Bay Harbor Newsletter
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS
Main Office ............(920) 662-8800
Attendance ............(920) 662 8888
Fax..........................(920) 662-8899
A Message from the Principal
Sailor Families,
We are already rolling through October and my hope is that this message finds you all safe and well. I am very impressed with the level of engagement by our students so far as well as the work teachers are doing to meet the needs of our at-home learners. The rather smooth transition to at-home learning is because of your partnership with our school and the level of care and commitment you have in addition to the extreme hard work and efforts of our teaching crew. After last spring, we really worked hard to reflect and refine our virtual teaching and we are better for it. From the start of this year, teachers took time to train students in all of the things that would need to be utilized to be successful in our time away from school. We understand things won't be perfect, but together, we will get through these difficult times and be stronger for and more appreciative of our in-person time.
Learning Flow
At this point, we should be finding our learning flow. As a reminder, we still have two different paths of learning happening at Bay Harbor: Plan C and Virtual. Plan C is what we are calling our students who signed up to be in-person learners (Plan A) but because of circumstances now have to be at-home learners (Plan C). Virtual is what we are calling students who chose the "at-home" learning as their main learning path. Virtual learners in grades K-3 utilize a separate virtual curriculum called, Florida Virtual. Our 4th grade virtual students are continuing to use seesaw/schoology as their main platform because the teachers are teaching both In-person learners as well as virtual. Virtual students continue on their learning path and schedule that was determined by their teachers at the beginning of the year. Please continue to consult communication from your specific teacher if you have any questions.
Plan C families- The expected learning flow right now will be: a google meet to start the morning that will focus on social emotional check-ins as well as specific teaching points in the area of math or literacy as well as directions on what to expect for the day of learning in seesaw. This should be about 45 minutes. Additionally there are office hours set by the teacher, Specials area class google meets daily (including seesaw specials learning options), small group meets, etc. as needed. Our goal is to provide enough support while also providing enough flexibility to plan your day the way you need to. CLICK HERE to view the google meet schedule and other learning information.
Virtual families- I am excited that our specials area teachers will now be able to engage all learners each day. I hope everyone takes advantage of this during this time. I will begin to pop into more meets with our virtual learners and check-in now that we are all "at-home" learners. I have enjoyed my many check-ins already.
Attendance
We are continuing to take attendance daily. Attendance is tracked by participation in the daily google meets as well as the interactions with their work in seesaw, office hours, etc. Please continue to work with the teacher if you run into situations where your child's availability is different than what is normally scheduled. We want to continue to work with you to meet the needs of our learners and our families during these difficult times. The attendance phone number (662-8888) can still be utilized when a child is ill or not able to do the work on a day. We are planning to be back in-person and want our students to continue their learning so that when we are back in person there is very minimal disruption.
COVID Hotline
Please continue to utilize the Covid hotline (920-662-7233) if your students are experiencing symptoms, was exposed to a positive individual or tests positive. We need this data to help determine to what extent things are getting better or worse in our area and with our students/families. Thank you.
Parent-Teacher Conferences
At this point we are working to plan virtual parent-teacher conferences that would take place during the already scheduled dates of October 27th and October 29th. Please watch for more information to come on this.
Bay Harbor Apparel Update
The Bay Harbor Apparel and Read 20 t-shirts will most likely be coming in sometime in November and we will communicate more at that time.
My hope is that good news is on the forecast and that our students can come back to school! I believe we will be back but that we will ALL need to do our part in the community to ensure that it happens more sooner than later. Thank you again for keeping your children going down the right learning path whether it be in school or not. Flexibility and adaptability are two key areas that will help students long term...and they are getting plenty of practice at that right now:) If you have further questions, please feel free to reach out to me at any time.
United Together,
Tony Ebeling, Principal
Bay Harbor Calendar
7 - Picture Day (Postponed until further notice)
14 - Bay Harbor Day!
16 - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS (Staff PD Day)
20 - Wear your READ t-shirt Day
27 - Virtual Parent/Teacher Conferences
29 - Virtual Parent/Teacher Conferences
30 - NO SCHOOL
NOVEMBER
4 - 1st Quarter Ends
6 - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS (Staff PD Day)
10 - Virtual PTO Meeting 6:00 pm
11 - Bay Harbor Day!
13 - Report Cards Finalized and message sent to families 6:00 pm
News from the School Nutrition Department
HSSD Food Options for Students and Families during Virtual Learning...
Thank you for allowing us to continue to support your family with virtual learning. We are excited to offer NEW options to make school meals more convenient for you. Two options for School Meals To-Go include curbside pick up and home meal deliveries. Curbside pick up locations are available on Fridays from 10:30 am - 5:30 pm at Bay View, Meadowbrook, and Bay Harbor all year long. Home deliveries will begin October 9, meals will be delivered to families on Fridays at no charge. All families will receive bundle bags with breakfast and lunch entrees for the entire week. If you would like either of these options please click the link to sign up.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact HSSD School Nutrition at 920-662-7723.
MENUS/ALLERGIES/NUTRITION:
Menus, nutrition and allergy information for all schools foods can be found on our School Nutrition Meal Viewer website. Our team is privileged to accommodate any special dietary needs. Please contact your school Nurse for questions and or have a medical provider complete the Medical Statement Form and return to school. Please note, it is required to update this form each year. This is to ensure safety for your child at school and in the lunchroom.
