BULLDOG BRIEF
PERSONALIZED. INNOVATIVE. GLOBAL.
Homecoming Activities 9/14-9/18
We know Homecoming is a special event in all communities. Though the football game on Friday night is important, there are many other activities that go on that make the week memorable for our students and our community.
With the limitations for gathering caused by COVID-19, we will not be hosting a Homecoming Dance in 2020 or student games that we typically do on Friday. There is just no safe way to do them. We will have dress-up days for our students and a coronation ceremony.
Coronation will take place at halftime of the football game on Friday, September 18 vs West Central Valley. Game time is 7:00 p.m. and we hope to have a live stream available. Each candidate will get recognized in front of the crowd and the King and Queen will be announced and introduced at halftime of the game. It won't be the same as normal, but it will be a memorable event.
Dress up days for the week of 9/14-9/18 are as follows:
Monday: Beach/tourist day
Tuesday: Jersey day
Wednesday: Pajama day
Thursday: Flannel day
Friday: Spirit day
Prizes will be given out to the winners of each dress up day!
FREE BREAKFAST & FREE LUNCH!
All student meal funds should be left in your child's account so it is available when we return to the regular school lunch program. Also, T-K through 2nd grade will still be charged for snack milk.
Please be sure to sign up for lunch each day that you want one so that the staff knows how many to prepare.
Thank you!
If you have any questions, feel free to email Barb at barb.sandusky@vmbulldogs.com
Use of School Facilities
As you know, we have started hosting home events over the last few weeks. We have limited the capacity of fans for both volleyball and football games. Our fans have been doing an awesome job of maintaining physical distance and wearing masks when they are not able to do so. We were especially pleased with the way our football crowd observed the established expectations for attendance. We have been fortunate to date that we have only had a limited number of positive COVID-19 cases and resulting isolation and quarantines of students or staff.
It's also really important that students/staff/family members are not attending school or school activities if they have are sick or have COVID-19 symptoms that haven't been diagnosed as something else. Remember to wash your hands regularly, keep your distance, and wear a mask when you can't stay away from others. It is really important that we all do our part to help limit the spread of the virus.
To continue to mitigate this situation to the best of our ability in our buildings and facilities, we will not be allowing any outside entities, organizations, or non-school teams to use our school indoor facilities at this time until further notice. We will reevaluate our practices later this fall.
Our goals are for our kids to be able to attend school on-site and for our student-athletes to be able to play sports with little interruption. To do this, we will need to continue to be proactive in our strategies to limit exposure to COVID-19. We ask that our patrons continue to follow the guidelines established by the CDC, IDPH, and the VMCSD to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
Thanks for all of your help as we navigate the pandemic. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us.
GO DAWGS!
Active COVID-19 Cases Week of September 7
A few kids have been sent home with symptoms as well. Those students are allowed to return if they:
- receive a negative test result,
- see symptoms improve,
- and get a different diagnosis from a doctor.
Please do your part to keep us informed if you think your child has been exposed to COVID-19 outside of the school setting. Parents have been doing an awesome job of keeping kids home when they are sick. Keep it up!
We will continue to need your help in trying to keep the spread of COVID-19 limited. If in doubt, error on the side of keeping them home until we can help navigate the next steps with the Dallas County Health Department. Thanks!
On-Site, Hybrid, and Remote Learning Models
With that said, it is possible that at some point later this year, we will make a decision to move the district to either a hybrid or remote learning model for all students. We will use the state provided guidance on positivity rates of the county to help us make that decision, but the primary driver will be the number of positive cases we have in the building, grade level, or classroom. There are too many factors that impact the positivity rate for a county to have that be what we use when making that decision. We are most concerned about what is happening in our buildings and the number of students and staff that have been impacted.
Fortunately (knock on wood,) we have had a limited number of cases and students who have had to quarantine. That can change quickly. If it is determined that it is best of our district or building to go to a hybrid model of learning, our plan is for students PK-2 to continue to attend Monday-Thursday on-site in their normal routine as long as there is not an outbreak in those rooms. Our students in grades 3-12 would attend school in an A/B model on-site one day and online the next with both groups attending online only on Fridays. So for example, 1/2 of the 5th graders (group A) would have class on-site Monday and Wednesday and online Tuesday and Thursday while the other 1/2 (group B) would attend online Monday and Wednesday and on-site Tuesday and Thursday. All students PK-12 would attend online on Fridays.
