November 1, 2024
Dear Florence Roche Families,
Happy November!
I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Halloween experience. For those of you out with your children on Thursday evening, you certainly had a comfortable night to be outdoors. Thank you to the many volunteers we had in the building this week to help out with the variety of fall themed activities happening in the different grade levels.
We are getting closer to the completion of our school building project. Over the past week, sod was laid down on our front field. It is now a lush green and beautiful area. Unfortunately, we will not be able to use the field until sometime next spring. The sod needs time to take root and become stable before it gets the heavy traffic of our recesses. The good news is that our playground and court area will be available to us beginning on November 12th. Next week we have a plan to introduce our staff and students to the playground. Individual classrooms will have a scheduled time for them to try out the playground and learn what the expectations are for safe and responsible play in this new space.
On Saturday, the paving contractor will be finishing the newly widened driveway leading on to our campus. There will be four lanes, two in and two out, to accommodate vehicles traveling to our driveway and for vehicles heading to the middle school. A new sidewalk following alongside the driveway entrance will also be installed to safely accommodate pedestrian traffic.
Tuesday, November 5th is a no school day for students. This is a professional development day for our staff. We are excited for this opportunity as the presentations and professional learning experiences are all being facilitated by our own GDRSD staff. I am proud to share that many of our Florence Roche teachers will be leading their district colleagues on this professional learning day.
Recently we have had a very small number of cases of lice at Florence Roche. The number of cases is within the expected number of cases we would see in any year based on data from the Center for Disease Control and other sources.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) provides a useful patient handout: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/from-insects-animals/Pages/signs-of-lice.aspx
We checked in with our school physician, Doctor Russell Coleman. He confirmed the advice provided above and based on AAP and other public health advisories, does not recommend classroom screening of students. Screening does not have a significant effect over time on the incidence of head lice in the school setting, is not cost-effective, and may stigmatize children suspected of having head lice.
For parents who are concerned for lice, we would recommend checking at home based on the above handout. If your child has lice and you are uncertain about treatment options we would recommend contacting your Primary Care Physician (PCP). It would also be helpful if you notify our health office to inform them if your child has lice.
Remember that daylight savings time ends at midnight on Saturday. Don’t forget to set your clocks back.
Enjoy the weekend.
Brian