April 24, 2020
Parents,

It has been another successful week of South Hills Zoom Academy and my staff and I are thrilled to see so many children attending! Your continued emails and kind support are a daily boost for us and we are so happy to connect with your children through virtual learning.

As an update, the Governor’s recent plan includes the potential for Child Care Centers to reopen on May 8, but we have some initial problems to work out: 

• Half day programs may not be included in the reopening plan and may need to continue online. We’ll keep you informed of any updates. 
• It also appears that the Kindergarten students may be able to return as School Age students, but are not permitted to have any in-person Kindergarten lessons, as schools are closed! Again, guidelines are still unclear and I am seeking interpretation from our licensing representative. 
• To complicate the situation even further, the reopening of child care centers depends on the school meeting all the “employee and building standards”, which are currently being created. These standards will highlight sanitization and health practices that we will be required to implement. Once those are received, I will see how quickly we are able to put them in place, but cannot guarantee it will be by May 8.

We’ve already begun taking initiatives to ensure the school is properly sanitized: 

• I have purchased a non-contact thermometer, as anyone entering the building must have their temperature documented. 
• I have ordered Germ Guardian filters to use in each classroom after hours to effectively kill all bacteria and viruses from the air with UV light. Germ Guardian filters will soon be installed on all the furnaces as well.
• I ordered a basket to hang from the front doors to hold Clorox wipes for the security key pad (They must be out of reach of children).

We are still planning on parent conferences the week of May 11 unless the school does reopen, so please add your conference time to your calendar.  I hope to have solidified plans as next week progresses.

As requested during music class, please take photos or scan your children’s art work and send to me at ckerrvogt@shills.info (scanning recommended)! I will post as much as I can on Instagram (@southhillsinc). 

Hug your children from me and all of the South Hills’ teachers!

Blessings,
 ♥ Connie

April 18, 2020

Parents,

Thank you for your continued support of South Hills Zoom Academy! Your positive response has been overwhelming and we are pleased that this “pick and choose” option of live and recorded sessions is working well for you. Your emails of support and encouragement make our day!

Governor Wolf has now begun the process of reopening our state and County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper has also supported that Erie County be among the regions to reopen. Once the county/state reaches Phase 2 of the reopening plan, South Hills will be able to reopen. We are HOPING this occurs around mid May, as each phase is approximately two weeks in length. Many states are already moving to Phase 1 after preliminary criteria have been met.

I am being proactive and hopeful; I met with my staff late yesterday afternoon to share my plan with them. I would now like to share it with you:

• Assessments will now be sent to your Dropbox Folder on May 8 rather than May 15. Parent Conferences will be scheduled for the week of May 11 for BOTH full and half day students and Kindergarten students via Zoom. Details will be sent to you prior to Conference week, as we will have secure conference rooms created for each of you. You will soon receive your conference date and time from Mary via email.
• With conferences out of the way, if the school reopens on May 18, that means all children could return and we will extend the half day school year to May 28 and 29 (These dates were previously reserved for Parent Conferences).
• Half-day graduation would take place on the final two days of the term, May 28 and 29.
• Full day students and Kindergarteners would be able to have their graduation as scheduled on June 11 and 12.
• The Waldameer picnic may need to be rescheduled; we will let you know as soon as we receive updates.
• When we reopen, PDE is requiring our Kindergarten program to be categorized as a School Age Program since PA schools are formally closed. More details on this later…
• Follow us on our new Instagram account for photos of the school (including photos of our garden) to share with your children! Find us @southhillsinc

I will keep you posted as information changes frequently. My staff and I would be overjoyed to return to South Hills within a month and see your children and resume our work with them! I continue to say prayers for all daily! Be safe; be well...

Blessings,

❤️Connie

April 10, 2020

Parents,

Week 2 of South Hills Zoom Academy concluded on Thursday as we are closed today for Good Friday as scheduled. Thank you to everyone who is writing with words of encouragement and support! I am attempting to return emails to all, but feel I may be missing someone—if so it is unintentional! The staff and I value each and every word we receive from you!

UPDATE 1: BY NOW YOU ARE AWARE THAT GOVERNOR WOLF HAS CLOSED ALL PA SCHOOLS FOR THE REST OF THE SCHOOL YEAR. South Hills is included in that mandate.

We are fully prepared to continue our Zoom lessons, and hope you will stay with us, regardless of ability to pay. I fully intend to stay open as long as possible, and look forward to the end of this crisis.

