Good evening Southern Oak families and welcome to a brand new school year!  We are so excited to partner with you to provide the absolute best education for your child while at the forefront maintaining a safe and healthy learning environment. Following CDC guidelines we are busy  putting processes in place to make sure students, staff and the community are safe. Please listen to the following updates for the 2020-2021 school year :

• We will be having our annual Meet 'n Greet on Friday, August 21^st from 1-3. This Meet Your Teacher opportunity will be held virtually this school year.  Your child’s teachers as well as school administrators will be contacting you next week.  There will also be an opportunity for you to ask questions or share concerns with your child’s teacher through the same computer program the children and teachers  used in the spring, Microsoft Teams. The entire program will be accessible through Teams on the computer so there is no need for you to come to the school. Please stay tuned for more information from your child’s teacher regarding logging in and attending this virtual event.
• Class lists will be posted in Focus by 3:00 pm  on Tuesday,  August 18^th. Again, there is no need to come to the school because we will be posting your child’s class assignment in Portal. If you need a parent log in and password, please call the school at 588-4654  during business hours which are from 7:30 am until 3:30 pm. 
• School begins for students on Monday, August 24^th. Our school hours for students are 8:45-2:55 pm Monday through Friday. Students may be dropped off in the front of the building no earlier than 8:15 am each morning. 
• In order to maintain safety and keep our students and staff healthy, we have incorporated new safety procedures for the arrival and dismissal of students. Starting day 1, August 24^th, we are requesting that ALL adults remain in their cars  during drop off or pick up in the car circle. We ask that you please do not park and walk your child to the double doors during drop off or pick up so we can minimize the amount of people on campus. If you are coming through the car line each morning, please be sure that your child is ready to exit as you pull up to the numbered spaces in front of the school. There will be plenty of adults on duty to be sure that all students make it to their classrooms safe and sound. We will be following all CDC guidelines regarding social distancing and wearing masks.  The expectation will be that students will be kept 6 feet apart at all times and will be expected to wear a mask every day to school. Teachers will incorporate mask breaks as necessary.
• PreK teachers have a new arrival and dismissal process this school year. PreK teachers will be contacting families this week to share this important information. 
• As you are planning the items that your child will need for back to school, please remember to add a refillable plastic water bottle to the list labelled with your child's name.  Water bottle refill stations  will be used for our face to face students. 
• If your child requires medication to be given during school hours, please call the school at 588-4654 this week to make an appointment to drop off those medications prior to the start of the school year, between the hours of 8:30-3:30 pm. 
• If your child is learning virtually to start the year and you still  need a device, please call the school to make arrangements to check one out this week. 
• Most of our F2F students (not incoming kindergarteners and new to SO families) are familiar with the layout of the campus. If you have questions or concerns we encourage both new and returning families to contact either Dr. Taylor, principal, or Mrs. Ohmer, Assistant Principal either by phone @ 588-4654 or via email :   taylorsu@pcsb.org and ohmer@pcsb.org. 
• Please remember the beginning of this new school year will be like no beginning we have ever experienced.
  Safety is paramount, and we need the entire learning community to work together to keep us all safe. Thank you for trusting us with your precious children. We appreciate your  cooperation and adapting to our new ways of work focused on safety protocols. 

Have a good evening.

Schedules:

Updates to school and student schedules, due to Learning Option selections, are still being made.  Please allow school staff the time to complete this process.  At this time, schedule changes will not made until the master schedule is recreated.  Final schedules will be made available in Focus on August 13. 

Supply Lists:

Pinellas County schools do not require any supplies. When you find out which teacher you have, they will have a suggested supply list. It will be different from teacher to teacher, so it would be best to wait for that list.

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Pinellas County MYON Summer Challenge GRAND PRIZE WINNER is Southern Oak student Kyle Barber. Way to go Kyle!

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Great News!!! Southern Oak Elementary was Recognized for being a FLPBIS Model School for the 2019-2020 school year.

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At Home Resources

www.pcsb.org/athomeresources

At Home Resources has valuable resources and fun, supportive activities for families on the topics below.  Check back regularly as new resources are added every week!    

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Parent Academy

www.pcsb.org/parentacademy

Find recording links to past Parent Academy Power Hour sessions on such important topics as Building Resilience in Challenging Times, Oops! My Child is Off Task: Self-Discipline Strategies, Eagle Eye: Online Safety and much more.  These webinar recordings can all be viewed at your convenience. Information on upcoming sessions as they are planned may also be found on this same page.

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Read your way to the ballpark Summer Reading program

Reading with the Tampa Bay Rays

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SCHOOL MEAL INFO DURING SCHOOL BUILDING CLOSURES at Southern Oak Elementary

WEDNESDAY, 8:00 - 11:00

-Meals will be served “Grab & Go” - 6 days of meals

We just received notice that meal distribution has changed due to a change in CDC guidelines:

-All meals are FREE for anyone 18 years old & under
-Child/Teen must be present to receive meals
-Meals will be served as‘Drive-Thru'at the Car/Bus circle & for ‘Walkers’ near the Main Entrance of School

More Information -> School Closing Meal Information

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Art Enrichment Websites

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SIS Focus Video - Online Pinellas County School Portal Site.

Link -> https://www.pcsb.org/focusinfo

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Pinellas County Emergency Alert Sign-up

Receive alerts about emergencies and other important community news by signing up for our community’s Emergency Alert System.

Pinellas County Emergency Alert Sign-up Link

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Safety in Pinellas County Schools : https://www.pcsb.org/safety

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Like us on Facebook and keep up to date with what is happening at Southern Oak. https://www.facebook.com/SouthernOakElementary/

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Cell Phone Policy

There has been questions about our cell phone policy here at Southern Oak. We follow the district policy on cell phone use.

School Board Policy states students may possess a cell phone provided this item is powered off and concealed from view while school is in session.

Any student who fails to abide by the terms of this policy forfeits any right or privilege to possess any electronic device describe in policy.

 (p. 42 in  2018-2019 Code of Student Conduct)

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* Before and After School care is provided by R'Club from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm M-FR. For more information you can call Craig Lawrence at 518-9702

 * - Pinellas County - Security Council Website Link 

  *What is new in school safety:*

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 - Remember, the handicapped spaces both in front of the school and by R’club are for permitted vehicles only. There has been a problem with the spaces by R’club being used by non permitted cars. Our families who need those spaces appreciate your attention to this.

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 - Here is a link to the pcsb site with some videos to show how to log into Clever from home.Clever At Home