by teachers, other MCS staff, parents/guardians, and students. Find out more and submit a proposal here https://forms.gle/bHFVNX8zJ3tR7xvD
   
• A collection box for the PTO Halloween Candy Drive is at Dan & Whits.  Boxes will also be out at the corners of the town green during school pick-up from 2:00-2:00 pm on the three remaining Wednesdays before Halloween.