OTSEGO LOCAL SCHOOLS
Superintendent's Weekly Update - July 16th
I hope everyone had a great week!
I want to follow up on the email I sent everyone last night and highlight several areas.
Highlights and additional clarification:
Masks-
At Otsego Schools, we wear masks for each other and we are committed to taking precautions to ensure the health and well-being of our entire community. To help ensure the safety of our students, staff, and families, and to avoid community spread of COVID-19, face masks/coverings are REQUIRED for all students and staff. Our goal is to attend school five days a week and at full capacity and we believe that wearing a mask/covering will help us accomplish this goal. At full capacity, Otsego will not be able to adhere to 6 feet social distancing at all times throughout the day, so face masks/coverings will be an added layer of safety when our students are in close proximity to each other.
- We will provide everyone with 1 Otsego Mask. I would encourage everyone to have multiple masks for the week. We will also have masks on every single bus.
- We will be providing mask breaks frequently throughout the day
- Please fill CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT A WAIVER FORM if you have or will be providing a doctor's note that says your child cannot wear a mask for medical reasons. Please also fill the form out if you require accommodations related to the mask requirement due to disability or other reasons. We will be in contact with every person who fills this form out. There will need to be valid reasons. If a mask cannot be worn we will have face shields for you.
Online Option:
If you do not feel comfortable sending your children back to school in the fall, there will be an online option available for you. This option is open to PK-12 students (PK fees apply like normal). It will be self-paced and monitored by Otsego Staff. If you sign up for this option you will be signing up for a semester at a time. We are still working out all of the details, but if you are interested in this option please CLICK HERE We will contact you to register. If your child is on an IEP, our intervention specialists will be servicing the IEP. If you have questions about this option please contact your building principal. The deadline to register for this 100% online option is July 29th.
Transportation Changes:
Taking the Ohio Pupil Transportation Task Force Guidelines into consideration, we are making the following changes to our Transportation Policies for the 2020-2021 School Year. We pride ourselves on being as accommodating as possible when it comes to transportation. We are one of a few school districts that still offer as many stops and flexibility of when and who we transport. As a result of this pandemic, we are making the following changes:
- Otsego will only provide transportation to identified special education preschool students as required by law. NO transportation will be provided to non identified preschool students.
- Each student will only have access to a single stop. The morning and afternoon bus stop must be the same.
- We will be cleaning our buses in between each route this year.
If you have any questions regarding transportation, please contact Eva Vasher at evasher@otsegoknights.org or 419-823-4381 ext. 3156
Otsego Extended Care:
We are still working out the details and staffing for Extended Care. We believe that the summer rules are still going to apply at the start of school. This would be 1 staff member for every 9 students. We do not have enough staff to cover a lot of students. We can get creative on space but if we do not have enough staff we won't be able to accommodate nearly as many as we normally do. If you are interested in working for us please give me an email. We are looking to hire extended care employees. The hours would be 6:30 to 8:50 and 3:30 to 6:00. We will likely have to have a sign up similar to what we had in the fall. More details to come on this.
2020-2021 School Calendar - CLICK HERE
Back to School Days:
We will NOT be having our traditional back to school days in August. We will work out the plans for everything at a later date but the traditional back to school day we normally have for fees, pictures, schedules, and bus route information will not be held.
Open Houses:
We will NOT be having open houses this year. This will be held virtually. We will have more details about this in August.
Substitutes:
If are you interested in being a substitute aide, custodian, bus driver, cook, or teacher please let me know. I will help you get the process started. Please call or email me.
School Pictures:
We will still have pictures. We will be in touch on how and when.
Rummage Sale:
We are still planning the rummage sale. We will be in touch on the date.
We will be developing a Frequently Asked Questions page. We will have that up in the coming weeks. We appreciate your flexibility and your understanding. This is going to be challenging but we will continue to work together. We will get through this together!
Go Knights!
Adam
FOOD PICK UP SIGN UP - PLEASE SIGN UP by July 24th
STUDENT REGISTRATION FINAL FORMS - DUE NOW
Online Registration:
Final Forms online registration is now open for students in grades K-12 for the 2020-2021 school year.
Online registration is a requirement for all parents of new or returning students. This MUST be completed by a parent or guardian. FinalForms is the information the school uses to communicate with parents via email and phone and has to be updated yearly by the parent.
Click on the link below to start your online registration.
https://otsego-oh.finalforms.com/
If your student has never attended Otsego and is new to the district, you will want to create a "New Account".
If you have a returning student, this is the same email and password that you have used in the past. Once you have logged in, you will see this text box to register for the 2020-2021 school year.
All parents and students must complete the online registration by July 1, 2020.
Knights Have Your Back Fundraiser
Dear Valued Community Member,
Every person, family, and business across our Otsego community has experienced a drastic change in our everyday lives due to COVID-19. Many of these changes have brought tremendous hardship and struggle to those in our local community. Due to these circumstances, we are seeing many in our community who need our help more than ever. When we find our local neighbor in trouble, there is no other community that rallies around the need more than Otsego.
