PRATT USD 382

COVID Update - March 29, 2020

29 March 2020

Greenback Family,

After consulting with the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE), Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), and our county emergency management team, we are continuing forward as planned for this week. Under Item #9(b) of the Governor’s Executive Order, education is considered an essential service and we will provide delivery under our Continuous Learning Plan.

With the Stay At Home Order, we will not plan to bring small groups of students to school until April 19^th or until the Governor has rescinded the Stay At Home Order. We will use distance learning options that are a part of our Continuous Learning Plan. Teachers will continue to communicate with parents on specifics as we begin our rollout in stages this week.

The Monday checkout by LMS will continue as planned. They are working hard to be efficient and maintain social distancing during the procedure. Southwest and the Preschool will continue with their planned checkouts on Thursday and Friday respectively.

We will stream our special Board Meeting, which meets at 9:00 am on Monday. At this meeting, we will brief the BOE on our Continuous Learning Plan. We have been giving our BOE updates during the process so this will be a final and official step in approving our plan before submitting it to the state. Approval of the plan allows our district to have the state-required 1,116 hours of seat time waived for this year.

Food delivery will continue as planned for the week.

We know the rollout will involve some stress for parents. Please trust that our teachers are available to answer specific questions and help get the process started.

Sincerely,

Tony Helfrich

Superintendent

Pratt Schools USD 382

COVID Update - March 28, 2020

28 March 2020

Greenback Family,

Governor Kelly issued a Stay-At-Home Order for all KS counties, effective Monday at 12:01 am. As with previous orders for specific counties, “essential functions” are allowed/expected to continue as long as the 6-foot and the under-10-people-in-a-room rules are followed.

Schools and food delivery are considered an essential function.

So, meals will still be served at drop-off sites as planned on Monday. We are expecting to continue our LMS check-out on Monday, SW checkout on Thursday, and PreK checkout on Friday as planned. We will consult with KSDE (Kansas Department of Education), KDHE (Kansas Department of Health and Environment), and local emergency management systems to verify our planning. We will issue an update on Sunday to confirm our plans…or announce changes if they are necessary.

Remember, all of these moves are designed to “flatten the curve.” We have not hit the peak yet, but the KS curve is less steep than Washington, New York, California, and Missouri because we’ve been quick to the fight. We are certainly still going to see more cases in KS and it will hit here. But, if we keep the rate of transmission at a lower level we can make certain our healthcare resources are available for the most vulnerable in our community. There are already many signs of the community pulling together to look out for each other. I’m sure we will see more in the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

Tony Helfrich

Superintendent

Pratt Schools USD 382

Flatten curve

COVID Update - March 25, 2020

25 March 2020

Greenback Family,

This an update of food drop-off locations and times because we are adding two sites and changing some times to accommodate the additional sites. There is also information regarding the pickup of supplies from Southwest.

New drop-off sites and times:

LMS—Circle Drive @ 11am – 1pm.
Southwest (north entrance by cafeteria) @ 11 am – 1 pm.
Starcourt Trailer Park (corner of Star and Garfield) @ 11 am – 11:50 am.
Sacred Heart (332 N. Oak) @ Noon – 1:00 pm.
Friends Church (824 Maple) @ 11 am – 1 pm.
Reach Church (1000 E. 6^th St) @ 11 am – 11:40 am.
Country Estates Trailer Court (by the park within—between sections C & F) @ 11:45 am – 1:00 pm.
Preston delivery from 11:30 am – Noon.
Iuka (Co-op) 12:15 pm – 1:00 pm.

If you need delivery for a health or transportation reason, please email or call the schools. We understand there can be limitations, but it will be important for kids to get outside and exercise…taking a walk. Food service workers are taking extreme precautions to keep food safe. We have added surgical masks as part of our protocol. We will not require workers to use the masks at the drop-off site…but, they may if they want. We want to remind people to stay consistent with the 6-foot rule—this is to protect our most vulnerable in the community. Also, we erred on the adult meal price—we didn’t account for the breakfast. So, the updated adult price is $5. All others aged 1-18 are free. This is a federal program that we are participating in. Individuals do not have to be USD 382 students but, of course, we will only serve within our school district boundaries.

We continue to work on our Continuous Learning Program, the state’s name for our distance learning alternative, and will begin that rollout next week.

Parents may pick up student school supplies (items from the desk, etc) from Southwest from 10 am – 1 pm on Thursday. Items are bagged and grouped by classroom and will be staged outside to assist social distancing. A message from Southwest will go to parents with the details and is on the SW Facebook page.

It’s a grind, I know. But, I saw some HS students today and it felt good to laugh with them…from six feet away. We are going to stick together and test our grit.

Sincerely,

Tony Helfrich

Breakfast/Lunch Menu for the Remainder of School Year

Click here for Two-Week Cycle Menus

Meal service:

Meals are free for individuals aged 1-18. Individuals do not have to be Greenbacks—can be attending another district. We are one community.
Adult meal prices are $3.75. People must have exact change because we are not sending any money with our people and do not want to exchange money back and forth for safety purposes.
Individuals aged 1-18 must be present to receive the meals. Individuals may walk to the drop-off sites and do not have to be accompanied by a parent.
The meals will contain that day’s lunch and the next day’s breakfast.
Drop-off sites and times:
1. Liberty Middle School—Circle Drive. 11:00 am – 1:00 pm.
2. Southwest Elementary—North entrance by cafeteria. 11:00 am – 1:00 pm.
3. May-Dennis Park—in public parking area. 11:00 am – 1:00 pm.
4. Friends Church—824 Maple St. 11:00 am – 1:00 pm.
5. Reach Church—1000 E. 6^th St. 11:00 am – 1:00 pm.
6. Preston by delivery—11:30 am – 12:00 pm.
7. Iuka—Iuka Co-op. 12:15 – 1:00 pm
For special circumstances, we will consider delivery.
This starts Monday, March 23^rd.