The Middle Matters
OMS Oct. 26-30, 2020 Parent Newsletter
Inspiring Excellence. Every Learner. Every Day.
Calendar
IMPORTANT REMINDER TO BRING YOUR MASKS EACH AND EVERY DAY
Monday, October 26, 2020
Group 1 - A Day
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Group 1- B day
Homework Help 7:00 am - Learning Stairs
No Tech Tuesday in the Cafeteria
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
College Wear Wednesday
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Group 2 - A Day
No Tech Thursday in the Cafeteria
Friday, October 30, 2020
Group 2 - B Day
Homework Help 7:00 am - Learning Stairs
Saturday, October 31, 2020
Saturday School - 8:00am - Cafeteria
Bonds are for Buildings, Levies are for Learning
Last November, Owatonna voters approved bond funding to build a new Owatonna High School. This November, voters are being asked if they will renew and increase operating funds for all district schools through an operating levy. The reason these votes are separate is that bond funds can only be used to build or repair buildings; by law they cannot be used to pay for school or district operating costs.
School districts rely on operating levies to support classroom instruction, staff and other costs of running schools. Question 1 on the November 3rd ballot requests a straight renewal of the existing operating levy, which is about to expire. Question 2 requests a phased-in increase to the levy - with one increase in 2022 and another in 2025. To help reduce the levy request to voters, the School Board approved a shared solution that included budget cuts on the district side. This fiscally conservative and respectful approach also means there is no tax increase for Question 2 in 2021.
Learn more on the the Levy 2020 website and remember to flip your ballot to the back side and vote on November 3rd.
Cold Weather
KIDS FIRST Sports
Progress Reports
This week we will send out a progress report (that can also be found online). This will be the only hard copy of grades we will send out this year; grades can always be found by using the Parent Portal, which we strongly encourage you to use. If you are not set up on the Parent Portal, please connect with one of the school counselors to get help in doing so.
For this first progress report, you will see grades for in-progress academics and scores for our new PAW life skills categories. PAW will be similar to what you have seen throughout elementary school. The three categories can be seen in the image below.
We believe life skills and behaviors are critically important in the overall development of our students. Therefore, we believe there is signifcant merit in reporting out against life skills that influence learning. We also ensure that life skills will not influence an academic grade and will be reported separately in our reporting structure. Students will receive a score of 1 (Rarely), 2 (Sometimes), or 3 (Consistently) in each of these categories. While it is still early in the year, we wanted to share what our teachers are seeing in the classroom with respect to these three categories. These scores will eventually be used for our Husky Pride Days (likely second semester since we are unsure if we will be able to celebrate our first Husky Pride Day in December).
Parents, as we end our first wheel classes and approach the end of the first quarter, teachers will be updating grades and adding in our first PAW scores to each class. As these grades are updated, you will be able to see assignments and scores in each class. Once our grading window is closed, you will then see the updated current grades, posted grades, and percentages. This is in an effort to minimize the number of notifications you receive as grades are being entered.
After you receive your progress report, please feel free to reach out to your child's teacher(s) if you would like to discuss progress in specific classes. All of the teachers contact information can be found online on the OMS website by following this link.
Saturday School
Last year, we started a program called Saturday School. This generally runs twice a month from 8:00-11:30 and is supervised by two teachers/OMS employees. Our intent behind this is to offer a safe place for students to work on schoolwork. We do not want this to be seen as a punishment; on the contrary, we hope students and families see this as a way for us to offer support outside the normal school hours in order to help students find success in school. In addition to academic support, we provide a light breakfast of fruit, donuts, and juice/milk for students. Teams work with administration to identify students who could use this support, but we also have students and families reach out to us to sign up. If you are interested in this for your child, feel free to reach out to your child's counselor. Upcoming dates for this are as follows:
October 31
November 14
November 21
Deember 12
A Look Ahead
November 5, 2020
End of 1st Quarter
November 6, 2020
NO SCHOOL - Teacher Workday
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Information below has already been given to you in previous newsletters but we wanted you to have it readily available in case you needed it. Previous newsletter can also be found on the website.
School Work and Schedule
Your child should have work to complete on the days he/she is not in school or online with teachers. Set a routine in the "off days" that includes regular time to work on classwork. Students should be checking their Google Classroom and email for updates on work that needs to be completed when they are not in school or live with their teachers! There will be homework in each of the grades that needs get done.
Be Prepared
Every student must bring their Chromebook to school every day, fully charged.
Teachers will be using these on a daily basis; it is crucial your child brings his/her computer to school every day!
Mask Up
Masks are required each and every day. Please have your students bring their own masks to school.
We are unable to continuously provide masks for students that are not bringing theirs from home. We have a limited amount for loss or breakage but we do not have enough for students that repeatedly forget their masks.
ATTENDANCE
Wednesdays are designated Distance Learning Days, a day for students to connect with teachers about school work. We have structured this day so A Day classes are available in the morning, and B Day classes are available in the afternoon. Each teacher has a Google Meets link in their Google Classroom for students to use if they want to connect with teachers. In general, attendance is not taken on Wednesdays; however, there is one exception.
Teachers may request students log in so they can reteach a skill/concept or help a student with class work. If a student's presence is requested by a teacher, the student will be notified by the teacher in class, through email, or through Google Meets. We are taking attendance for required meetings with teachers on Wednesdays. This will appear in the Early Bird portion of student's attendance and will be labeled as Wednesday Check-In. The notes column will indicate what class a student missed.