PANTHER PRESS
November 15, 2019
KCSD Food Pantry
A friendly reminder that our school has a food pantry open to ALL students and families in our district!
The food pantry is located at the high school and the schedule is noted on the flier to the right. Angela Nelson and I can also help families with the pantry during other times; we have also shopped for families and taken the food to the kids at different buildings.
Please let me know if you have any questions or have students you know are in need.
Knoxville School Nurse
West Elementary: 641-842-2185
Northstar Elementary: 641-842-6527
Knoxville Middle School: 641-842-3315
Knoxville High School: 641-842-2173
Cell: 641-891-6016
Subscribe or Update Your Notifications for Weather Alerts
Knoxville Schools utilizes GovDelivery to communicate weather cancellations, delays and/or changes to district activities. We recommend all parents/guardians sign up to receive email and/or text notifications. Anyone is welcome to subscribe, including community members interested in schedule changes for activities purposes.
If you signed up in the past for this service, you do not need to sign up again but you will want to adjust notifications if your child changed to a different school building this year.
Screenshots are pictured below of the subscription process.
If you need assistance, please contact: Lisa.Willis@kcsd.k12.ia.usor 641-842-6551 opt 1.
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:
Nov. 27-29: Thanksgiving Break / No School
KCSD VACANCIES
Please click the following link to apply for any of the following positions: http://www.knoxville.k12.ia.us/district/vacancies/
- Administrative Assistant (Northstar Elementary)
- Bus Drivers (two regular route positions)
- Substitutes (Teachers, Associates, Child Nutrition, Bus Drivers, Custodians)
- HS Boys Tennis Coach
- MS Softball Asst. Coach
It’s the time of year to think about Influenza and Illness season
Influenza is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and lungs. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death.
Prevention: The best way to prevent the flu is by getting a flu vaccine each year. (No, it is not too late to get a flu shot. Flu shots are available at your health care providers, Marion County Public Health, and your local pharmacy!)
Signs and Symptoms of Flu: People who have the flu often feel some or all of these signs and symptoms:
Fever or feeling feverish/chills
Muscle or body aches
Headaches
Fatigue (very tired)
Cough
Sore throat
Runny or stuffy nose
Treatment: Rest, fluids, stay home from school until fever free for at least 24 hours and feeling well enough to return to school, over-the-counter fever reducers, and if diagnosed early enough, some people may take antiviral medications to shorten the illness.
General Illness and When to Stay Home from School
Regular school attendance is very important and we want students in school, but not if they are sick. Please keep the following in mind when making the decision about whether to send your student to school or keep them home:
Fever of 100 or over and not feeling well. Students may return to school when fever-free for at least 24 hours without fever reducing medications like Tylenol or Motrin and feeling well enough to participate in class.
Vomiting: may return to school when vomit free for at least 24 hours and able to tolerate a regular diet.
Diarrhea: may return to school when diarrhea free for at least 24 hours and able to tolerate a regular diet.
Starting antibiotics: students may generally return when they have been on antibiotics for 24 hours, are fever free (see above) and feeling well enough to attend school.
A word about times to give antibiotics: antibiotics that are ordered 2 or 3 times a day do not need to be given at school. They can be given at home (twice a day: morning and evening or 3 times a day: before and after school and before bed). Antibiotics prescribed 4 times a day will generally need a dose given during the school day.
Please remember to call your student’s building to let them know if they are sick and staying home.
Marion County Public Health offers a variety of services from immunizations to WIC to I-Smiles dental care to help with transportation. Call 641-828-2238 to find out more.
Questions or concerns? Please call the school nurse: 641-891-6016.
Thank you Veterans!
2nd graders honored Veterans who are near and dear to our hearts by completing a Veterans Day Hero poster. Students had an opportunity to share their posters with classmates. A special thanks to Veterans, Jarin Weldon and Patrick Ragland, for sharing your stories with us.
