#KSD Reimagine
Update from Kuna Superintendent Wendy Johnson
10.1.2021
In this update:
- Gearing up for a busy month
- Changing how families report COVID student absences
- Mask use remains recommended or optional at all schools Oct. 4-15
- Saturday KHS hosts 19 marching bands; Click to review schedule & find out when Kuna performs
- FutureReady: Empowering juniors, seniors & their parents to make choices about "What happens after high school?"
- KindergartenReady: Free workshops for parents with children age 0-5
- KHS JROTC will present colors at Oct. 16 BSU game
- Help us prevent "devious licks"
- Preschool Developmental Screener Oct. 20
- COVID Data Dashboards
Missed a newsletter? Click here to find past issues
Gearing up for a busy month
The coming weeks are full of activities as we finish up the first quarter of the school year. Our goal remains to stay open serving our students in person.
We appreciate your support keeping students home when they are sick or when someone in the home has tested positive for COVID.
Next week, there's no school Thursday or Friday for the traditional October break for state in-service days for teachers - our schools and the district office will be closed those days. As a result, I will not send a newsletter on Oct. 8. Monday, Oct. 11 is a no school for students as teachers return for professional development at their schools.
Later in the month, we welcome parents to schools for fall conferences. These events won't alter the schedule for secondary schools, but it will impact elementary schools. Elementary schools will have two hour early release Oct. 13-15 to allow for parent-teacher conferences and the weekly professional learning community activities. Look for all the details from your child's school.
If you would like to volunteer (we can also pay you!) you can sign up here.
Changing how families report COVID student absences
We want to speed up the process for families to report information when your student has tested positive for COVID or is quarantining because of exposure to COVID positive individuals.
We ask that you compete a short online form and not call the school to report a COVID-related absence. Links to these secure forms will be posted on the district and school websites and they are shown below.
Student COVID Related Absence Reporting Only
Families will receive an email from our nursing team. We are also working to make sure that parents do not get calls reporting an unexcused absence when they have used the online reporting form. If you do get a call notifying you that your child is absent and you have completed the form, it may mean that the data hasn't yet connected with our student system.
All other non-COVID absences, please report absence to school as normal.
We appreciate your patience as we roll out this new reporting tool and connect the data to our student information system.
COVID Hotline
We also are working on a COVID Hotline for our families to reach a school nurse when you have questions. Look for more information on this in mid-October.
Mask use remains recommended or optional at all schools Monday, Oct. 4 through Friday, Oct. 15
Based on the data available today, per our mask policy, mask use in our schools from Oct. 4-Oct. 15:
Masks recommended at:
- Ross Elementary
- Initial Point High School
- Kuna High School
- Kuna Middle School
- Reed Elementary
- Indian Creek Elementary
Masks optional at:
- Fremont Middle School
- Hubbard Elementary
- Crimson Point Elementary
- Silver Trail Elementary
The next review of data for the mask use policy will be Friday, Oct. 15.
Continue using "City of Kuna in Red" on Illness Decision Tree
We were notified that while Central District Health Department will continue to collect data about COVID positive cases in the City of Kuna, it will no longer publish this information on its data dashboard.
We rely on that data to make decisions about mask use in our school and how to advise families on what actions to take when a child becomes sick. To support us, CDHD will email us the data for the City of Kuna weekly. We believe in transparency and since we can no longer link to their data tool with this information, we will post PDFs of those emails as part of the data we share with you about COVID in our schools.
CDHD also shared that they are behind in processing COVID positive cases for the City of Kuna, because of this, we will continue to ask staff and students to use the "City of Kuna in red" path of the Illness Decision Tree.
FutureReady: Empowering juniors, seniors & their parents to make choices about "What happens after high school?"
Kindergarten Ready: Free workshops for parents with children age 0-5
Parents of children age 0-5 are invited to enroll in free workshops to learn fun activities they can do to help prepare their child for kindergarten.
Workshops will be held in fall, winter and spring. Parents attending:
- Free games for their family
- Free dinner
- Free child care
The workshops will be hosted at Reed and Crimson Point elementary schools and feature highly qualified teachers and staff. Parents may choose the workshop date and location that fits their schedule.
- Kuna Ready to Learn Reed Elementary School - Session #1 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19; Session #2 Jan. 25; Session #3 April 19
- Crimson Point Elementary - Session #1 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, Session #2 Nov. 18, Session #3 Jan. 13.
KHS JROTC will present colors at Oct. 16 BSU game
Help us prevent "devious licks"
You may have seen news coverage about the "devious licks" TikTok challenges. This social media fad encourages youth to film themselves committing acts as vandalism, theft, and other crimes. Authorities have shared that challenges are identified for each month and some include unwanted physical touch of school staff and other students which could result in charges of battery. We interviewed Det. Hyrum Jones about this trend and how parents can help.
Superintendent Wendy Johnson
Email: ksdcommunications@kunaschools.org
Website: www.kunaschools.org
Location: 711 East Porter Street, Kuna, ID, USA
Phone: 208-922-1000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kuna-Jt-School-District-No-3
Twitter: @Supt_Wendy_J