School Update 4/2/2020

Tabernacle Family,

It has certainly been an unprecedented time that has required us to take some unprecedented actions.  We met with all of our faculty and staff this week to discuss what the end of the year looks like.  Even a simple endeavor like a staff meeting turned into a 3-day event as we scheduled separate meetings with small, spread out groups, with enough time in between meetings to clean surfaces.  It wasn’t our typical staff meeting, but it worked without putting our people at unnecessary risk.
 

That is the approach we have taken with everything for the rest of the year.  Whether planning classroom learning or events outside of the classroom, we have taken every precaution for the safety of our families.  You will receive two separate communications.  The remainder of this one will address all of the things outside of the classroom.  The next one will address everything inside the classroom.

As we address these non-classroom items, please remember that anything in the coming months is tentative at best.  So please take note of these current plans, but also know that they are subject to change as we progress through this pandemic.  We can have the best of intentions with planning, but we will not do anything to put our families at risk.

School Facilities

All of our school facilities are closed to the public.  This includes our gym, our weight room, and our playground.  If there is something you need from our facilities, contact us first so that we can pick a day, time, and method that will be the safest for all involved.  Please do not be offended if you simply show up to the door and are not allowed to enter.  Plan ahead, and we can all be safe.

Childcare

Childcare will remain closed through the end of May.  This includes Infant I, Infant II, Toddler I, and Toddler II, as well as Early-Morning Care and After-School Care.  Since there is no alternative we can offer to our families in lieu of physically having these students in our classrooms, we will not charge for Childcare during this closure.

If you are a Childcare parent and you need to pick up supplies you have stored here at the school, please contact Mrs. Cynthia White to arrange that.  We all know how quickly children at this age can grow, so we want you to be able to use things like diapers before they are outgrown! 

If you do not need the supplies stored at school, you do not have to pick them up.  We will store them safely until we can all return to the classrooms. 

We will absolutely be returning to the classrooms as soon as we can.  This closure now is through the end of May to coincide with our current school closure.  If the circumstances change and the state alters its mandates, we will adjust accordingly.  The bottom line is that we will open up as soon as we safely can, and our current Childcare students will have their spot waiting for them.

If you have any questions about Childcare, please contact Mrs. Cynthia White at cwhite@tabernaclechristian.org.

 

 

Sports

Our Baseball and Softball seasons have been fully canceled.  Although we were able to play some games and hold some practices, it was far from a full season’s schedule.  We will, therefore, adjust the sports fees accordingly.

The sports fee for Junior Varsity and Varsity Baseball will be reduced to $35.00.  The sports fee for Softball will be reduced to $25.00.  The difference will be credited to your account.  If your account is current with no balance, that money will be refunded to you.  While this won’t cover all of our expenses already incurred for the season, this will cover the bare essentials and the items the athletes will keep, like their hats.

The Bass Fishing Tournament and Track & Field Competitions hosted by ACEA have both been cancelled.  For those who have already paid for Track & Field, that money will be credited to your account.  If your account is current with no balance, that money will be refunded to you. 

Our Sports Banquet, originally scheduled for May 12th, has been cancelled.  We will still acknowledge our athletes for their accomplishments this year, but it will not be in a large assembly setting.  We will communicate further details on this as they become available.

We need uniforms for Baseball and Softball returned to the school.  On Thursday, April 9th, we will have a tub in the foyer of the Gym available

If you have any questions about Sports, please contact Mr. Keith Dabbs at kdabbs@tabernaclechristian.org

End of the Year Events

Tabernacle has a rich history of events that end each of our school years.  Unfortunately, while we cannot conduct those as we normally would, we do not want to summarily cancel them.  Here is our plan for each event.

K5 & Senior Cap and Gown Pictures

The original date for K5 and Senior Cap & Gown Pictures was Monday, April 6th.  That will be rescheduled for any student who wants these pictures.  As we get into May and, hopefully, we can know more about when we can begin to re-schedule events, we will pick a new date for these pictures and let our families know.

K5 Graduation

Our K5 Graduation was originally planned for May 15th.  We have to cancel that event.    As we get into May, we will look to see if we can safely reschedule this event to the summer.  We still want to celebrate this great milestone with our Kindergartners!

High School Drama

Our high school drama was originally scheduled for April 24th.  We have to cancel this event.  A drama is a coordination of not only practice schedules and a performance date, but also a coordination with outside helpers who are essential to the production, a Home Economics class that creates many of our costumes, etc.  There simply isn’t a chance to get all of those moving parts back onto the same page to still have the drama production.

Park Days

Our Kindergarten Park Day was originally scheduled for April 24th, and our Elementary Park Day was scheduled for May 1st.  We have to cancel those events.  Our tentative plan will be to reschedule these to a day during the summer.  We will reserve a set time with the park, and you will be able to come with your child that day, or feel free to drop them off while you run a few needed errands.  Our teachers will be present, so there will be supervision.  This will give our students the chance to see all of their friends again, and it will give our teachers and students a chance to have that time to have that goodbye they missed before we dismissed.  When we are able to get that scheduled, we will communicate those details to our families.

