Bethel-Tate Schools Tiger eNews
September 2021
Health and Safety Update
At its regular meeting on August 31, the Bethel-Tate Board of Education voted against a mandatory district-wide masking policy at this point.
Face coverings will continue to be strongly recommended but not required for all students and staff members. The district will continue to monitor positive COVID-19 cases and associated quarantines. If positive cases and student quarantine numbers become significant and staffing at our schools or transportation department becomes an issue, the district’s remote blended learning model will be implemented until schools can reopen safely. Note: Face masks are still required for all students and staff while riding school buses.
The district has put the following layers of protection in place; maintaining at least 3 feet of social distancing within the classroom, increase refreshed air ventilation, frequent hand sanitation, and maintaining building cleaning and sanitation.
The Board of Education’s goal is to safely keep students and staff in school, in-person, five days a week. In-person instruction allows the greatest student growth academically, physically, mentally, and socially. To do so, please keep your child home if they are sick or symptomatic. People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. Any staff member or student with symptoms described below or a temperature above 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit should stay home.
People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:
· Fever or chills
· Cough
· Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
· Fatigue
· Muscle or body aches
· Headache
· New loss of taste or smell
· Sore throat
· Congestion or runny nose
· Nausea or vomiting
· Diarrhea
We appreciate your cooperation as we work together to keep our staff and students healthy and in school.
Clermont County School Districts Lobbying for Quarantine Pilot Study
Clermont County School District Superintendents have reached out to the Ohio Department of Health to become a part of a pilot program along with Warren County School Districts. Under the pilot project, a student exposed to COVID-19 could stay in school as long as they wore a mask and took two rapid tests a few days apart. Details of the study are still being organized.
Current health department guidelines require unvaccinated students and staff without symptoms to quarantine at home if they were not wearing masks and distanced when exposed to COVID-19. The high number of students in quarantine has already led to four remote learning days for Bethel-Tate High School, and illness impacting our transportation department has led to two more remote blended learning days PreK-12.
"We are hopeful to join other school districts in the state to become a part of this pilot program and do everything we can to do keep our students healthy, reduce the impact of mass quarantines, and allow students to remain in school and in-person learning," shared Bethel-Tate Superintendent, Melissa Kircher.
We look forward to the data we can track through this pilot project as we navigate the impact of the pandemic this school year. Bethel-Tate has joined with other Clermont County and area school leaders to discuss ways to mitigate the effects of quarantining healthy students at home. We coordinate weekly with our Clermont County Public Health Department and its Commissioner and have reached out to our county commissioners about their partnership in assisting us in replicating this pilot project in Clermont County.
The district is hopeful that we can participate in this program within the coming weeks and will keep our parents posted on the status of the pilot.
Bethel-Tate Middle School Band Selected for Achievement Fair
William Bick Primary Launches PBIS Program
During the 2021-2022 school year, the students at William Bick Primary are going to have the opportunity to earn positive behavior points each day from staff members throughout the school. Whether the students are in the classroom, the hallway, at recess, or during lunch, students at Bick Primary can have a point or sometimes two points deposited into their PBIS Rewards account. Similar to putting money into a bank account, all students, preschool through 2nd grade, can decide whether they want to save all of their points, spend some points, or possibly spend all their points.
The PBIS traveling store will visit each classroom a few times every couple weeks giving the students a chance to select some great prizes. Not only does PBIS Rewards provide students with points for making good choices, it also represents the positive behaviors that the staff at William Bick Primary reinforce with students every day. The classroom teachers review with students the behavior matrix at the beginning of the school year. This matrix shows students how they are to act in different parts of the school building. Each location in the school has 3-5 positive behavior choices students are expected to make. Positive behaviors for students directly impacts their ability to be successful both academically as well as emotionally. Make sure to ask your child how many points did they earn today!!
Ebon Hill Holds Gifted/STEM Program Open House
On September 1, Ebon C. Hill Intermediate School held an open house for parents and their children in the gifted program. Families had a chance to meet with their teachers, Mrs. Wagner and Mrs. Mays, see their classroom, and learn more about the program.
Bethel-Tate School District ensures equal opportunity for all district students identified as gifted to receive any services offered by the district for which the student meets the criteria:
• Grades 1-8 – Gifted Resource Room and Virtual Learning for students identified with specific academic ability in reading and/or mathematics and superior cognitive ability.
• Grades 8 -12 – Classes offering accelerated placement, advanced content, and college credit are offered in some academic areas
The district screens and identifies students who perform or show potential for performing at high levels of accomplishment in the areas of superior cognitive ability, specific academic ability, creative thinking ability, and/or visual and/or performing arts. The district adheres to the Ohio Revised Code for this process and utilizes assessments approved by the Ohio Department of Education.
Early Literacy
Learn more about their early literacy programs at https://clermontlibrary.org.
Fine Free 3 For Me Cards Available at Bethel Library
The Clermont County Library is offering the 3 For Me library card. It’s a special card offered to students in elementary, middle, and high school and is available at our Bethel branch.
It allows access to a wealth of books, both in print and digital, that can be used to complete homework assignments as well as foster a love of reading. A 3 For Me library card allows a student to borrow up to 3 books from the library. When the student returns one of the items borrowed, he or she can borrow another one. There is no limit to the number of checkouts using our digital collections.
Students don’t have to worry about a card that can’t be used because of unpaid fines or fees.
3 For Me cards are fine-free – no fines will be charged if a student is a bit late returning an item.
To apply for the card, click on the link below:
https://clermontlibrary.org/3-for-me-library-card-application/