As a reminder, the Staff Communicator will be distributed each Thursday that school is in session, and also distributed as needed throughout the year. Archives can be found HERE.
We hope you all have a great day with students back in our buildings!!!
New CDC Guidance on Quarantines
Please review the information at https://conta.cc/3g3eE65 in regards to updated quarantine protocols in response to the CDC's new guidance released yesterday. This information reduces the required days of a traditional quarantine to 10, and also provides an option to "test out" of quarantine for release on day 7.
Modified Quarantine
The Springfield-Greene County Health Department has released information in regards to schools implementing modified quarantines. This allows students to continue attending school after a properly masked, low-risk exposure to COVID19.
In response, the Republic School District now requires all students in kindergarten and older in addition to all adults to wear masks while on campus or on our buses.
Take note, if a student is exposed and qualifies for a modified quarantine parents/guardians will receive an email notification, not a phone call. However, if a student needs to traditionally quarantine due to a high-risk, unmasked exposure parents/guardians will receive an individual phone call.
Email Signatures
As a reminder, your school email signature should mimic the one pictured below. In addition, you are welcome to add any special certifications and/or your Strengthsfinder strengths. Please be careful of any links you might include in your signature as we've received reports that some employee emails are being blocked due to Google viewing these links as "spam" or "advertisements".
Snow Days
Winter weather season is quickly approaching! The Republic School District will continue with the "snow day policy" we have utilized for the last few years. Should winter weather and/or poor road conditions impact our ability to have school in person, we will implement a snow day like we have done in the past.
Calendar Change
At the November 19 Board of Education meeting the Board approved a recommended adjustment to the 2020-21 school calendar by district administration. They voted to remove snow make-up days from Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day and Good Friday. The Board completely agreed that reserving these as holidays will provide a guaranteed break for rest, deep cleaning of our facilities and simply being apart from one another to help slow the spread of COVID19.
You may be wondering about what this means for snow day make-ups. We've been given some flexibility by DESE. Therefore, the district expects the last day of school to remain May 26, but should we have to miss more days than the flexibility from DESE allows, we may need to make some adjustments. As we know more about this in the spring we will share details. #repmoproud
Technology Support Directory
To assist our employees with "all things technology" pleaseCLICK HEREto reference the new "Technology Support Directory." This can also be found under the "Staff" tab on our website.
Athletics & Activities Guidelines: Winter 2020-21
Employee Assistance Program Service Summary
As a reminder, the services detailed in the below graphic are available at no cost to our employees through Anthem.
District and Community Announcements
Upcoming Dates
December 3: Return to phase 1/seated instruction
December 4: End of Progress 5 (RMS & RHS)
December 11: Progress 5 Reports Distributed (RMS & RHS)
December 17: Board of Education meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Central Office
December 22: End of Semester K-12
December 23-January 3: Winter Break
January 4: Teacher Work Day (no school for students)
January 5: Start of Semester 2
January 8: Grade cards distributed
*Reminder that every Friday of seated school (phase 1) during the school year full day preschool-12th grade students are released one hour early for teacher collaboration time.
For questions or comments please contact me via email or by calling 417-732-3605.
Sincerely,
Josey McPhail
Director of Communications Republic School District
The Springfield-Greene County Health Department has released information in regards to schools implementing modified quarantines. This allows students to continue attending school after a properly masked, low-risk exposure to COVID19.
