Dear CST Family,

I hope this newsletter reaches you well. As I was getting ready to send out the weekly I received the message about school closing this Tuesday and Wednesday due to staffing challenges. This impacts all building activities through Wednesday and coaches will communicate further plans with their teams regarding games and practices. While I can imagine students reacting with typical excitement for an extended weekend, I know this reason for school cancellation is not one anyone wants and may even bring with it various emotions and a level of disappointment given the past couple years in education. Rest assured our return on Thursday will also bring with it the high level of education expected at CST and in Olathe. We continue to move forward and I look forward to seeing our students on Thursday.

I will continue to update this newsletter as information on games, bond meeting, etc. is known.

Please take care, stay well, and stay tuned.

Rick

Olathe Public Schools staff and families,

Our priority is and will always be to keep our students in school learning. Unfortunately, we have reached dire circumstances with so many teaching and support staff members out sick. Last Friday, we experienced staffing numbers we have never experienced before. With more than 400 subs in our buildings on Friday, plus our entire Learning Services department serving as subs in our buildings, we still had more than 100 unfilled positions. In total, we had over 800 staff out sick, which is about 20% of our entire staff. Our dedicated principals, teachers, and staff did their best to cover for one another to make sure students could learn, but it was a great challenge. On top of our staffing challenges, we had more than 1,500 student positive cases last week.

In order to make sure we provide enough time for our staff and community to recover and return to us in good health, we will be cancelling school on Tuesday, Jan.18 and Wednesday, Jan.19.

All schools and all support buildings will be closed and staff will not report to work. Activities, athletics, and facility rental will be canceled. Students and staff will report back on Thursday, Jan. 20.

JCPRD care will be open at inclement weather sites only.

We hope this time will allow our staff and students to rest and return healthy to learn on Thursday, Jan. 20. Continue to watch the Olathe Public Schools website at www.olatheschools.org for updates. As many of you know, this year the state allows up to 40 hours of remote learning. Unfortunately, at this time, with the volume of staff illnesses we are unable to conduct remote learning.

Stay healthy and take care of yourselves and each other.

Dr. Brent Yeager, Superintendent

Artcile below found HERE

Jan. 14, 2022 ~ As we enter a new semester, we know that COVID-19 continues to be a reality in our community. While our primary goal is to keep our schools open and students learning, the stark reality is that Olathe Public Schools continues to face staffing shortages due to high levels of community spread. We want to make sure our community is aware that a temporary district closure due to the impact of COVID on school staffing is a possibility. Parents are asked to have a childcare plan in place now in the event that data indicators and staffing levels would require the district to temporarily close.

If school were to be canceled due to staffing shortages, information will be available in these ways:

• Notification to parents and staff via text and email information on file
• Visit the district website
• Follow us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter

Any parent who is in the district's system, and who has included a cell phone number, will receive a text message in case of the cancellation of school. If there has been a change in a parent's phone number or email address since enrollment, or if a parent would like to add a phone number or email address to our system, please notify the child's school. Please continue to take care of yourselves, and watch the Olathe Public Schools website for updates.

Click HERE for board meeting review

(Watch for updates with dates due to school cancellation on Tuesday)

Save the date! In March 2022, registered voters who live within the Olathe Public Schools boundaries will have the opportunity to vote in a no tax-rate increase $298.3 million mail-in bond election that would positively impact all Olathe students and would help the district address its needs in the areas of Growth and Reinvestment, Technology and Innovation, Student Experience and Safety.

Olathe Public Schools invites all members of the community to join the district for an information night for a brief presentation to learn more about the projects included in the 2022 Bond Referendum and ask questions related to the Bond. There will be two opportunities to attend. All Olathe families are invited to attend either session, regardless of what school your child attends in the district. For more information, visit www.olatheschools.org/Bond2022.

· Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. Chisolm Trail Middle School 16700 West 159th Street, Olathe, KS

· Thursday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. Santa Fe Trail Middle School 1100 North Ridgeview Road, Olathe, KS

This Thursday 6th and 7th grade parents are invited to attend an enrollment meeting with CST admin and counselors. You'll hear about enrollment and your child's upcoming school year. This is a night intended for parents only. Resources will be made available Friday for those unable to attend. See below for more enrollment information.

• Thursday Jan 20th Current 6th and 7th grade parent night. 6:30 pm- CST Auditorium- no students. Parents will hear information about 22-23 enrollment as well as opportunities available to students in their 7th and 8th grade year.
  

• Monday, January 24th CST counselors in current 7th grade Social Studies classrooms to go over course options for 8th grade

• Tuesday, January 25th CST counselors in current 6th grade Science classrooms to go over course options for 7th grade

• Thursday Jan 27th CST Counselors in 8th grade Science to discuss high school credits

Incoming 6th Grade Parent Night -7:00 PM – CST Auditorium

• Monday, January 31st Current 6th and 7th grade student online enrollment deadline

• Tuesday, February 1st Current 6th and 7th student enrollment forms due to their Science (6th) or SS teacher (7th).

