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Weekly Update: August 28, 2020

 

Dear Grinnell-Newburg Board of Education, Staff, Families and Friends,

 

The Derecho Storm of 2020 has caused a great amount of damage to our schools and athletic fields. We estimate about 1.5 million dollars of damage among our school facilities, and we continue to find more issues or concerns through our inspections. Although we have cleaned up the majority of the debris, there is still much to do. At this point, we need more time to ensure our facilities are safe for players and spectators to use the football stadium. Therefore, a decision has been made to find an alternative location to play our first home football game. Our number one priority is for the safety of our athletes and fans who would participate at the home football game on September 4, 2020. With this being said, we will be playing at Marshalltown High School on September 4th versus South Tama County.  We will share the details with all of our families as soon as all plans have been finalized.   We are grateful to Marshalltown for allowing us to use their field.   

 

We still have much to do to prepare our fields and surrounding grounds, restore the power, remedy damaged light fixtures and poles, order sound systems, and work with our contractors to complete the work prior to allowing any use on the field. I know that many families have reached out to assist us to clean up the field. I greatly appreciate your support and offer of assistance, however at this time due to electrical issues, tower removals on school grounds, light pole removal, and review of our bleacher and structural engineer reports, we cannot allow anyone on the field or around the area until this is resolved. I want to thank our Football team parents and fans for your willingness to volunteer and assist us to get things ready.  I will reach out to this group as soon as we receive inspection reports and we know that we can have volunteers in the area. There is work to be done and we look forward to your help! 

 

2020 has been an extremely challenging time for our families and we look forward to watching our team play once again on the field. It will happen and our goal is to have our first home game on September 18, 2020.   

 

I thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to remedy our schools and properties. Once again, safety for our fans and athletes is our priority and we need to have an all clear prior to using this field.  

 

On another note, as we begin the athletic season we will be monitoring the 14 day trend for COVID-19 in our area. The guidance for decisions will be: If the trend is 10% or higher on game day, families will be limited to four tickets. If we reach 15% on game day, the event will be canceled. We will be working with our Iowa Department of Public Health prior to notifying our families about attendance. This data will assist us to limit the spread of the virus and maintain safety for all families that attend our events.  

 

These are challenging times and we thank you for your patience as we make some very difficult decisions.  

 

Sincerely,

Dr. Janet M. Stutz

Kevin Seney

Chris Coffman  

 

LINK needs you input: 

 

Please complete this short survey in order for LINK to accommodate our students after school in the appropriate spaces needed!   Thank you: This will help us determine need for our community and locations.  

 

Link Survey

 

First week of school schedule:

 

Updated 2020-2021 Calendar: First Day of School is September 8, 2020.

20-21 calendar

 

Student First Week Schedule:

 

September 7: Labor Day No School

 

September 8: Elementary start 7:55 am- 1:00 PM

                   Middle School  8:00 am- 1:15 PM

High School Freshman only- 8:25-3:00 PM

 

September 9: Elementary start 7:55 am -1:00 PM

                   Middle School start 8:00 am- 1:15 PM

High School all students A schedule 8:25-3:00 PM

 

September 10: Elementary start 7:55-2:30 PM

Middle School Start Time will be 8:00- 2:45 PM

High School all students B schedule 8:25-3:00 PM

 

September 11: Elementary start 7:55 am-2:30 PM

Middle School Start 8:00 - 2:45 PM

High School all students A schedule 8:25-3:00 PM

 

The remaining school year times:

 

Elementary start times will be 7:55 am and dismiss at 2:30 PM

Middle School Start Time will be 8:00 and dismiss at 2:45 PM

High School all students rotating on the A/B schedule 8:25-3:00 PM 

 

NUTRITION DEPARTMENT UPDATE:

We are so excited to have students back in school, whether on-site or virtually! Our goal is to continue providing students with great meals every day. We are implementing these procedures to ensure safe, healthy meals during the school week.

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

USDA eligibility rules will apply. All students will be charged for meals according to their eligibility.  All meals must be paid through a student’s account. 

 

• All meals will meet USDA requirements

• Enhanced sanitizing procedures are in place

• Food service staff will be wearing appropriate PPE

• Hand sanitizer will be widely available

• Social distancing guidelines will be adhered to

• Masks are required in the meal line and can be

removed in the designated eating area

• All meal components will be prepackaged in proper

food containers

• All utensils will be disposable

 

BREAKFAST

• Elementary students will grab breakfast in line and either eat in the cafeteria or classroom depending on the school.  Elementary students will get all of the meal components.  

• Middle students will choose their breakfast in the meal line and sit in the cafeteria. 

• High school students will choose breakfast items and go to the classroom.  

 

LUNCH

•Elementary will mainly eat in their classrooms or other assigned area.   All meal components will be placed in a bag, or other carrier.  They will still have a choice in the morning of main lunch or tiger lunch.  

• Middle and high school students will be served in the meal line and students will choose the meal components.

• Middle school students will primarily eat lunch in their classroom.

• High School students will eat lunch in the cafeteria.

 

Breakfast and lunch will be offered to all students in virtual learning (either by parent choice or hybrid model at the high school)

• USDA eligibility rules will apply. All students will be charged for meals according to their eligibility

• Only kindergarten through 12th grade students enrolled in school full-time are eligible for school meals

• Only parent/guardians or the student are allowed to pick-up meals

• Students do not need to be with the parent/guardian when picking up meals

• All meals must be paid through a student’s account - cash will not be accepted

• All meals will meet USDA requirements

• All meal components will be prepackaged in proper food containers and will be served as a bag breakfast or lunch

• A choice of white or chocolate milk will be offered

 

FORMS For Remote Learners who want to access meals:

In order to ensure that students who want meals while in remote learning receive meals, we are asking parents to complete the  Online Learner- Meal Order Form  (click link to take you to the form) on our website. This will also be sent out via email on file in Infinite Campus.  For each student we will ask the following information:

• Student name, student grade, and school of student

• Parent/guardian name and primary household address

 

MEAL PICK-UP for Remote Learners:

Meal pick up will be at the high school on scheduled school days only.  

• For students in on-site learning, meals will not be distributed for the day(s) they are in attendance

• Pick-up time will be between 10:30 am to 11:10 am.

• Parents/guardians will be required to show ID when picking up meals.  Students can also pick up meals.  

 

Meningitis vaccine requirement:

All incoming senior students and 7th grade students will be required to obtain a meningitis vaccination for the 2020/21 school year prior to starting school.  If the student is attending online/virtual classes only, they are still required to have a meningitis vaccination. An appointment can be made with your family physician or with public health at 641-236-2385 to obtain a meningitis vaccination.  If you do not know if your child has received the required vaccination or if you have questions about this requirement, you may contact the school nurse at kim.weber@grinnell-k12.org (12th grade) or lisa.leris@grinnell-k12.org (7th grade), your family physician's office, or public health.  You can also go online to iris.iowa.gov and click on the link for the public immunization access to view your child's immunization record.

 

Slowing the spread of COVID-19 is as easy as wearing a mask – which is why we support the #MaskUpGrinnell movement! Check out MaskUpGrinnell.com for more information. And thank you for masking up so we can stay open!

 

Upcoming Events:

 

Friday, August 28  Football vs. Harlan @ Harlan  Go Tigers!

4:15 9th Grade Game

7:00 Varsity Game

     

Game to be held in Marshalltown. Details will be sent out next week. 

We will be monitoring COVID for all athletic events.  For this event, Marshalltown families will be not in attendance, therefore we will monitor South Tama and Grinnell 14 day trend data. 

 

I hope you have an awesome weekend!  

 

Janet