USD 235 Parents/Guardians:
Just a reminder on the upcoming week for Uniontown USD 235.
All of these events have been approved with Bourbon County Health Officer Rebecca Johnson.
Tuesday, March 31 will be the first day of our new meal plans. If you have not called Michelle DeMott by now it is too late to get a meal for Tuesday, March 31.
Anyone wanting to pick up a meal at one of the pick-up points or have a meal delivered to a rural address within the district boundaries for Thursday, April 2 must call Michelle DeMott at 620-238-4968. If you don’t call Michelle and request a meal and provide a rural address for delivery or let Michelle know a pick-up point there will not be a meal made for you. Please refer to our Facebook post on March 27 for details or go to the following link on our website. https://www.uniontown235.org/article/220059?org=uniontown-usd-235
Both the JH/HS and WBE will have an opportunity for students to pick up their personal belongings from school on Tuesday, March 31.
The JH/HS plan may be reviewed at this link: https://www.uniontown235.org/article/221031?org=uniontown-usd-235
The WBE plan may be reviewed at this link: https://www.apptegy.net/s/news-dc970f3b-0c2d-48c1-a827-6629ba8d3ef3/articles/wbe-student-material-collection-and-technology-check-out-on-tuesday-march-31.
To pick up a device a parent will need to be present. There will be a form that must be filled out in order for PK-3 students to get an IPad or 4th through 8th grade students to be able to get a Chromebook. These devices have never been allowed to go home with students before so there were no forms filled out at enrollment in August. Without the form signed by a parent those students will be unable to pick up a device and will need to make arrangements with the building principals to be able to get a device at a later time.
I will continue to communicate frequently with our students, parents, and patrons of Uniontown USD 235 to keep all of you aware of district plans going forward. I know these posts do not answer every question, but I will do my best to get this information out to everyone through multiple outlets. Not everyone in our district has access to the internet and may not have a social media account on either Facebook or Twitter. If you know of people in this category, please help us get information to them or email me at bhoward@uniontown235.org and we will make sure to get this information in their hands.
Reminder for parents: Today was the first day for staff to meet and begin discussing options for the Uniontown USD 235 Continuous Learning Plan. I am pleased with many of the creative and innovative approaches I have heard our teachers talking about. We have no plans to bring students back into our buildings in small group settings. We will proceed in planning our Continuous Learning Plan during March 30 through April 3 with our staff by focusing on 1) Online learning opportunities using video conferencing and 2) Enrichment activities sent home via packets.
We will provide more details to our parents/guardians when the plan is created. We will not be ready to put our plan in place until Monday, April 6, at the earliest.
We appreciate your willingness to work together to make this the best experience possible for your child(ren).
Our thoughts for the USD 235 Continuous Learning Plan still are:
- We will be focusing on essential learning and essential outcomes for students – “Less is More”.
- We will be emphasizing relationships in this new learning environment.
- Our decisions must support all populations of students.
- We will establish a consistent and agreed upon framework of expectations, communication models and practices that all stakeholders share.
- We will be using 1-2 platforms of learning for all students. We simply can’t have every person using their own platforms. This would be confusing for students and parents alike.
- The guidance we received has recommendations on time for students to spend learning each day. We will be using these recommendations. They are 30 minutes for Pre-K; 45 minutes for KG and 1st grade; 60 minutes for 2nd and 3rd grade; 90 minutes for 4th and 5th grade; and 30 minutes per teacher in 6th through 12th grade. (3 hours’ maximum in a day.) These will be maximum minutes and doesn’t mean that it will even be daily.
- Continuous Learning will not be hours of screen time for students and parents.
- We will not just be making copies of worksheets and sending them home. It will involve a combination of A) Online Learning and B) Packet Learning for students who do not have reliable internet connection.
- We are continuing to work with Craw-Kan to find different places around our districts for Hot Spots. We will post the addresses of these Hot Spot locations as they are made available.
Be safe Eagles!
Thank you and God Bless,
Bret Howard, Superintendent Uniontown USD 235