To all USD 345 staff and families:
Let me first thank you all for your patience and support throughout the challenges we’ve faced together as a school community. While our circumstances may change each day, our commitment to our kids, community, and each other has remained steady. Let’s start by addressing the newest update potentially affecting the upcoming school year.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly announced this week she will sign an executive order to delay the start of schools until after Labor Day. We will keep you informed on what this means for the 2020-21 school year calendar. The district’s calendar committee will be re-assembling to discuss revisions if the Kansas State Board of Education approves this order. If this delay does go into effect, I anticipate several good options that will still meet our requirements with the least amount of disruption to families.
Since the unprecedented closing of school buildings last year, we have been hard at work preparing for the reopening for the 2020-21 school year. I am excited to share with you the draft of our Ready to Reopen plan for Seaman School District. This plan prioritizes the health and safety of our students, staff, and community while maximizing instruction for each student in various scenarios.
The instructional side of the Ready to Reopen plan focuses on different learning environments for the 2020-21 school year. The district and/or building will determine the learning environment status based on county health orders and/or local needs of the building/district. All learning environments will allow parents to choose Family Choice Remote Learning. Basically, parents will have two options: 1.) send kids to school according to the learning environment determined by the district and/or health officials; 2.) register for Family Choice Remote Learning.
Any family who does not feel comfortable returning to school buildings has the option to learn from home by registering for Family Choice Remote Learning. Family Choice Remote Learning will be a commitment of one semester, and parents will have the option to return to on-site learning at the beginning of the next semester or register again in remote learning. Students would be learning from home and not entering the school building at all. You can find more information about this option in the Ready to Reopen plan.
The other part of the plan focuses on operations. Our top priority will be to create the safest possible learning environment for our students and staff. The district will be providing each staff member with two reusable cloth face masks and one plastic face shield. The district will also be providing two reusable cloth masks for each student.
The board will consider approval of the final version of the plan on July 29. I use the term “final version” loosely as this will no doubt remain a living document as we adjust to our current needs and environment.
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Click here to review the Ready to Reopen plan
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Enroll your student(s) online through PowerSchool (all students will need to online enroll)
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Click here to provide feedback on the draft Ready to Reopen Plan
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Click here if you would like to register for Family Choice Remote Learning
We are excited to welcome students back for the 2020-2021 school year, whenever that may be. Thank you for taking the time to review the plan, enroll in PowerSchool (if you haven’t done so already), register for remote learning if you so choose, and provide feedback. Our priorities in the reopening of our school buildings remain the health and safety of our students, staff, and community while providing #LearningWithoutLimits for each and every student.
Sincerely,
Dr. Steve Noble
Superintendent