Another Successful Book Fair
Scholastic Book Fair was a huge success! Thank you so much for supporting our book fair, our best ever! The pencil pull at West was a great extra. Students paid .50 to purchase a pencil. When they pulled the pencil, if it was sharpened the student won a poster. If the pencil was colored on the end, the student got to pick a prize from the treasure chest. If just a regular pencil, better luck next time. The money raised from this was used for Scholastic’s “All for Books” program. Scholastic matches dollar for dollar in books for different charities. West used the money to purchase books for students whose names were drawn. West was able to give 40 books away. It takes a village and we have a very caring village. A heartfelt thank you also to the following volunteers who help set up, help students shop and staff who helped tear down: Holy Burkhart, Carol Brown, Donna Flattery, Tish Hutchinson, Meghan Kraber, Jessica Metz, Daphne Pearson, Lori Pearson, Tracy Reynolds, Nicole VanderLinden, Jennifer Warren, Mrs. Lambirth, Mrs. Pogue, Ms. Rodilosso, and Mrs. Thomas.
6th Grade Fun Night
On November 1st, multi-grade level teachers hosted a 6th Grade Fun Night. Activities included games in the gymnasium, making friendship bracelets, ladder golf, bags and Wii activities. Students and teachers had lots of fun!
DMACC Career Discovery Days
DMACC Career Discovery Days are open to 9th–12th grade students, educators and parents. Explore career pathways through hands-on activity sessions, learn about educational opportunities by hearing from DMACC instructors, and connect to future careers and professionals by touring related businesses. Click here for more information as well as see the schedule is below.
Activities Minute
Upcoming home events -
* Thu, Nov. 21: 7 GBB v. Grinnell - 430 PM
* Thu, Nov. 21: JV/V GBB (Pride Scrimmage) v. Ottumwa - 600 PM
* Fri, Nov. 22: Winter Meet the Panther Night - 500 PM
Upcoming State Competitions!
Good luck to these Knoxville High School students participating in upcoming State competitions:
- Middle School Mock Trial at State! Tuesday, November 19 at Des Moines
Braden VanderHart at the All-State Vocal Festival! Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23 at Ames
Special Olympics at the State Bowling Meet! Saturday, November 23 at Des Moines
Dance Team at the State Dance Championships! They perform at 941 AM and 538 PM on Thursday, December 5 and at 905 AM on Friday, December 6 - all at Wells Fargo Arena/Hyvee Hall in Des Moines
Winter Sports are upon us!
Middle school girls basketball and middle school wrestling have started and all other middle school and high school winter sports are starting in the near future. Here (preseason information) is sport-specific information for all middle school and high school winter sports - including coaches’ names, 1st practice dates, and coaches’ email addresses.
Any student that wishes to participate in school-sponsored sports in grades 7 through 12 needs a concussion form and a physical form signed by a medical professional. The concussion form was part of school registration in August so when parents registered their child - they took care of the concussion form. A blank physical form can be found here (physical form).
Girls Basketball Pride Scrimmage!
Our girls basketball team will be playing Ottumwa on Thursday, November 21 at Knoxville High School in an Iowa Hall of Pride Scrimmage. These are everything like a regular season game - game format, score kept, officials, everything - it just doesn’t count officially towards win-loss record.
To host a Pride Scrimmage, a school must attach a service project to the event and our girls basketball team is conducting a personal hygiene/food drive at the gate. Admission to the game is $5 for adults and $3 for students; however, for every item you bring to the gate - you will receive $1 off admission (an adult that brings 5 items gets in free!). Activity tickets will be accepted, but please consider bringing items to donate. All items that are collected will go to our own Knoxville Schools Food Pantry. JV girls game start at 600 PM, Varsity girls to follow.
Varsity Basketball at The Well!
Our Varsity girls and boys basketball teams will again play regular season games at Wells Fargo Arena this season! We will play Newton on Saturday, January 4, 2020 - girls at 200 PM, boys at 330 PM. Purchasing a ticket gets one into our games and also the Iowa Wolves game that evening. Tickets can be purchased HERE!
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- All home events in the Knoxville High School gym and all school concerts in KPAC will be streamed LIVE on the NFHS Network! Go to www.nfhsnetwork.com for more details!