We don't have a set figure per se on the number of positive cases it would take for us to move a hybrid model. There will be other factors to consider such as staff availability, overall attendance, and positivity rate of the county, plus what grade levels or classrooms are experiencing cases. We will do our best to make the decision in a timely manner, but it is possible a decision will need to be made quickly if community spread occurs.
If we get to a point that we don't believe we can function safely with any students in the building, we will move to a totally remote/online learning environment for up to two weeks at a time or until we believe the virus is more controlled.
We appreciate your flexibility and understanding as we navigate the pandemic. If you have questions, please contact Mr. Durflinger or the building principals.
Isolation, Quarantine and Contact Tracing- PLEASE READ!
To determine who has been in close contact with students/staff who contract COVID-19 and as a result who should quarantine, the district will work with the local health departments to do contact tracing. It is really important for those who test positive or who show symptoms and have been exposed to isolate for 10 days and until their symptoms have improved, but it is equally as important for them to accurately inform the district and the health department who they were in close contact (less than 6 feet more than 15 minutes) with two days prior to the positive test or when symptoms start. This district will work with students, teachers, and staff to determine close contacts for students while at school along with the student/parents to determine outside of school close contacts. The process of contact tracing takes a lot of time and is dependent upon the information given by teachers, parents, and those who test positive for COVID-19. The district or health department will contact all close contacts and those individuals are expected to quarantine for 14 days from the last know exposure date.
The last date of exposure is really important, especially when we are talking about younger students. If a parent contracts COVID-19, they should isolate for 10 days. Their children would need to quarantine for 14 days from the last date of exposure, so if the parent is unable to completely isolate from their children, the last date of exposure could be their 10th day of isolation. This means a student could miss the 10 days of school for the parent isolating, plus 14 days of quarantine if the last date of exposure is the 10th day of the parent's isolation. To make matters more challenging, it is possible that the child could contract COVID-19 on their last day of the quarantine, and then they would need to isolate for 10 more days. This would mean a student could be out of school for up to 34 days if a parent or someone in the household tests positive for COVID-19 and is unable to isolate from their children.
We inform you of this not to scare you, but to help you understand the importance of doing all you can do socially distance, etc. to limit your chances of getting COVID-19. However, if you do get it, please do all you can to isolate yourself from your children so they can get back to on-site learning as quickly as possible.
As a reminder, a negative test result for those considered a close contact (less than 6 feet for more than 15 minutes) still requires a 14-day quarantine if the close contact happened within 2 days of the positive COVID-19 individual's test.
For the district to be able to help slow down the spread of COVID-19 and to keep students and staff safe, we will need all individuals asked to isolate or quarantine to do so with fidelity. It is the only way for us to minimize the chances of community spread. With that said, just because someone lives in the same house as an individual who contracts COVID-19 doesn't mean they have been exposed. Exposure is dependent upon close contact and it is very possible for individuals in the same household to maintain distance from each other. As we do our contact tracing, know that we will do our best to ensure all who should quarantine are asked to do so, but we can only act upon the information we have been given. All of this information is confidential to the individuals and families involved, but we will continue to be as transparent as possible when informing the community about COVID-19.
Dallas County Department of Health FAQ. If you have questions you can call them at (515) 993-3750
Process for Evaluating Sick Students and Staff
Return to Learn FAQ and IDPH Guidelines
Fall Sports Guidelines and Expectations
In general:
- Maintain physical distance from other individuals not in your household
- Wear a mask when physical distancing isn't possible (we are considering requiring masks for certain events, so always be sure to have one with you.)
- No students under 9th grade allowed at events unless a sibling of a participant (they then must stay seated/or standing with a parent)
- Crowds will be limited and tickets will be presold online only
- Those sitting in the bleachers need to sit 2X2 in the designated areas to maintain appropriate physical distancing measures.
- If fans do not follow the guidelines, they may not be allowed to attend future events.
Be sure to click on the links below prior to attending a Van Meter event. We expect our fans to follow our guidelines at both home and road events.
Thanks for doing your part to allow our students to play the games they love!
Athletic Website and Schedules
Contact Us
Email: firstname.lastname@vmbulldogs.com
Website: www.vmbulldogs.com
Location: 520 1st Avenue, Van Meter, IA, USA
Phone: (515) 996-2221
Facebook: https://facebook.com/VanMeterSchools/
Twitter: @vanmeterschools