Tuesday Talk with Dr. Dain
Dear Pirate Nation,
Happy Terrific Tuesday! I hope your week has started strong and things are on the upswing for you and yours!
At-Risk Student. College Drop Out. Blue Collar. Influenced. Educated. White Collar. Role Model.
What do all these things have in common? They all describe my dad.
My dad has always been one of my favorite people. Growing up, my family unit was relatively small, just my mom, my dad, and my little sister. My mother was a registered nurse for 40 years, and when I was little, my mom had the 6AM shift at the local hospital. She also “took call” meaning she signed up to be on call for any emergencies to go in and work shifts for overtime pay. This meant my dad, Paul Harvey, and I spent every morning together eating breakfast, getting dressed, and talking about “the rest of the story.”
While I didn’t know it until I was older, my dad was an at-risk teenager who barely graduated from high school. He was the youngest of five siblings born to a truck-driving father and terminally ill mother. While my grandpa was able to keep food on the table and a roof over the family’s head, he was absent a lot, thus leaving his unsupervised children up to their own devices. Dad’s siblings ranged from being 4 to 17 years older than him, so by the time my dad was in high school, his parents were just plain tired, and my dad was left to raise himself.
After high school, my dad tried college for about a month, dropped out, and enlisted in the Navy. With the Navy, he trained and earned experience as a plumber with the United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, as part of the U.S. Naval Construction Force. (The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion").
After serving his country in the Vietnam War as a Seabee, my dad returned to home to Topeka, Kansas, and studied and passed his exam to be credentialed as a Master Plumber. He worked as a plumber until he was set up on a blind date with a woman who four months later would become his wife and six years later would become my mom. They married in December and the following January he re-enrolled in college to study law. Forty-five years later, he retired as the Chief Justice for Kansas Court of Appeals.
I tell this story of my to remind us of the power to influence others. At Convocation, our staff talked about being #EPIC “Every Pirate Influences Children.” Whether you are a teacher, a parent, a spouse, a bus driver, a principal, a board member…the list goes on and on…every day we have the power to influence someone else. Please don’t forget your superpower—and please use it wisely. Secondly, I would remind you that I believe education CAN and DOES change the trajectory of our students’ lives. I have seen it happen in real time with my own father, my own husband, and my own son. Educators and influencers who believed in them gave them the tools to recognize their plot twist, pivot, and write their own happy ending.
I continue to be so humbled and honored to work alongside everyone in Pirate Nation. If you are reading this, I thank you. I thank you for believing in children; I thank you for believing in the power of education, and I thank you for believing in the Piper School District!
Proud to be a Pirate!
Dr. Jessica Dain
Superintendent of Schools
February Board of Education Meeting
The next Board of Education Board Meeting has been scheduled for Monday, February 13th at 6:00 PM in the CTE Library/Board Room. Community members interested in addressing the Board of Education should reach out to Board Clerk, Mr. Mitch Nutterfield, at mnutterfield@piperschools.us by Monday, February 6th.
Piper Parents as Teachers Now Enrolling - Serving Piper families Birth to Kinder
Personal Visits: Parent Educators share age-appropriate child development information, address parenting concerns and engage the family in parent-child activities.
Group Connections: Group Connections provide opportunities to share information about parenting issues and child development.
Screenings: Annual developmental, health, vision and hearing screenings provide for early identification of delays that could interfere with learning.
Resource Network: Parent Educators help families identify and connect with needed resources and overcome barriers to accessing services.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: All children are enrolled free of charge in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and receive an age-appropriate book mailed to their home each month.
To enroll or get more information, click here.
Nicole McDaniel
Parent Educator
816.805.2461
Piper PTA (Parent Teacher Association)
The Piper School District has a strong PTA that is extremely dedicated to caring for the students, teachers, and parents in the community. They currently are not requiring formal membership for PTA--anyone and everyone is welcome to participate regardless of paid membership.
Parents frequently ask if there is a district platform for parents to collect money from other parents for to utilize for teacher gifts or fundraising in planning for future Project Graduation celebrations. Please remember that PTA is a pivotal partner in keeping parents’ funds fiscally safe and they are happy to help parents create “Class” accounts in order to provide checks and balances with parents’ gracious donations.
Lastly, all parents are welcomed and encouraged to attend District PTA Monthly Open-House Meetings. The meetings begin at 6:30 PM and take place in the Piper Prairie Library. The dates are as following:
- February TBD
- March TBD
- April 11
- May 9
Questions? Please contact PTA President, Morgan Rentie, at piperpta203@gmail.com
COVID-19
We will continue to have COVID-19 tests available should your child become ill at school, and you wish to provide consent for them to be tested. If your child is exhibiting 2 or more COVID-19 symptoms, our nursing staff would highly recommend having them tested. As always, best practice is to keep your child home if they are feeling unwell.
Should your child test positive for COVID-19, we will be following CDC recommendations for exclusion. The date of the onset of COVID symptoms will count as day zero and your child will need to remain home for five additional days beyond the date of symptom onset. Your child may return to school as long as they are fever free for 24 hours without medication.
Upon return to school, your child will have 2 options regarding masking per CDC guidance. Option 1 is to wear a mask through day 10 following the onset of symptoms. Option 2 calls for testing on day 1 of their return and day 3 of their return. If both tests are negative, mask-wearing can be discontinued following testing on day 3. Please visit with your school nurse if you wish to pursue the testing option.