NOVEMBER 13, 2020
FPS Family Newsletter | 20-21 Issue 18
Planning Ahead
School districts barely get started with a school year and are planning for the next. This past Wednesday, the Board of Education approved the 2021-2022 High School and Middle School course handbook, and our 8th grade and high school students will start selecting their classes in a couple of weeks. We are planning our orientations and preview programs for 5th to 6th and 8th to 9th-grade students for late January, and have published our summer school dates for 2021. When time is measured by a school year, it goes by extremely fast.
Many people I have talked to are eager for 2020 to end. And while we all want COVID-19 to end, I don’t want to rush the school year. We have a lot we want to accomplish with our students. We are working hard to recover any learning losses from spring and appreciate all the time we have with our students. We continue to put our academic standards at the forefront of our planning. We continue to hold our staff and students to high expectations, and we know that Franklin Public Schools can continue to be a high performing school district.
COVID-19 continues to test our stamina. Its spread has caused our high school students to move to at-home learning through virtual instruction until their 14-day positive case rate reaches 2%. Our data tells us that as the community burden is rapidly climbing in the City of Franklin, so are the number of positive cases in our school district. Fifty-six percent (56%) of all positive cases for the school year have occurred in the last 14 days. And ⅓ of all positive cases have occurred in the last 7 days.
The future of in-person learning depends upon this trend slowing down. As more students become ill, there is a spread that impacts our staff. Without staff, we may be unable to have in-person or quality virtual learning. Please do all you can to prevent your family from getting COVID-19 and help to slow the spread. We ask that you please consider your upcoming holiday plans and how they may impact our ability to provide in-person learning.
Have a good weekend,
Dr. Judy Mueller
District Administrator
COVID-19 IMPORTANT UPDATES
As shared in last Friday's family newsletter and communicated on Wednesday, November 4th, in our message to families, our metrics are trending to red in some of our schools. The metric we are using to shift to at-home learning through virtual instruction is a positive case rate of 3% over a 14-day period. When we do close a school building, athletics and in-person activities will take a “time out” for the period of time the school is closed. The reason for this is that the school is at a level of high concern for the spread of COVID-19 and we are not scheduling activities that allow our students to be together.
During this 14-day period, we will continue to track the number of new positive cases with our students and staff. While the City’s burden rate is high, our 14-day positive case percentage will need to decline to a rate of less than 2% in order to consider a return to in-person learning. Based on previous experiences with this metric, the lower this metric is, the better chance we have of staying in the in-person learning environment longer once we return. As we approach the end of the 14-day period we will meet with the Franklin Health Department to review the current metrics, and decide on a timeline for a possible return to in-person learning. The metrics will continue to be updated on Wednesdays and Fridays on the District’s website here.
Below is a screenshot of today's update. You can click or tap on the screenshot to see a larger version on your device.
FHS SABER MANUFACTURING HONORS VETERANS
We featured this video on our district social media pages on Wednesday for Veterans Day. This video shares how a group of students that are part of our Saber Manufacturing program at Franklin High School chose to honor some local veterans.
UPCOMING DISTRICT DATES
As a reminder, the District Calendar and all building calendars can be found here.
All of our calendars are able to be subscribed to! Follow the steps at the top of the District Calendar for how to subscribe.
2nd Graders Write to Veterans
Construction House Drywall Preview
Cougar Chase Hair Cutting
FPMS NICHE 2021 RANKINGS FOR FPS
Last week we shared some recent Niche rankings for Franklin High School. This week, we want to spotlight some of the great work that is being recognized at Forest Park Middle School!
Niche is an organization that compiles statistics, reviews, and data on how school districts and individual schools are performing. They release a ranking list every year based on state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, public school district ratings, and more.
Below, we are pleased to highlight some of the middle school rankings we are recognized for in Franklin Public Schools.
MASK SUGGESTIONS
What type of mask should I wear? How do we best take care of masks? What is the most effective way to wear a mask? What about a gaiter vs a cloth mask?
Below are some infographics from the CDC. You can click on any of them to be taken to the page (also here) where this information and other information about masks is stored.
And don't forget that our Franklin Educational Foundation and local PTO/A organizations have an ongoing MASK DRIVE where you can donate masks to be used in classrooms or across the district as needed by our staff and students.
Franklin Public Schools
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Email: communications@franklin.k12.wi.us
Website: http://www.franklin.k12.wi.us
Location: 8255 West Forest Hill Avenue, Franklin, WI, USA
Phone: 414-529-8220
Facebook: facebook.com/franklinpublicschools
Twitter: @fpsdistrictwi