The Bird Call
News and Notes from Clever High School
It's a Learning Experience
Recently, the Clever School District modified one of our COVID-19 protocols which has the potential to drastically reduce the number of students and staff excluded from school if/when a positive case is reported. This information has been shared with our families previously and on the morning of January 14th, I met with the staff and each class to review the changes. So, this may be a review for many of you reading this or, more importantly, if you have not seen this information it is worthwhile.
You may remember that Governor Parson made a joint announcement in late November with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Health and Senior Services. At that time, Governor Parson shared new recommendations and individual school districts were left scrambling. While the announcement from the state said one thing, our local health departments were still following CDC guidance. In short, we were getting two very different sets of recommendations.
Fast forward to January, and as a result of the collaboration between district leadership, the School Board, the county health departments, neighboring school districts, and others, we have adopted a new set of guidelines. To be clear, face coverings are still required for all staff, students, and guests at Clever High School when social distancing of 6 or more feet is not possible.
The new guidelines are pretty straight forward: if both the individual who tests positive AND the individual identified as a close contact (within 6 feet for 15 minutes or more cumulatively in a 24 hour period) are PROPERLY wearing an approved face covering, only the individual who tests positive will be excluded from school. Governor Parson's guidance does still require the close contact individual to be excluded from extracurricular activities.
This really is a game-changer. Prior to this, all close contacts were excluded from school regardless of whether or not they were properly masking. When talking to students throughout the first semester, the question "What's the point of wearing a mask?" often came up when students knew they were going to be excluded regardless. In fairness, it is a great question and the answer was, and still is, that according to experts in both the medical and science communities, wearing a face covering properly can drastically reduces the spread of the virus. The second answer I have given to students is simple and maybe a little more personal: this is what we have to do to be here, and after shutting down last Spring, I am willing to make sacrifices to be back at school together.
Ultimately, this new policy puts the control in the hands of each of us here at CHS. It gives us another great answer to the "What's the point?" question: If we all wear a face covering properly, then only the individual who is sick will need to be excluded from school. If we want to do all we can to stay in school and ensure that our friends, peers, or colleagues can stay here as well, we each have influence over that now more than ever. And, if an individual chooses not to properly wear a face covering, that person is now directly affecting those around him/her. There are times throughout the day, such as eating breakfast or lunch, where generating close contacts is unavoidable. While we may not be able to completely eliminate the need to exclude individuals from school, we can reduce the number significantly if we all work together.
Below is a visual that helps clarify the different scenarios we face as well as the expectations of what it means to properly wear a mask.
As always, if there are questions please reach out.
Go Jays!
Joe Casey
High School Principal
Email: caseyj@cleverbluejays.org
Remind: Text "@clever9-12" to 81010
Twitter: @CleverPrincipal
Masking Scenarios
What do we mean by "Properly Wearing a Mask"?
Hickman's Happenings
Character Education in the HS
Our character word of the month for January is Tolerance. A tolerant Clever Bluejay encourages understanding and acceptance for beliefs or practices differing or conflicting with their own. They demonstrate empathy and compassion through their words and actions. A tolerant Bluejay uses appropriate language including words, content, and voice level and is non-judgemental towards others.A+ News: All A+ Students: A+ Status Reports will be emailed out to students in a few weeks. If a student is out of compliance, a report will be mailed home. Senior Male Students: Just a reminder that one of the requirements for A+ is to sign up for the Selective Service. If you have reached the age of 18 (or 17 years and 3 months), please go to https://www.sss.gov to register. Seniors: Just a reminder to fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). This is one of the requirements to be eligible for the A+ scholarship. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Hickman or Mrs. Waisner. Students and parents should first set up a FSA ID: https://fsaid.ed.gov File the FAFSA online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. This is a free website - beware of other sites which may charge a fee!!
Congratulations to our November Jays of the Month winners for representing the character word Perseverance and our CHS staff Trophy of Awesomeness winner!
Gracie Tune
Amyleigh Kozisek
Mackayla Donan
Counselor' Corner
Attention 10th and 11th-grade students
The application window for the OTC Career Center is now open. The deadline to apply is March 1st so do not miss out on the opportunity to spend half of your day on the OTC campus earning up to 40 college credits while earning high school credits. Go here to see the 20 career and technical programs we offer with more coming in the future. Classes meet on the OTC campus Monday – Friday. Most Clever students attend the afternoon sessions from 12:20 p.m. and end at 2:50 p.m. Students leave after 3rd hour and return at 3:30 PM. You pay nothing for tuition, books, and transportation to be a part of this amazing program. See your counselor for more information and submit your application soon to be a part of this great opportunity for high school juniors and seniors. Submit your application here today!
A few programs are only in the AM and you will have to request permission to drive yourself.
Helpful tips for the application: https://academics.otc.edu/media/uploads/sites/4/2020/04/FA20-OTC-Career-Center-Application-Directions.pdf
You can also see me with help and questions.
Seniors
Please remember to complete scholarship applications.
Check here for updates.
Join my senior remind - https://www.remind.com/join/mrswais21
Virtual Learning
Click below for a link to our expectations for students learning remotely. While originally designed to help our Bluejays@home learners navigate virtual learning, this information applies to any student who finds him/herself learning from home.
Officer Barney's 4-1-1
Hello again from Officer Barney.
COMING SOON, there will be a safe driving compliance check by the Clever Police Department. The focus will be on younger driver’s safety. I could bore you with statistic after statistic, but the truth is staying alert (not being distracted), staying off your phone (no texting or reading text messages), and wearing your seat belt keeps you safer if you should be involved in a motor vehicle crash. There are laws prohibiting inattentive driving, driving while texting or reading a message 21 years old and under, and driving without a seat belt, and passengers without a seat belt. My daughter is an emergency department doctor and she shares real-life impacts of motor vehicle crashes. By now, if you kept reading, you may wonder why does he keep repeating this? It may be the cop in me, the parent in me, or maybe I just care about your safety.
Until next time be safe!
Officer Barney
District Long-Range Planning
Clubs and Activities at CHS
Future Teachers of America - Mrs. Neely
Fellowship of Christian Athletes - Coach Jones
Science History Club - Mr. Burry
Clever Student Alliance - Mrs. Money
Art Club - Mr. Schmidt
Future Business Leaders of America - Mrs. Lumpkin
National Honor Society - Ms. Lathem
Future Farmers of America - Ms. Hultz
Student Council - Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Waisner
Yearbook - Mr. Boyles
Speech and Debate - Mr. Rea
Academic Team - Mr. Walker and Mr. McGarry
Spirit Squad - Mrs. Neely
Theatre - Mrs. Scheibe
Math Club - Mr. McGarry
Alumni Spotlight
Here is a list of questions you can copy/paste into an email and send your answers to Mr. Casey (caseyj@cleverbluejays.org).
Name:
Class of:
Hobbies and interests:
Family:
Current Job:
College or Career Training after CHS:
Degree/Certificate Earned:
Extracurricular activities you participated in at CHS:
Favorite class at CHS:
Advice to current CHS students:
**A picture to include in the newsletter would be great!**
Thanks in advance!
Clever High School
Email: caseyj@cleverbluejays.org
Website: www.cleverbluejays.org
Location: 6800 W Veterans Blvd, Clever, MO, USA
Phone: 417-743-4830
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clever-High-School-107961380555502/
Twitter: @CleverJays