Good Afternoon TFSD Parents, Patrons, Students, and Staff Members:
In an effort to make sure our entire community is well informed about the recent school closure and how the school district is moving forward, we are providing this update.
- Report cards will be delayed - Yesterday we announced that report cards would be mailed out today, Tuesday, March 17. While schools are on track to make this happen, our mail processing procedure in the District Office takes a couple of days, especially for mailings of this quantity. It will likely be the end of the week before all report cards are mailed out. This means you won’t see your student’s report card in your mailbox until next week.
Remember, the report card mailing includes information about how you can check and update your contact information in PowerSchool. Please take a moment to follow the instructions to complete the returning student registration form since this is how we know which email addresses and phone numbers to communicate with in the case of emergency situations.
- Limited Staff - Today was the last day our buildings will be staffed as usual. Some custodial staff members will be in buildings through the end of the week. The District Office will be operating with a skeleton crew as well and will not be open to the public. We have a system where building level administrators and district office staff can check emails and voicemails from home. Please use email as the primary form of communication. School buildings will be completely closed, with the exception of cleaning crews, next week (Monday, March 23 to Friday, March 27) as well.
- Attendance Zones Proposal Postponed - Elementary school parents should have received an update today about this work. In light of the COVID-19 shutdown, we have some concerns about continuing the rezoning process this school year. In conjunction with the attendance zone committee facilitators, we are suspending work on the attendance zones until the fall of the 2020-21 school year. Any changes will not take effect until the 2021-2022 school year. If you did not receive the email today and would like more information, please visit the district website.
- Student Emails - Students in high school should check their email daily. Some teachers are starting to provide resources this week and this is a good way to test how online instruction might work in the event of an extended closure. Should we go fully online, this will begin Monday, March 30.
- Notifications - We are using a new mass communication software and while it is an improvement, there are a few features that might be causing some confusion. The new software has a translating feature so that we can communicate with the families in our district who don’t speak English. If a family is receiving the notification in the wrong language, you can find the same information posted in the “Latest News” section of the district website. If you are receiving the messages in the wrong language please email cranerev@tfsd.org
We hope that we will be able to reopen schools after spring break. We will continue to monitor the situation and work with health officials to determine what is best for our students, staff, and community. We are preparing so that we can provide digital educational resources in the event that we do need to remain closed after spring break. While we hope we can reopen, we want to have a plan in place and we encourage you to do the same. A decision will be made and communicated by Thursday, March 26. Here are some of the things we are working on:
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- Food Service - If it is necessary for our schools to be closed after Monday, March 30, we anticipate we will be able to feed community children at six locations, Bickel, Harrison, Lincoln, Morningside, Oregon Trail, and Perrine. Tentatively, breakfast and lunch will be available to children ages 1-18 free of charge. If we receive permission from the state to run this program, children must be present to receive the meal. Parents will not be allowed to pick up meals for children who are not with them. Both meals, a breakfast and a lunch, will be given at the same time from the front of the schools. Food will be taken off-site. Adults may purchase meals just like in summer. Times will be announced at a later date.
- Technology - We are working on a plan so that students without devices at home may check out Chromebooks to complete coursework in the event of an extended closure.
- Elementary - Teachers are working on providing digital resources for students to use in the event of an extended closure.
- Secondary - Teachers are working on putting their courses online so that students will complete their classes and receive credit.
- All dual credit students need to be checking their emails and completing their online coursework.
Food Bank - We will be working on dates and times to open our food pantries to the community. Please watch the TFSD website for dates, times, and locations. This will not occur until after March 29.