Date : Mar 12
When : March 15th- June 10th
Time : All the Time
Covid update:
May 21st
Yesterday the Governor paved the way for some limited reopening of our facilities as well as giving the green light to baseball and softball resuming June 1st. Please understand that her proclamation does not allow any of our grounds to be reopened until June 1st, including the softball and baseball fields, and does not reopen our playground facilities at this time.
We ask for your cooperation in being patient and helping us comply with the regulations. As a District we will not reopen any facilities until we feel we have the ability to meet the guidelines we have been given by the Department of Education. We are confident we can do this by June 1st at our baseball and softball facilities and will work diligently to meet the requirements in other areas as well when we are allowed.
Covid -19 Updates
Thursday, April 30th
As we are entering May and looking at a time when we would normally start to end our traditional school year, I wanted to send out some updates concerning end of the academic year dates, grab and go lunch program, prom, and graduation.
Our last day for seniors will be May 15th. Our last day for the rest of the student body will be May 22nd. We have currently been on a waiver from the federal government to provide the grab and go meals. We still DO NOT qualify for their traditional summer lunch program as our free and reduced rate is not high enough, thus regrettably, we will have to stop our program as we end our school year. That means that Wednesday May 20thwe will be the final distribution of grab and go meals.
We have postponed prom and will determine its future based upon the recommendations of the state concerning summer activities. If the governor eliminates summer activities, then we will have to cancel prom at that time. If the governor allows summer activities, our class sponsors will reach out to the student body of juniors and seniors and determine if it is feasible to host one during the summer if that is what they desire.
As for graduation, our seniors have stated that they would prefer to hold out for a traditional ceremony if at all possible. Thus, we will tentatively schedule graduation ceremonies for three different dates. If we get to the final date and it is evident that a traditional ceremony won’t be possible, then we will make other arrangements. The dates that have been selected are June 13th, July 11th and August 8th. These would all be Saturday evening ceremonies at 5:00 pm as we are assuming we would need to hold them outdoors. If CDC regulations do not allow for certain crowd sizes in June we will just go to the next date in July and so on.
Once again, we truly appreciate the support from all the community and the continued effort of our parents and guardians to keep their sons and daughters engaged in education. We will continue to keep communications lines as open as possible in the near future on things such as school start date and facility usage.
We know that our students still have quite a few things they would like to retrieve from the building. We are going to allow students and/or parents to pick up classroom items as well as locker items at the following times on Thursday, April 30th. PK-6 students will have a bag with their name on it that can be picked up in front of the building outside anytime from 9:00a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 7-12 students will be allowed to enter the building at the direction of the adults present to clean out their academic and athletic lockers at the following times on the 30th also:
7th-9th @ 9:00 - 12:00
10-12 @ 12:30-3:30
We will have adults directing them and will allow them to individually enter the building for a brief period to come in and grab their belongings from lockers and locker rooms. We will ensure that social distancing is practiced.
If these times do not work for you please make other arrangements with Mr. Troutman by emailing him at dtroutman@glidden-ralston.k12.ia.us
Please share and stay safe!
Covid-19 Update
April 17th
As most of you are aware, the governor has closed schools down for the remainder of this school year. This means each school district has a number of decisions to make. Those will include ramifications for this school year and planning for the next school year. None of these decisions will be made without adequate time to study and evaluate. Please allow us the time to do that. We will be spending this weekend evaluating decisions on calendar issues and how our current school year will eventually end. I am hoping we can find ways to either delay certain events or create alternatives that will be meaningful for our students. Over the course of the next few days and weeks we will be receiving guidance from the state department of education concerning the plan we need to put in place for the start of the next school year. We will share those decisions as quickly and transparently as possible.
The support all of you have given both districts I lead has been tremendous. Please know that we are trying to remove any and all barriers that we may be encountering in supplying your children with an opportunity to learn. Please, if I can encourage you, let us know if you have needs or supports we can help with. Please continue to encourage your children to engage in the educational opportunities we are currently providing! As many have said, these are unprecedented times and situations, but I promise you we will work to overcome them and ensure that your children will receive the education they deserve.