School Lunch Prices:
Elementary Student: $2.60
All Adults: 3.85
child Visitor: $2.75
Milk only: $.40
Breakfast: $1.75
Read T-shirt & Bay Harbor Apparel Orders
The Read t-shirt and Bay Harbor Apparel orders have been submitted. If you ordered any of these items, please note that when we receive them, the current plan is for them to be sent home with your child when "in person" learning is resumed. However, please continue to watch for more information regarding this in upcoming newsletters.
PLEASE NOTIFY THE OFFICE IF ANY OF YOUR INFORMATION WOULD CHANGE
If your email address, phone number, or an emergency contact would change, or if you would move, please contact the office right away. We need to have your most current information available. Thank you.
Medication Policy and Forms
Students requiring medication at school shall be identified by parents to the principal or school office. Students are not allowed to carry medication on their person for their safety and the safety of others. All medication will be dispensed from the office.
Dispensing Medication
Medications will not be dispensed from the school office until ALL forms have been completed.
Medication must be in prescription bottle for the prescribed medication and the original container for over-the-counter medications.
Do not send medications in envelopes, plastic bags, or other containers.
Medications must be brought to school by the parent.
Click on the links below for the medical authorization forms:
Returning Student Registration
Parents and Guardians of "Returning Students" to Bay Harbor:
Have you completed the Returning Student Registration that must be done for each student? If not, please do so as soon as possible by clicking here to log into your parent portal account. It is important for you to do this so that we have your most current information and for you to sign off on forms. Please call the school office if you have any questions at 662-8800. Thank you!(Note: This is only for students who attended last year, not for new students who started this school year).
Frontline Health App - Please use once in person learning resumes again
If you are having problems with the Frontline Health App, please remember to utilize the google form link that was in the email that you received to submit any issues and questions you may have. The district is actively working with Frontline to resolve these issues.
The district also has some FAQs and a Help Center which you can access by clicking here
Thank you for your patience as we work through this. In the meantime if the app isn't working for you, remember to still "screen" your child for any symptoms and for fever, before sending them to school.
School Fees
Fees this year will be:
$20.00 per student "School Fee" (K-4th) and $35.00 "Technology Insurance Fee" (K-4th).
PTO Meeting Minutes
School Social Workers Corner
Our HSSD school social work team has created this newsletter and corner to share resources and information from the community with you to support social, emotional, financial, and spiritual needs. This corner will allow you to access resources and services in the community in one location. We will update this newsletter twice a month. Please click on the link below...
Community Corner
The Howard - Suamico School District, partnering with local organizations, features this Community Page that includes a list highlighting events for families in the villages of Howard, Suamico and Green Bay (i.e. scouting, festivals, parades, etc.). Click here to view.
From your School Board, September 2020
Economic Impacts and the Effect on Public Education Funding
This year has certainly presented some very unique challenges across all facets of our society due to the global health crisis. One of those areas that has the potential to impact schools is the decrease in state revenue collection caused by the economic impacts of COVID-19. Funding for K-12 public education is the largest expense in the state budget and the loss of revenue will likely equate to less funding than originally allocated as we head into the second year of the biennium budget. This is something that we have been aware of as a District and while efforts are being made to mitigate the potential impact at both the local and state level, it will take strong collaboration in order to ensure that these efforts are successful.
Fortunately, we have strong working relationships with our local, state, and national elected officials who have been supportive of our efforts, and even recently held a round-table meeting with several of them to learn more about how the economic downturn will affect public education funding. Senator Rob Cowles, Representatives John Nygren, David Steffen and Jim Steineke were all in attendance as well as village administrators and trustees.
We learned that there have been measures that have been put into place by our state legislators to mitigate these impacts. One such example was a budget surplus of $1.2 billion which will now carry into the second year of the state budget, helping to offset the loss of revenue.
Opportunities like these to meet face-to-face allow for the Board and District administrators to share accurate and well-researched information regarding educational needs of our students and how future budgetary decisions will affect the Howard-Suamico School District. We sincerely appreciate the responsiveness, consideration of our positions, and frequent support received from our state legislators and we look forward to continued collaboration.
As a District, we are not sitting back on our haunches and have also taken efforts to reduce costs, such as working closely with Lamers Bus and utilizing drivers differently when schools were shut down in the spring. These measures equated to cost savings of approximately $216,500. Further, educating students virtually came with additional costs, not less. We had to address equity issues in terms of Wi-Fi capabilities so that all students had access to the same content and curriculum. We also had to train staff in order to deliver content virtually and purchase subscriptions to educational platforms to host digital content. We continue to look for ways to be conservative with our spending as we move forward with this changed educational landscape, while also continuing to provide the highest quality programming for our students.
Advocating for the students of the Howard-Suamico School District is an important part of the School Board’s work. We will continue to maintain purposeful connections, meaningful relationships, and continued communication with our elected officials in order to share the potential impact of any budget or policy decisions.
For more information about the Howard-Suamico School District governance system, please visit our website at www.hssdschools.org or for additional information regarding this article, contact school board member Jeff Eilers at jeffeile@hssdschools.org.