Times like this can be stressful for children as well as adults. Children derive much comfort, security, independence and confidence from structure and routine. They feel most comfortable and feel most secure when they engage in  the natural “rhythm” of their day, and confidence grows as they learn and follow specific routines,  then gradually learn to cope with small changes in the routine, especially when told ahead of time to prepare and adjust.  Gradually they learn to handle increasing numbers of changes, as their confidence grows.  For that reason, keeping your child connected to the routine of school, as well as the vital connections of the people they have spent their days with—their teachers and friends!—is especially important.  We will still be completing our year end assessments to the best of our ability and are planning a Zoom Graduation and End of the Year Ceremony!  We continue to hope the summer term will mean a reopening of our doors and beautiful playground. We are working hard to prepare for the children’s joyful return!!

Even if you cannot financially support us, please continue to have your child participate for all the above reasons!  You are part of the South Hills Family, and money cannot be a consideration over your child’s continuation with us!  

UPDATE 2: Many of you are requesting individual sessions with your children as we are doing with Kindergarten, and would like to see the PreK enrichment program included.  We have had many discussions about this but sadly cannot find a way for it to be possible. The Kindergarten class has only 13 students and two teachers, which makes individual sessions possible in place of recorded ones. Their requirements are also much more rigorous as they are in the elementary school portion of our program. The preschool teachers have 20-24 students in a weeks time. You can see the dilemma.

The teachers are contracted to work 47.5 hours per week. By the time they complete their planning, three recorded lessons each day, plus live sessions and our daily/weekly meetings and trainings, they have all gone beyond that. Plus, they still must complete their annual required coursework and a variety of documentations. We tried to find ways to incorporate the enrichment program, but to date the best we have brainstormed is that I will try to add as much as possible to my music classes. We will add some additional resources when possible.


I continue to pray for us all, and count the overwhelming blessings of having such a talented, dedicated and enthusiastic group of teachers to carry out the vision of South Hills, as well as the amazing families to support and encourage us! We miss your children more than you can possibly image—they are the highlight of each day for us!

If you celebrate Passover/Easter, I wish you a most blessed holiday.

Blessings and Gratitude to all,

❤ Connie

April 4, 2020

Parents,

Welcome to week two of South Hills Zoom Academy! Thank you for your continued support and feedback as we move into our second week of online learning. My staff and I are reviewing each of your suggestions and concerns as we continue adjusting Zoom Academy to best meet your needs and schedules.
 
4/4 Update 1: Based on your initial feedback and our own concerns, we have added an extra measure of privacy and security to our virtual learning. Beginning immediately, passwords have been added to ALL South Hills online classrooms. Your classroom IDs for live group sessions remain unchanged. Please refer to the classroom IDs and passwords listed on your child's weekly class schedule to access your LIVE sessions this week. Class schedules are located within your Zoom Dropbox folder and will be available by tomorrow (Sunday, April 5). We ask that you please do not share these passwords with anyone! 

Steps to accessing your classrooms will not change: After entering your classroom ID and child’s name, select “Join”. A prompt will appear asking for the meeting password before continuing into the classroom.

4/4 Update 2: Siblings and family members within your household are always invited to LIVE group music and Spanish/Sign Language sessions! 

As always, if you are having difficultly in accessing your Zoom folder on Dropbox, please contact Beth via the South Hills website HERE.

I cannot fully express how much we enjoyed reconnecting with your children this week! Seeing them online and sharing in conversation with them and their classmates was an ENORMOUS boost for us all! We miss your children SO MUCH and look forward to seeing them this week!

Blessings,

♡ Ms Connie

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION!

March 21, 2020

Parents,

I trust you are all isolating and feeling well; it is a challenging time, for sure! My staff and I all miss you and especially your children IMMENSELY!

Of course, we want this crisis to end quickly, but it seems highly unlikely that South Hills will be able to open March 31 as originally expected. We are not permitted to open until Governor Wolfe announces that Nonpublic schools and child care centers are permitted to reopen.

Our major concern, besides the health of our families and staff, is the ongoing academic progress of your children. As you have been informed through our website, Twitter and Dropbox communication, the teachers have been working tirelessly to adapt their lesson plans and add them to your Dropbox folder under March/Preschool Lessons and Activities. We hope your children have been engaged this week with these activities that your child’s teacher has offered! The Kindergarten students have their work packets, or they will soon be arriving in the mail.

I am writing primarily to announce to you that South Hills will be teaching your children live in a virtual classroom through Zoom beginning Monday, March 31. There is still so much for the teachers to present to your child this year to ensure we can properly assess them, and that they have met all the required standards for PreK, Kindergarten and First grade. We do NOT want them to lose any progress they have already made!

Later this week, you will receive instructions for loading Zoom and accessing your virtual classroom via email from my son, Dylan (dylanjkvogtshills@gmail.com), so please watch for that. This will be a one time email. All further communications regarding these updates will come to you through Dropbox and the South Hills website.

If you do not have an iPad or computer that your child can access for our virtual school, please contact Beth at bszelinski@shills.info. Beth will be talking with Apple and Best Buy regarding help in that area, if needed.