Kreg Lensch
Superintendent of Schools
Glidden-Ralston & Paton-Churdan
COVID-19 Update (4-3-2020 Friday)
As most of you are aware, the governor shut down schools through April 30th yesterday. With this came a couple of options for districts across the state. We have the option to continue learning in a setting in which we take on-line attendance, require work from students, grade the materials returned and give credit for work done or no credit for lack of work completed. Or we can continue voluntary learning by providing learning opportunities for students but not assign grades or credit. We will be choosing the voluntary option as we feel there are too many equity issues in our district to ask students to do required work. That does not mean the work provided will not be worth while as it will all be based upon the standards our students will still be responsible for as GR graduates. We will be developing a plan over the course of the next few days that will be communicated to our patrons. Students will be able to have direct contact with their teachers and we will be providing opportunities for them to continue their learning, knowing that we will still have a lot of recovery work to do in the fall. If we would happen to return on May 1st, then our students will be ready to immediately re-enter the building and build upon what has been provided. By choosing this option we WILL NOT be required to make up these days in the summer. We realize this is going to take a lot of support from our parents in the home and we will be cognizant of that fact in the amount of work we will be sending home.
A few other things to share:
1. All seniors who were on track to graduate will graduate. As a local district we will have the ability to waive certain requirements to insure all of our seniors will graduate.
2. All students will move to the next grade as if they would have completed the entire year traditionally. (Now there may be some at the kindergarten level who would repeat a year if appropriate and agreed upon by teacher and parents, as we have always done). It will become our job, as a district, to find ways when we return or within the next school year(s) to make sure any standards our children missed are included in the next years curriculum. Our teachers are currently working on what that transition plan may look like from grade to grade.
3. Our certified and support staff are still working! Even though they may not be physically present in the building both our teachers and associates are currently and will continue to complete professional development activities in order for all of us to take this time to improve our craft. Teachers will be working on curriculum alignment and development. They will be thoroughly examining their courses and establishing or updating the power standards that go with each course, while at the same time reaching out to their students to provide learning opportunities during this closure. They will also be completing Professional development activities appropriate to their teaching areas. Our associate staff will be taking coursework specifically designed for para-educators in our state and providing support to our teaching staff.
The support we have received from you as parents and patrons of the district has been incredible! If you need resources, please let us know and we will try to help in any way we can.
One change we will be making is in our grab and go lunches. Our kitchen staff has been working diligently to provide these meals but safety is always a concern for them too! It has been recommended that we limit exposure of our employees as much as possible, so we will be changing the pick up of the lunches to two days a week. Every Monday and Wednesday. We do have an option to pick up in Ralston as well. Again, if you need this service please contact Brenda Wittrock at bwittrock@glidden-ralston.k12.ia.us.
I want to thank our custodial staff as well. They have worked through this entire closure to not only deep clean our facility but continue to work on building improvement projects.
Important items of note:
1. All activities have been cancelled through April 30th.
2. Prom has been postponed at this time.
3. All of our playgrounds/ ball fields will be closed until further notice.
We will work to provide continuous communication with our students and parents and try to meet your individual needs the best we can. Please be patient with us, as this is entirely new to all of us. I promise we will do the very best we can for our students and families.
Covid-19 Update- Tuesday, March 24th
I wanted to share some more information with you as we enter week two of our schools being closed. First, we have had a generous donation from our local Masonic Lodge and this is going to allow us to provide our grab and go lunch program for FREE. This includes all ages of kids up to the age of 18. Please just email Brenda Wittrock at bwittrock@glidden-ralston.k12.ia.us and let her know how many lunches you will need. To reduce any exposure opportunities we will be changing our format to make 2 lunches to give you on Monday, Wednesday and provide a lunch for Friday from 11:30 to 12:30. This means no service on Tuesday and Thursday. Each Monday and Wednesday we will pack enough food for two days of lunches and provide another on Friday.
Secondly, we have created Google sites for our students to access on our webpage. These will be up and running in the next couple of days. Just follow the link to the appropriate grade levels and our teachers will be posting activities for our students. This is a good way for our students to stay engaged in educational activities.