Yearbook Assembly

This special Chapel time will have to be canceled.  Thankfully, Mrs. Christa Smith and our Yearbook staff did an amazing job designing and completing our Yearbook before we dismissed.  We are waiting for details from the publisher on when we can expect the Yearbooks to arrive.  Once we know that, we will let our families know how we can get those Yearbooks to our students. 

Honors Assemblies

Our Kindergarten Honors Assembly was originally scheduled for May 14th, with our High School Honors Assembly on May 15th and the Elementary Honors Assembly on May 20th.  These assemblies will be canceled.  We will still recognize our students for their academic accomplishments for this school year, but it will not be in a large assembly setting.  We will communicate details on this as they become available.

Senior Class

While all of us have had our normal routines upended, our Senior Class is facing the cancellation of events they have waited 12 years for and celebrations they have worked 12 years to earn.  We will not simply watch these events be wiped from the calendar.  Our Senior Class deserves every chance we can give them to still celebrate their accomplishments.  Here are our tentative plans for the Senior Class.

Junior/Senior Banquet

The Junior/Senior Banquet was planned for May 15th.  We will postpone that event for now.  Our hope is that in mid-to-late May we will have a better picture and understanding of the world around us after June 1st.  If at that point we can safely pick a date for the Junior/Senior Banquet, we will set a date at that point and come together for all the fellowship, mirth, and hilarity originally planned for that event.

Until/unless the event is fully canceled, our Junior Dues, which entirely go toward this event, will remain in place.  If the event cannot be rescheduled, we will credit the accounts of Juniors with that amount.  If your account is current, the money will be refunded to you.

 

 

Graduation

Graduation for the Class of 2020 was planned for May 21st.  We will postpone that event for now.  Our hope is that we can plan Graduation for a later date, much like we would for the Junior/Senior Banquet.  We want to recognize our Senior Class for all they have achieved, and we will do anything we can safely do to have our Graduation ceremony in the summer.  This will include acknowledgment of their academic and athletic achievements.  As soon as we have a clearer picture of when this could be, we will let our families know.

Senior Trip

We are currently still working with our travel agent on details surrounding the Senior Trip.  The one thing we know for sure is that we will not be traveling during the originally planned dates, April 13th through April 18th

One thing we want to stress with our Seniors and their families is that our agent is not simply holding their money and refusing to refund it.  When we pay money to the travel agent, he in turns purchases all the tickets, meals, flights, etc. that we will need for the trip.  He is now working with those individual vendors to see what is refundable, what is transferrable, and what is simply lost if we choose to cancel.  We are also getting that same information for if we try to reschedule the trip for a later date. 

In short, right now there is not much that is concrete other than the cancelation of the current dates.  By not canceling earlier, we have, by our agent’s estimation, already greatly increased the amount we could get in a full cancelation since the city of New York has instituted its own lockdown and making it an impossibility to travel at that time.  That makes the vendors more amenable to refunds or transfers.  We will continue to work with him with our goal being one of two outcomes – 1) We maximize the amount of money we are refunded in the event of a full cancelation, or 2) We maximize the amount transferable to a trip at a later date.

Financial Matters

Our Administration has met to discuss what is the most equitable way to address financial matters moving forward, without jeopardizing our ability to still minister to and educate our students.  We have prorated or refunded Sports Fees, offered deferment of Registration fees for Re-Enrollment, and made the necessary changes for our Childcare parents while still taking care of our Childcare teachers as best as we can.  We are doing everything we can to work with our families during this tough time.

We will continue to charge for tuition.  However, we will work with our families when it comes to tuition payments and due dates.  At the beginning of the year, our agreement with our families was to educate your child for the year and have him/her ready for the next year.  That has not changed.  While our teachers have had to work harder than even usual to change how they can teach during this time, each has a plan for their students to continue to educate them and have them prepared.  It will look different in the way that it happens, but we thankfully have the resources available to us to continue teaching.

However, we will work with our families on those tuition payments.  Like the Registration fee, if your family’s financial situation has changed, we can work with you to defer your tuition payments during this time.  As we requested with the Registration fee, if your family’s financial situation has not changed, please do not request a deferment.  If you are able to continue to pay tuition like normal, it will help us to better work with those who cannot. 

If you would like to have tuition deferred, you can do so by doing the following:

  1. Email Mrs. Amber Peters at amberp@tabernaclechristian.org. Let her know if you would like to defer April and/or May.
  2. Then contact FACTS to have your payment plan adjusted. They will take extraordinary care to ensure that our families experiencing financial hardship are presented with options to make adjustments.  They can be reached at 1-866-441-4637.

If you have any questions along the way, please contact Mrs. Amber Peters at amberp@tabernaclechristian.org.

We are working hard to continue with the least disruption possible in the midst of the most disruptive event of these students’ lives.  It won’t be easy, but it can be done.  Together, we will get our students through the remainder of the school year.