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January 14, 2021
In This Issue
 

 

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.
Free COVID19 Testing for Employees on Campus
The Republic School District is happy to announce our ability to provide free rapid COVID19 testing for our employees. During school hours Monday-Friday any employee exhibiting two or more COVID19 symptoms OR those in quarantine on day 7 or beyond, can be tested. At this time, only employees are eligible for these rapid tests.

As of right now, we will have three testing locations: RHS, McCulloch Elementary and Lyon Elementary. As future testing locations open we will let you know. To schedule a time to get tested, contact the school nurse at the location you wish to test at via email (listed below).

RHS Nurse: Nancy Leonard, nancy.leonard@republicschools.org
McCulloch Nurse: Michaela Moore, michaela.moore@republicschools.org
Schofield Nurse: Char-Marie Jennings, char-marie.jennings@republicschools.org
Health Services & Wellness Program Coordinator: Natalie Botkin, natalie.botkin@republicschools.org
Request to Complete Research Process
The Republic School District encourages educational research by advance degree candidates, agencies and institutions of higher learning. As a reminder, all research projects (including those from external candidates) to be conducted in the schools must have prior approval by the Assistant Superintendent of Academic Services and the Director of Professional Learning and Instructional Support. The document found HERE identifies the forms/documents that must be submitted and describes procedures of the approval process. This can also be accessed by contacting your building administrator. Also, don't forget to submit a final product to Dr. Yonke.
No School January 18 for MLK Day
Republic School District will not be in session on Monday, January 18 in recognition of MLK Day. For those needing childcare, Cub Care is available. Visit https://www.republicschools.org/Page/1144 for details. 

**TEACHERS PLEASE SHARE WITH FAMILIES!**

AHA Red Out
The AHA Red Out shirt that was on the original flyer was last year's design, BUT there will be a NEW DESIGN for 2021! Therefore, below you'll find an updated flyer, and the deadline to order has been extended to January 19. The funds support a great cause, and we look forward to everyone participating in NATIONAL WEAR RED DAY on February 5!
District Specific Employee COVID19 Leave Resolution Passed
At the December Board of Education meeting a district specific resolution was approved for COVID19 related employee leave. Details can be found HERE.
COVID19 Vaccines for School Employees
During a webinar with DESE/DHSS on January 6 about COVID19, an update regarding vaccine availability for school employees was shared. The state of Missouri has a tiered approach to determine who gets the COVID19 vaccine and when. School nurses are part of the 1A tier (the group currently being vaccinated--our nurses are now scheduled to get the vaccine this week.) and our understanding is that ALL other school employees are within the 1B tier (the next group). The state will move through the tiers collectively. At this time there is a limited supply of both of the available vaccines which is making it difficult to determine the timeline for when school employees can expect to be eligible. At this time DESE/DHSS along with local health departments are working to create a logistical plan for scheduling and distributing the vaccine to school employees that choose to participate. While we currently do not have details on this, the webinar indicated they hope to have concrete information for us in early February. As the district has details, we will share it. A good resource that has up-to-date information is mostopscovid.com.   

Be watching for a vaccination sign up form coming soon to district employees!
District and Community Announcements
Upcoming Dates
January 18: NO SCHOOL for MLK Day
January 22: End of Progress 7 (RMS & RHS)
January 29: Progress 7 Reports Distributed (RMS & RHS)

*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