Lastly, we are trying to keep our district calendar as up to date as possible. We will be updating that calendar regularly. If you are wondering about postponements or cancellations please consult that calendar on our website.
Please have your child check their email daily to see if the school has shared any correspondence with them.
These are the times when I am so thankful to work in a district that comes together and supports kids and families at all times! Thanks for everything you are doing to support the school district.
Covid-19 update- Thursday March 19th
First I want to thank all of our district patrons for the support and understanding they have given the school district during this time. We are working hard to communicate as much as we possibly can the information that we have. Please understand that the guidance we get from both the Iowa Department of Education and the Iowa Department of Health comes at the end of each day as they have the difficult task of trying to find the answers to the many questions school districts are posing.
One of the major decisions that came out in the last couple of days is the waving of the missed school hours and missed school days. At this time, we do not have any intentions of adding this time to the end of our school year. I think this is an event that calls for us to look at the instruction we deliver upon returning to school and in the following school year and make sure we are ensuring that all kids are delivered instruction in the standards required by the state.
I have received many questions concerning online learning options. The Department of Education has been very clear in that we cannot require students to participate even if we offered it as it would not be equally available to all students. There are so many issues when it comes to availability of technology, internet access,and bandwidth that we just don't have the capacity to solve at this time.
Finally, I want to reassure our students that we will get them back on track as soon as possible and try to preserve as many of the extra-curricular opportunities and events as we are allowed once it is deemed as safe and wise to do so.
UPDATE! (3-16-2020 Monday) COVID-19 Update- Monday March 16th:
As of today our building will be closed for all intents and purposes. Per guidance from the IHSAA, IGHSAU, Iowa Speech Association and Iowa Music Association all activities and competitions have been cancelled for the next four weeks. There will be no local practices or group activities held during this time period either. We will be spending this time deep cleaning every surface of our building in anticipation of students returning to school on the 13th of April (this was originally scheduled as a spring break day but will now be a normal day of school). We will also plan on having a normal day of school on April 20th and will cancel our teacher professional development day.
As a district we recognize the hardship this places on many of our district families and our community. One of the ways we would like to ease that is by offering a grab and go lunch program each weekday beginning Monday, March 23rd. Each weekday from 11:30-12:30 any district student can come and get a sack lunch to take home. If your family participates in the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program that will still be honored. If not, the cost of the lunch will be subtracted from the students lunch account. If you are planning on taking advantage of this option please inform Mrs. Wittrock so she is able to plan accordingly. Please send her an email at bwittrock@glidden-ralston.k12.ia.us by noon on Sunday the 22nd. When coming to school to get these meals, please enter at the Smith Center double doors on the SE side of the building.
We would encourage all of our families to follow the guidelines the governor and department of health have given us concerning the size of gatherings and social distancing. We will continue to work to be as transparent as possible and inform you of any updates in a timely manner as things seem to be changing at a rapid pace.
At this time we are pending state guidance on if and how this time out of classes will be made up.
Those secondary students enrolled in college courses, both in person and online, are advised that the community colleges will be making their own determinations on delivery and schedule.
Our third term was scheduled to end on Friday. We will consider the term ended from where we stand at this point. If you have work to be completed or make up work to do, you will be allotted that opportunity. We encourage all secondary students to check their school email daily for any updates from the office or staff.
(3-15-2020-Sunday) To Glidden-Ralston Parents and students and community,
(3-13-2020-Friday) Per recommendations from the Department of Education we are being asked to take the proactive measure of canceling or reducing large events and gatherings. Due to this fact we will be canceling the Rolling Valley Band Festival scheduled for Monday, as well as the staff vs. senior basketball game scheduled for Tuesday. We will continue to evaluate events on our calendar as well as follow the guidance given to us by the Iowa Department of Health and inform you of any further changes in a timely manner.
(3-10-2020-Tuesday)To our Distinct Patrons concerning Coronavirus:
We are taking our direction from the state department of education and the state department of health. We as a district are taking the precautions suggested by the CDC. We are monitoring and reminding staff and students of consistent hand washing and we are working to supply our staff and visitors with hand sanitizer both in the hallways and classrooms and making sure we are consistently sanitizing surfaces.
