_eNews_
April 8, 2022
Board Approves Motion To Rescind All COVID-19 Policies
At a special Board of Education meeting on Friday, April 8, the Board approved a motion to rescind all COVID-19 policies. This means that effective immediately the district will no longer track illness absenteeism rates to determine masking status. The district’s COVID dashboard will continue to be updated for informational purposes only for the remainder of the school year. All schools will remain mask optional and best practices will continue to be utilized with air filtration and cleaning.
School Start Time Committee Update
Includes bell schedule and pay rider eligibility changes
Next school year, changes may be coming to Blue Valley’s transportation practices (pay rider eligibility), and school start times as a means of minimizing challenges resulting from a shortage of bus drivers.
The School Start Time Committee’s work, which began in September 2021, ultimately led to a need to also address student transportation challenges in addition to school start times. Currently, there is an average shortage of 15 bus drivers daily. The committee learned that some students are either being transported by their families or waiting 30-45 minutes for a bus to finish running its first route before being picked up. Despite exhaustive efforts to attract and retain bus drivers, there are more students utilizing transportation services than bus drivers available to transport students in a timely manner consistently. The district is at a point where a change to current pay rider service practice needs to be considered to reduce the number of routes needed and stabilize service for the 2022-23 school year.
Start Time Committee’s recommendation includes:
High school and middle school students would not be provided bus services if they are less than 1.5 miles from home to school (except for students qualifying for Special Education transportation services).
There would be no change to the pay rider eligibility for elementary school students.
High school and middle school bus stop distances increase from .25 mi to .5 mi where it is safe to do so; reduces the number of stops and increases the speed of the route.
The recommendation results in an estimated reduction of 9-10 bus routes.
Additionally, administration will make slight changes in school start times for the 2022-23 school year.
Elementary school's start time is five minutes later.
Middle school’s start time is 10 minutes later.
High school’s start time remains the same.
These bell schedule changes maintain the necessary 45-minute window between the middle school and elementary school drop-off and pick-up times; allow for as many high school and middle school combination routes as possible; and result in an estimated reduction of five to six bus routes.
The committee’s full recommendation and planned bell schedule changes will be presented to the Board of Education at its April 11 Board of Education meeting. Read the April 1 issue of eNews for more about the Start Time Committee’s work.
Planning for high school is one of the most beneficial things middle school students can do to prepare for their last four years of secondary education. There are opportunities in high school that aren’t as readily available unless certain classes and credits are earned in middle school.
“High school sounds like a long way away when you’re 10 years old but the academic choices you make going into middle school impact your potential choices at the high school level,” said Emily Demo, Blue Valley’s student support services district coordinator.
Read more about the benefits of early high school planning in this week’s Learning Connection story.
The Learning Connection is a resource for all families, from those with children entering early learning to those with graduating seniors. The resource allows Blue Valley to engage with the community on an ongoing basis to expand families’ knowledge about the district’s learning and teaching initiatives.
Off-Script: How did it get here, where is it going and what do we do from here?
This event, hosted by the Blue Valley Drug and Alcohol Committee, will be an evening to discuss trends of substance use following the pandemic. The Blue Valley community is invited and encouraged to attend the event on April 13 at the Hilltop Conference Center. The resource fair will start at 6 p.m. and the event will be from 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m.
Topics will include first person experience, how to talk to your child about substance use and how to find support. A Johnson County family will share their experience related to their son’s death from a fentanyl overdose and a community panel of experts will share their expertise with all who attend this event. For questions, please contact Emily Demo, District Coordinator for Student Support Services, at ejdemo@bluevalleyk12.org
Beginning April 11, MAWD Labs COVID-19 Drive-In Testing hours will change. Drive-in testing will no longer be available on Sundays. Weekday hours will stay the same:
8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday
Please refrain from bringing dogs, other than service animals, to the MAWD Testing clinic.
Online Scheduling and Registration
Step 1: Book an appointment online (up to six people per appointment/car)
Step 2: If you have not done so already, create an online account for parent/guardian.
Due to the high volume of testing, only current household members of Blue Valley students and staff are eligible to test at the MAWD Drive-In Testing Clinic.
Spring 2022 Schedule Modifications
April 17-18 - Closed
April 19 - Open 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
The MAWD Drive-In Testing Clinic will be closed whenever school is cancelled for inclement weather.
Additional information about MAWD’s Drive-In Testing Clinic is available on the district website. Call (913) 239-4371 and leave a message if you have questions. Calls will be returned in the order received.
The transition into parenting teenagers is a time of tremendous change for teens and it can be overwhelming as a parent to know how to help. "Prepped and Ready" is a resource from Children’s Mercy Kansas City that seeks to empower families to address the hard topics that can be very uncomfortable and changes each one of us can make within our own homes to make them safer.
Learn more about Prepped and Ready at www.childrensmercy.org/preppedandready.