- Get schedules for all extra-curricular middle school and high school activities by going to www.knoxville.k12.ia.us and then clicking on "Activity Calendar". You can even sign-up for email notifications so whenever we make a change to a schedule - you can be notified immediately.
- Follow the Knoxville Activities Department on Instagram! @knoxvilleactivities
KACT's Mary Poppins: This Weekend!
KACT's fall show, Mary Poppins, will be here before we know it! Show dates are Friday - Sunday, Nov. 15-17 at KPAC.
We have 15 Knoxville students in the cast and they're excited to show the community what they've been working on since August. They're all great kids and they have a lot to be proud of!
Carol Adkins, KACT Secretary
Buy your tickets here!
End of the Month Meals Begin Nov. 18
Hello, everyone! It’s that time of year again. The End of the Month Meal program will be starting up November 18th - 22nd.
For those of you who haven’t heard of our program here’s a little bit of it’s history...
The End of the Month Meal program or E.O.M.M. was started in 2002 by Lillie Brandon of Knoxville, Iowa. God laid the need of the program on Lillie’s heart. There are a lot of elderly people on fixed incomes in our community that tend to have more month than money, especially during the colder months of November- March. So Lillie began the program with elderly people on fixed incomes as her core target. The program is community based and run by volunteers. It is a not-for-profit organization and can only continue as long as generous people are willing to donate their money, time, can food items, or grocery gift cards. Any of these donations may be dropped off at New Covenant Church at 1510 West Madison Knoxville, Iowa. If you send a check please make it out to New Covenant Church and put “E.O.M.M. program” in the memo section.
My name is Shiloh Schrader and I took over the coordinating position from Lillie in 2015. Lillie still takes care of all things financial for us though, thankfully.
We have expanded our core target since 2002 to include not only the elderly, but anyone who finds themselves down on their luck and in need of a meal. Last season we served a total of 6,564 meals to people. Our season runs from November through March. November and December begin the week before the holiday and January through March are the last full week of the month. We send out our deliveries from New Covenant Church 1510 West Madison. If people would like to have their meals delivered to them please call the church office at 641-842-3176 preferably the week before we start serving meals so that we can have an idea of how much food we need to prepare. The only information we need to have is your name, address, a phone number where we can reach you, and the number of meals you would like to have.
If you prefer to dine out you are more than welcome to go to the Jenkins Center on Main street. We provide the casserole and vegetable or salad, whichever is on the meal plan and the people from Living Word Fellowship provides the dessert, coffee, and excellent service. No questions asked.
Our meals usually consist of a casserole for the entrée, a dinner roll, a hot vegetable, or a cold “salad” (these are flip-flopped each meal) , and a dessert. I also like to have a sandwich meal at least twice during the season. This would consist of a Manwich burger, scalloped corn, cole slaw, and a dessert. Our meals are “comfort food” and are good sized portions because nobody should go hungry.
These are the dates for the 2019-2020 season:
- November: 18th-22nd
- December: 16th-20th
- January: 20th-24th
- February: 17th-21st
- March: 23rd-27th
If anyone has questions or would like to have someone talk about our program please E-mail shiloh1971@hotmail.com.
Neighbor Helping Neighbor
KCSD ADMIN. OFFICE
The Panther Press is a weekly collective newsletter for parents & community members. If you have an article or flyer to share, please submit to Lisa.Willis@kcsd.k12.ia.us for consideration.
Stay connected by frequenting our website or following us on social media!
- High School: www.facebook.com/KHSPanthers/ & twitter.com/KHS_Panthers
- Middle School: www.facebook.com/PanthersKMS/ & twitter.com/Panthers_KMS
- Northstar: www.facebook.com/NorthstarElementary/ & twitter.com/MrKeitges
- West: www.facebook.com/knoxvillewestelementary/ & twitter.com/pantherswest
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Email: lisa.willis@kcsd.k12.ia.us
Website: www.knoxville.k12.ia.us
Location: 309 W Main St, Knoxville, IA, United States
Phone: 641-842-6551