• All 8th grade students report to auditorium at 11:15 to meet with OS counselors. **All 8th graders to the auditorium for high school credit talks with OS counselors. **All students will attend this presentation regardless of what high school they will be attending.

• Enrollment talks: Sunnyside students – 1:00 pm
• Madison Place students– 2:00 pm

• Wednesday, February 2nd--Enrollment talk: Arbor Creek – 8th grade parent night at: ONW--see high school website for most current info
  

• Monday, February 7th & 8th grade Parent nights at: OE, ON, OS, OW * times vary- see high school website for more information

• Wednesday, February 9th--8th grade students bring their individual plan on of study during Science.
  

• Monday, February 14th Incoming 6th grade Online Enrollment Due

• Tuesday, February 15th--Incoming 6th grade students paper forms due to 5th grade teacher
• OS enrollment video will be shown in Science and OS will be available to for google questions all day. **

Contact Mrs. Iuli or Mrs. Rodden with questions.

Students interested in doing conditioning in preparation for spring sports are invited to attend an after-school-conditioning program led by CST's Coach Kinzer (head boys' track coach) beginning on January 6th from 3:15-4:15. This program occurs 4 days a week when school is in session.

All students are invited regardless of their plans for CST track/spring sports. This is a good way to learn fitness basics and get in shape!

Questions can be directed to Coach Kinzer at akinzercst@olatheschools.org.

Beginning January 6th the lunch schedule will flip 6th and 8th grade in effort to create a more efficient transition to and from lunch. This schedule better reflects the natural movement of our students within our master schedule.

The following lunch times will go into effect on January 6th…

8th grade--12:00-12:25

7th grade--12:27-12:52

6th grade--12:57-1:22

As we close out the semester our WIN time has expanded to include students moving about to receive support from their teachers in other classrooms. Teachers will provide a student who has the need to come to their classroom to receive support or make up a quiz or test. In addition, WIN continues to be a time for literacy intervention and now will include math intervention (6th grade) and counselor small groups. This period, after 1st hour, continues with our 10 minutes of school-wide reading (silent or read-aloud) as well as student enrichment through a choice board filled with content-related activities covering all curriculum at CST.

Parents,

Over the past week CST admin met with all 7th and 8th graders (6th graders coming next week) to review general expectations while at school. This includes behavior in the halls, classroom, lunch, walking home, etc. We talked about interactions with students, adults, and substitute teachers and use of appropriate language at school. Much of this was a refresher from the start of the year talks during WIN. Feel free to talk with your child about these visits and reach out to your child's admin with questions.

Literacy intervention began this past week at CST and 6th grade math intervention is just around the corner! This is non-class time used to help develop identified skills in students. Conducted during WIN time, students receive instruction in a small group setting and will be re-assessed prior to Thanksgiving. See original WIN post below for more information...

(originally posted in September)

In the weeks ahead, we'll begin providing literacy intervention for students identified through our MAP testing and reading fluency assessments in the building. This intervention will be provided during our WIN class period (8:44-9:18) and students will work in groups of 5 or less with CST teachers. All students will still be eligible for the WIN prizes described above, but may spend WIN time with one of our building literacy interventionists (one of 13 CST teachers) while they receive literacy intervention targeting any of the identified literacy gaps. This intervention time is being utilized in our Olathe Schools and achieves the state literacy mandate.

In addition, beginning Monday, all CST students will begin to receive daily phonics lessons for the first 5 minutes of their science class. This, too, is part of a district wide effort to help close any gaps that may have occurred through any of our kids' schooling. Daily phonics lessons will be fulfilled by your child's social studies teacher beginning in January.

Soap dispensers pulled down from wall at other Olathe school.

6th Grade Devices

• Surface Go devices will be checked out to 6th grade and new students on Monday, August 16th. Returning 7th and 8th grade students should still have their device checked out to them last school year.
  

Extra Curricular Activities

• Students are encouraged to join CST activities! There is a strong link between school involvement and academic success. Cross Country practice begins on Tuesday, August 17 and is available to all students, 6th, 7th, and 8th. Physicals required to participate.
  

Water Bottles

• All students will be provided a water bottle from CST. Students are encouraged to drink plenty of water during the day. Drinking fountains will also be available for those without a water bottle.

Backpacks

• Students will be allowed to carry their backpacks this year to limit necessary locker trips. Students are encouraged to travel light and utilize their locker to help lighten the load.

Lockers

• All students have been assigned a hall locker and are expected to keep jackets/coats/extra clothing in their locker.
  

Two topics often asked about are cell phones and attire. The screenshots below are from the student handbook found on our website. We aim to promote a distraction-free learning environment as much as possible and we remind students that "Chisholm Trail is a school, not the pool". We want to promote a positive academic learning environment in the way we dress, speak, and behave. Teachers and admin will review a variety of topics with students as part of our beginning of year talks.

https://www.olatheschools.org/Page/8153

Access to school calendars, hour listings for buildings

District Calendar Page

Year-at-a-glance, single pager/downloadable

District Calendar PDF