Teachers are currently being trained on Zoom and will spend the week of March 23 preparing their online lessons. Each child will attend a virtual classroom with their usual teacher and will continue to participate in Sign Language and Spanish with Ms Pam, Technology with Ms Karlee or Ms Maria, Science with Ms Mary and Music/Movement with me! Full day PreK students will move to another pm classroom on their regularly assigned days with Ms Kelsee.

Please remember that we are human, and there will be glitches and issues to work out as we jump into this. Be patient with us, don’t give up on us, and we will work through issues as they arise.
The full day classrooms will open from 8:45-3:00 Monday through Friday. There will be breaks for bathroom and snacks for full day students. Lunchtime will be 11:30-12:00 for full day students. Half day will attend either 9:00-11:30 or 12:30-3:10. We will be closed Friday, April 10 for Good Friday as originally scheduled.

Ms Beth will be our central support, and will be contacting you by phone at least twice a week to ensure all questions are answered and concerns resolved. You will be able to call the school between 8:30-3:00 and talk directly to her as well.

Further details will be provided regarding material lists (Don’t panic—these are items you have in your home already, I guarantee,) and a “pick up” system for materials we will be loaning your child for their home classroom use. We are still working out final details.

I know many of you will be asking the cost, and what the financial arrangements are to date. There currently is no mandate that school tuitions must be returned to families, BUT I am sensitive to your own personal hardships during this time. As a small business, South Hills has limited funds as my only income for our budget is your tuition. Yes, I have fears for my business, but also strong faith, and I refuse to simply give up my life’s work these past 45 years. Victim mentality is not my way... Taking care of my South Hills’ Family is my priority. I want to continue my teacher’s salaries, even foregoing my own, but the reality is I have only a few weeks worth of funds available to cover salaries, rent, utilities and other essential expenses. I will be meeting with the SBA regarding the CARE help available, and will take advantage of all that apply to South Hills, if any.

The fact that so many of you have written me such beautiful supportive letters and refused reimbursement of your tuition, along with determination to continue payments, has been overwhelming to me—each one bringing me to tears of gratitude. You cannot possibly know what this means to me and to my staff.

Therefore, my decision is that we will continue billing all families throughout this crisis. HOWEVER, I have instructed Dylan to accept whatever payments come in, and to ignore any non-payments from March 17 when the closure began, until this ends. Each family has their own financial burden, and their own feelings about the fairness of payment/reimbursement. If someone wants their prior payment for these weeks of closure credited to later weeks when we return, or reimbursed, please just relay that to Dylan. I will accept whatever decision you feel is right for you and your family.

We do not know yet if scholarship payments will still be offered through Future Funds for the time we are closed, but please do not be concerned. Families on scholarship will be taken care of, and will not be billed.

I have also instructed Dylan not to inform me of any non payments, unless a family decides to withdraw. He will keep this information confidential, so your relationship with me is not in any way compromised. I don’t want anyone feeling guilty or embarrassed by their decision, as I do truly understand that these are difficult economic times...

Whether you pay or not, you are part of our South Hills’ family and we want your child to return to school through our virtual classrooms!

Please watch for information and directions from Dylan, and check your Dropbox folder regularly (Please reach out to Beth if you are having difficulty accessing your child’s personal or classroom Dropbox folder). I rely on you to reach out to other South Hills’ families you know to ensure everyone is aware of our plans. My staff and I look forward to seeing your child next week in our Zoom classrooms!!

With Many Blessings and Much Gratitude to each and every one of you,

Ms Connie

March 16, 2020 6:00 p.m.

Parents,

As you have most likely heard, Governor Wolf has closed all private preschools, effective immediately, which includes South Hills. We hope to reopen on Monday, March 30 unless the Governor extends this order.

If your child has any items at South Hills that you need, you can pick them up tomorrow (Tuesday) between 8:15-noon. Kindergarten students can pick up their workbooks and lessons at the same time. Special arrangements can be made by contacting me at ckerrvogt@shills.info

Teachers will continue to post activities and lessons specific to your child’s class through your Dropbox handout folder. Go to 2019-2020/March/Preschool lessons.

I have not had time to work on how to issue all the tuition reimbursements and credits for this mandated closure, and we are unsure how long it will last. Please give Dylan and me time to work on that.

My staff and I will surely miss you, and especially your children. Consider spending this time of social isolation working on some of the projects we are sending. Don’t forget to take advantage of the nice weather (good for building immunity!), sing some songs, dance, snuggle and turn off the tv. Be positive. Keep a journal for your child to read one day about this difficult time...Let the children say the South Hills mantra and breathe:

• Today may I have a kind heart
• Today may I say kind words
• Today may I think kind thoughts

Stay well; contact me if you need something, and I hope to see you March 30. You and your family remain in my prayers...

Ms Connie