You and Two
News & updates for Richland Two parents 08/24/2020
IMPORTANT DATES
ATTENDANCE MATTERS
BACK T0 SCHOOL BLAST eLEARNING VIDEO
GOOGLE CLASSROOM HELP
PHASE ONE MEAL PLAN
FREE AND REDUCED PRICE MEAL APPLICATIONS
PANDEMIC EBT FOR STUDENTS
COMMUNITY eLEARNING CHILD CARE OPTIONS
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
SCHOOL FEES
FRONT OFFICE AT SCHOOLS OPENING AUG. 26
AUGUST 25 BOARD MEETING
CENSUS UPDATE
LOOKING AHEAD TO PHASE 2
ATTENDANCE MATTERS
Students are expected to attend "live" class sessions using Google Meet. Attendance will be taken daily, just as it is when we are in the brick and mortar setting. Students who attend "live" class sessions will be coded as present. If a student does not attend a "live" class session, he/she will be coded as absent.
When a student is not able to attend a "live" class session, he/she will watch the recorded lesson and submit the Daily Participation Assignment (DPA). The student's absence will then be changed to present. The student will also be responsible for completing and submitting any make-up work.
Curbside meal service at eight schools
Bridge Creek, Bethel-Hanberry, Joseph Keels, North Springs, Polo Road and Rice Creek elementary schools
Dent and Longleaf middle schools
Four bus routes with 13 total stops servicing community sites: Spring Garden/Hunters Way Apartments, Chimneys at Brookfield, Beldon Spring Lake, Parklane Apartments, Springtree Apartments, Greenbriar Apartments, Spears Creek Mobile Home Park, Charleswood (at JCC), KRC Wildewood, Regency Mobile Home Park, Inn Town Suites-
Two Notch, Polo Estates, and Freeway Mobile Home Park.
Meals served on Mondays and Wednesdays between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and all sites are open to all Richland Two students.
Meals for Monday and Tuesday distributed on Monday
Meals for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday distributed on Wednesday
Students (or parents of students) can be identified several ways for accountability
purposes: student ID card, student ID number, or student's name and school.
The district can no longer provide free meals to all students because the Unanticipated School Closure Waiver from the USDA has expired. To avoid accruing debt on a student's meal account, parents are asked to either apply for free or reduced-price meal status (see article below) or add money to their students' meal accounts through Parent Portal.
2020-2021 FREE AND REDUCED-PRICE MEAL APPLICATIONS
It’s very important that families who qualify for free and reduced price meals apply for this status as soon as possible. To find out more about the process please click here to read the parent letter that answers a lot of questions including who qualifies for free or reduced-price meals. The quickest and easiest way to submit an application for free or reduced-price meals is to use the online application. Click the link here to start the application.
As a reminder, families have to apply every year. That means students who attended schools in Richland Two in 2019-2020 and received free/reduced price meals MUST complete a new application for eligibility of extended benefits each school year. If you do not reapply, all meal prices will automatically change to full price.
If you do not have access to the online application form, you can submit a paper form. To turn in a paper application, you may
- FAX your completed application to 803-419-5839 OR
- RETURN your completed application to your child's school cafe manager OR
- MAIL your application to Richland School District Two Food & Nutrition Services, 124 Risdon Way, Columbia, SC 29223.
Please note that the S.C. Department of Social Services (DSS) not Richland Two determines who is eligible for the Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) benefit. The S.C. Department of Social Services is administering P-EBT, a one-time benefit to help supplement family food costs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and prolonged school closures. K-12 students who were enrolled in a free or reduced-price school meals program under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) or were enrolled in a school that participated in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) before school closed due to COVID-19 are eligible to receive P-EBT.
More information about SNAP and the P-EBT benefits can be found at the following links.
https://dss.sc.gov/assistance-programs/snap/
https://dss.sc.gov/media/2388/pandemic-ebt-news-release-final.pdf
Families with specific questions about receiving a P-EBT card should email DSS at the following email address set up specifically to address p-EBT questions. PEBTbenefits@dss.sc.gov.
If parents are needing a copy of their 2019/2020 eligibility letter they can email:
SCHOOL SUPPLY LISTS FOR 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR
Even though we are beginning the school year virtually, schools still need to purchase supplies, software, copyrighted material, and other licensed items. In some cases, the costs to distribute supplies and materials during eLearning may actually be more than in past years. As a reminder, fees help cover the cost of consumable supplies or services at the school level, which can only be used by one student during one school year to enrich the student’s individual learning experience.
For the first time, students in kindergarten through fifth grade will be assessed the Technology Insurance fee as those students are now receiving district-issued devices.
Athletic fees won’t appear until August 31, 2020, based on the practice and competition schedule set by the S.C. High School League. For high school, the fee for student parking will not be activated until Phase 2.
SCHOOL AND DISTRICT FRONT OFFICES OPENING AUGUST 26
If you need to go to a school or district office in person, please remember to take the necessary safety precautions:
- Stay home if you are not feeling well.
- Face coverings are required.
- Maintain 6 feet of space between yourself and others.
- Wash your hands often.
Please note the lobby at R2i2 will remain closed to the public. Only individuals who need to see district staff will be permitted in R2i2.
SCHOOL BOARD MEETING TO BE STREAMED LIVE, AUGUST 25
TUESDAY'S MEETING: The Richland Two Board of Trustees will hold a regularly scheduled board meeting on Tuesday, August 25, 2020 at 4:30 p.m. After calling the meeting to order, the board will convene in Executive Session. Public Session will resume at 5 p.m. Due to the restrictions on public gatherings related to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the board will conduct the meeting using the “Zoom” online meeting platform. However, the public will not have to use the Zoom platform to view the meeting. The public can access the live stream video of the meeting by clicking on the following link: http://www.richland2.org/livestream.
To allow for public participation during the virtual meetings, the board is making a form available to members of the public. Anyone wishing to have their comments read to the board by a district employee during the virtual board meetings must complete the form and submit it by 1:00 p.m. on the day of the board meeting. Click here to access the form.
Click the following link to view the agenda for the meeting:
http://go.boarddocs.com/sc/rsd2/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=BPYUZS7E71A3
PAST MEETING: Click here to watch the August 11 meeting. Click here to read the minutes from the August 11 board meeting.
UPCOMING MEETINGS: Regularly scheduled meeting on September 8, 2020.
CENSUS UPDATE
It remains vitally important that everyone is counted in the 2020 Census. Recent reports show that the number of people counted in Richland County is below the levels in the last census. So many decisions are based on the number of people counted in the Census such as federal funding for schools; school lunch programs; funding for libraries, hospitals and fire stations. The Census count also determines how many congressional representatives each state will have and the 2020 numbers will be used for 10 years. If you have not completed your Census count, go to 2020census.gov. The new earlier deadline for completing the Census is September 30, 2020.