Recently, the Knights Have Your Back Organization was awarded a grant from Corteva Agriscience and Pioneer to assist with the needs of those in the Otsego community. Corteva and Pioneer are teaming up with local farmers in the Otsego community to ask our local farmers to contribute a minimum of $100 (equivalent to an estimated one acre of soybean profits) to the Otsego Knights Have Your Back Organization to assist our Otsego students and their family members who are facing financial hardship and simply struggle to purchase needed food supplies. Corteva and Pioneer will match all farmer donations and have started the funds with $2,000.
If your farming operation is compelled to make a donation, all donations can be made to the “Otsego Knights Have Your Back.” Checks can be mailed to Otsego Local Schools at 18505 Tontogany Creek Road, Ste.1, Bowling Green, Ohio 43402 in care of “Knights Have Your Back.” A Pioneer representative will follow-up with your operation once your donation is received to provide a special field sign (pictured below) to place in one of your farms to display your commitment to the Otsego Knights Have Your Back Organization.
Thank you for your continued support of our Otsego community!
Sincerely,
Corteva Agriscience
Pioneer
Knights Have Your Back
Post Prom Fundraiser
Grand Rapids Arts Council Poetry Contest
Grand Rapids Senior Center Needs Your Help
The Wood County Committee on Aging, Inc., (WCCOA), as you know, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based here in Bowling Green and serving all of Wood County. The Grand Rapids Area Senior Center is our newest location/senior site on Kellogg Road at Hosanna Lutheran Church. Due to this pandemic, we are currently serving over 900 meals in Wood County to not only our regular HDM clients, but individuals in the communities we serve.
To that end, we are in need of individuals who may be stay-at-home, retired or just looking for a way to give back to their community! If that sounds like you, the WCCOA would like to invite you to assist us in delivering meals in the Grand Rapids community. This would involve picking the meals up at the GR Area Senior Center, delivering in a 13+/- mile area to those individuals needing these meals and doing a wellness check, all while adhering to protective guidelines during this time.
If you are willing and able to help within your community, please contact Jackie Metz, Volunteer Coordinator, at 419-353-5661 for more information or email her at jcmetz@wccoa.net .
Otsego Food Pantry
The Otsego Food Pantry is always willing to help those in need. This service is by appointment only. Please call, text, or email to schedule.
Otsego Food Pantry
c/o Lisa Hatfield
PO Box 261
17700 Beaver Street
Grand Rapids, OH 43522
Phone: 419-830-1051
Email: otsegofoodpantryoh@gmail.com
Housed in the Grand Rapids First Presbyterian Church – Supported by our Community!
Athletics
COMMUNITY EVENTS SECTION
Questions, Concerns, Comments, or Rumors
SPONSORS
Otsego Board of Education
President: Brad Anderson banderson.otsego@gmail.com
Vice President: James Harter jameslharter@gmail.com
Board Member: Mark Tolles mdt814@cs.com
Board Member: Jessica Mehl jmehl.jd@gmail.com
Board Member: Gordon Digby gdigby44@gmail.com
Adam Koch, Superintendent
Email: akoch@otsegoknights.org
Website: www.otsegoknights.org
Location: 18505 Tontogany Creek Road, Bowling Green, OH, United States
Phone: 419-823-4381
Twitter: @AdamKoch_Otsego
Lisa Austin, Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent/EMIS Coordinator
Email: laustin@otsegoknights.org
Phone: 419-823-4381
Lauri Dunham, Special Education Director
Email: ldunham@otsegoknights.org
Phone: 419-823-4381
Stephen Bihary, School Psychologist
Email: sbihary@otsegoknights.org
Phone: 419-823-4381
Luke Swartz, Technology Director
Email: lswartz@otsegoknights.org
Website: www.otsegoknights.org
Phone: 419-823-4381
Katrina Baughman, Elementary Principal
Email: kbaughman@otsegoknights.org
Phone: 419-823-4381
Twitter: @KBaughman723
Becky Buchman, Assistant Elementary Principal
Email: bbuchman@otsegoknights.org
Phone: 419-823-4381
Twitter: @buchman_becky
Kevin O'Shea, High School Principal
Email: koshea@otsegoknights.org
Phone: 419-823-4381
Twitter: @KosheaOHS
Jon Rife, Junior High Principal
Email: jrife@otsegoknights.org
Phone: 419-823-4381
Twitter: @OJHS_Principal
Tom Ferdig, High School Athletic Director and Assistant Principal Grades 6-12
Email: tferdig@otsegoknights.org
Phone: 419-823-4381
Eva Vasher, Director of Transportation, Custodial, and Maintenance
Email: evasher@otsegoknights.org
Phone: 419-823-4381
Food Service Inquiries - Contact Adam Koch - akoch@otsegoknights.org
Email: akoch@otsegoknights.org
Phone: 419-823-4381
Twitter: @Otsego_Cafe