September 2020 

Dear Parents and Guardians,

 As we begin this school year, I would like to take this opportunity to explain the attendance expectations as outlined by the Department of Education and the Chancellor for remote and blended learning students.  Students must sign on by 8:30 am and are expected to engage in instruction for the majority of the day.  See the guidance below:

·         Present – student is virtually or physically present in the classroom / school learning environment for instruction during the scheduled school day.

·         Absent – not virtually present in the classroom / school learning environment for instruction during the school day

If your child is going to be absent for any reason (both in person or remote), please let the teacher know.  Absences will be considered excused with proper documentation only such as a doctor’s note or documentation of a death in the family.

It is important your child follow a routine whether they are learning in person or remotely.  As always, we understand the many challenges and difficulties that will come with this new way of learning.  We are always here to support you to ensure student success. 

Please contact your child’s teacher, our guidance counselors, Ms. Sacks or Ms. Famulari, or our Parent Coordinator, Ms. Rosa for any support. 

Sincerely, 

J. Iovine

Principal

September 2020 

Dear Parents/Guardians: 

Safety is the number one priority for P.S. 108Q.  As you may know, we practice several “drills” throughout the school year in order to prepare for various emergencies should they occur. Staff instructs students to adhere to specific procedures for each type of drill. 

We want to assure parents that procedures are set in place for the safety of your children. We understand the concern of families regarding where there children will be in case of an emergency.  In the event of an evacuation where we need to vacate the premises, students will relocate to another location. 

Students will relocate to the following sites:

 

Ø  3K, Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten and Grade 1 classes will go to:

 

PS 100

                111-11 118^th Street

                   718-558-1510

 

Ø  Grade 2, Grade 3 classes will go to:

 

            PS 62

                                                             97-25 108^th Street

                                                                  718-286-4460

 

Ø  Grade 4 and Grade 5 classes will go to:

 

MS 137

                                                                109-15 98^th Street

                                                                     718-659-0471

 

Classroom teachers will go with their classes to the relocation site. Each classroom teacher will have an “emergency red bag” which contains a copy of each student’s blue card.  I hope that there will never be a need to evacuate the building, but we want parents and guardians to feel secure in knowing we are prepared should an emergency arise.  As an aside, we noticed that some parents choose to take their children’s coats after dropping them off at school, which is perfectly fine.  However, please keep in mind this means that those children will not have coats during an evacuation. 

In addition to our evacuation procedures, we practice other safety drills throughout the school year. 

They are as follows:

·         Soft Lockdown Drills: this drill occurs when a hazard is found within the building, but there is no identified imminent danger. Students are instructed to move out of sight and remain silent during this drill.

·         Hard Lockdown Drills: this drill occurs when a hazard is found within the building and imminent danger is known. Students will follow same procedures listed in a soft lockdown.

·         Shelter-in Drills: this drill occurs when there is a hazard outside of the building. All activities within the building carry on as usual.

·         Shelter Drill: this drill is used to practice procedures in the event of a severe storm, tornado etc. Students move quietly into the hallway, move next to the wall, crouch down and cover their heads. 

Please refer to this parent letter to familiarize yourselves with our emergency procedures and safety drills. This informative document will serve as an important resource for you throughout the entirety of the school year.

In the event of an emergency, families will also be notified through School Messenger (the automated calls you receive from school).

 As always, I thank you for your support and partnership in helping to keep our children safe.

 Sincerely, 

J. Iovine

Principal

September 2020

Dear Parents/Guardians: 

This is to inform you that we have many students with severe allergies to peanuts and nuts in our school, therefore we are a peanut/nut free school.   It is important that there is a strict avoidance of this food in order to prevent a life-threatening allergic reaction.  We are asking your help to provide these students with a safe school environment.

 Any exposure to peanuts/nuts may cause a life-threatening allergic reaction that requires emergency medical treatment.  To reduce the chance of this occurring, we are asking that you do not send peanut or

nut-containing products to school with your child.  If your child has eaten peanuts/nuts before coming to school, please be sure your child’s hands and face have been thoroughly washed before entering the school. 

We appreciate your support of these procedures.  Please complete and return this form so that we are certain you have received this information.  You may contact me if you have any questions. 

Thank you for your cooperation.                                                                                    

Sincerely,

J. Iovine

Principal                                                                      

September 2020   

Dear Parents/Guardians of Grades K, 1, & 2 Children,

Healthy eating behaviors and physical activity are important for your child’s health and well-being.  As you know, over the last few years much emphasis has been placed on promoting good eating habits.

All children in grades K - 2 will have a 5 minute snack time incorporated into each day.  When packing these snacks please be mindful of the following:

• All drinks must be healthy: Juice boxes or Water.  Soda is not allowed. Please do not send in any glass containers.
• Healthy snacks include, cheese (low fat preferred), fruits, vegetable or crackers, etc.  Please do not send potato chips or any other kind of chips or candy.
• We are a nut free school.  Please do not send any snacks containing nuts or nut products.
• Please explain to your child they cannot share snacks due to health and safety guidelines. 

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Sincerely, 

J. Iovine

Principal

September 2020 

Dear Parents/Guardians,

This year will be very different from past school years regarding school policies.  I would like to take this opportunity to go over some important updates.

·       Visitor Protocols – The DOE has issued health and safety guidance limiting entry into the building for visitors.  Therefore, if you need to come to the school for any reason such as family emergency or picking up your child who is sick, you will be greeted by our school safety agents who will ask you to show proper identification (such as valid driver’s license, non-driver’s ID, or passport), take your temperature, and ask you to fill out a health screening.  You can fill it out on your phone ( https://healthscreening.schools.nyc/) or a paper copy.  You will wait in the lobby and a staff member will then come to assist you.  This is to ensure a healthy, safe and secure environment for our school community. 

·        Blue cards – This year our blue emergency contact cards will be digital.  Teachers have shared this link with you on google classroom, email and any other digital communication format they use.  Please fill out and submit the form for each child as soon as possible.  Blue cards are a very important part of communication with parents.  They must be filled out completely so that we may contact you in an emergency.  No student will be released to someone who is not listed on the blue card. 

·         Throughout the school year, you will be receiving parent letters regarding important information.  Letters will be shared digitally on our school website www.ps108q.com (the Parent’s Place tab), DOJO (https://www.classdojo.com/invite/?s=4eece824f64aa62934edf1b8 ), and your child’s google classroom.

Thank you for your patience, flexibility and cooperation during these challenging times.  We are committed to a strong partnership.  If you have any specific questions, please contact our parent coordinator at rosae@ps108q.com.  Thank you.

 Sincerely, 

J. Iovine

Principal

iovinej@ps108q.com

Click on the links below to see Agenda and Questions and Answers from the PS 108 Reopening Meeting from August 7, 2020.

Please see the link below to views this year's Queens Borough Arts Festival virtually