Silver Lake Schools

January 13, 2021 Regular Board Meeting

Below, you will find the link for Wednesday's regularly scheduled board meeting.
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEucO-vqj8uHNJdv_vB2CH70Xf42aQI3oN9
Public Communications: While we are operating under social distancing and group size restrictions, attendance to our meetings will be closed to non-board members. Our public board meetings will be conducted via Zoom and the public is invited to watch and listen. To facilitate public communications a specific email account has been established if you have communications you wish to share with the Board. Please direct Public Board Communications to the following email address: bdmtgcom@silverlakeschools.org

Covid-19 Update and Short -Term Schedule Adjustments (Nov. 19, 2020)

Students, Staff and Parents:

All of us are concerned with the rapid surge in Covid-19 cases in our county, state and region. We continue to monitor our county numbers as well as our district numbers very closely. Our mitigation efforts continue to be very effective in preventing classroom spread but we are seeing an increased number of quarantines especially among our older students, the majority of which are due to household contacts and contacts outside of school. As the virus becomes more prevalent in our communities we do expect the number of quarantines to increase as more of our families are impacted by the virus. We think the quarantine trends will continue to be concentrated among our secondary students who are more mobile and more social both in and out of school than our younger students. Our instructional model at the grade school creates classroom cohorts that have very little mixing and we expect to see few issues among our grade school students outside of household contacts.

We are also concerned that the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday could lead to unintended spread of additional virus among our student and staff populations. Small social gatherings are responsible for much of the rapid spread our community is seeing so we ask that everyone please be safe and cautious over the Thanksgiving holiday. Please socially distance, wear masks and wash your hands frequently even when you are with close friends and extended family.

To help prevent some of the spread potential after Thanksgiving and hopefully reduce some of the quarantines we are beginning to see we are making some schedule adjustments for both the Jr-Sr High and grade school the next two weeks. We will utilize a few remote learning days to help create some space between people and allow for potential issues to be identified. We plan for these changes to be short-term, impacting seven school days and plan to return to full on campus learning in both buildings Monday, December 7th. We will of course continue to monitor our numbers and will make any necessary schedule adjustments that may be needed as we approach the December 7th return. We also hope that during this time-frame the numbers in our county will begin to trend down making it safer for our communities at large and reduce the stress on our local health care systems. (The schedule for the next two weeks is below)

We hope the schedule adjustments allow us to continue to move forward as healthy and safely as possible as we try to balance the educational needs of students and the challenges that come with the pandemic. As always thanks for your grace and flexibility as changes become necessary.

Tim Hallacy

Superintendent

Silver Lake Schools

*During the Remote days we will offer breakfast and lunch for students who sign up for those, more information to follow on that process

Monday, November 23rd:

• 7-12 Remote Learning
• Grade School in regular on campus attendance

Tuesday, November 24th:

• 7-12 Remote Learning
• Grade School in regular on campus attendance

Monday, November 30th: No School/Professional Development

Tuesday, December 1st: No School/Professional Development

Wednesday, December 2nd:

• 7-12 Remote Learning
• Grade School Remote Learning

Thursday, December 3rd:

• 7-12 Remote Learning
• Grade School Remote Learning

Friday, December 4th:

• 7-12 Remote Learning
• Grade School Remote Learning

Monday, December 7th: We plan for PreK-12 to return to Full On Campus Learning but may make adjustments as needed

Community Transmission and Severity Scorecard Dec. 31, 2020

Seamless Summer Option Meal Program

Parents:

Late last week the USDA announced a waiver for schools to utilize the Seamless Summer Option meal program similar to the one we used to feed students for free in the spring. This is a waiver USD #372 qualifies for and our waiver has been approved. Beginning September 4, 2020 all ENROLLED students of USD 372 Silver Lake will receive free meals (in person and Remote learners).  The district will be able to operate this program through the end of this school year..  This means that all students will receive a free breakfast and lunch if they elect to eat each day.  Any extras, ala carte items and 2nd breakfast or lunch will still have the normal charges if the student chooses to take these. 

The district will update the meal accounts for all students to reflect free meals as of the date above.  Parents don’t have to do anything at this time.  Once the program funds are spent, all students will return to their original meal status prior to September 4, 2020.  This waiver does not affect meal status and the district will continue to accept free and reduced meal applications.   

If you have any questions about the program, please contact Debbie Walburn at dwalburn@silverlakeschools.org or 785-582-4902.

Tim Hallacy

Silver Lake Schools

Superintendent 

USD 372 Return to School Plan

Updated SLJH/SLHS Supply List

July 20^th FAQ for the Start of School