If you have been watching the Governor’s daily updates on television, you may have heard that along with the Commissioner of Education, they fully expect that we will not be returning to the classroom as usual for the remainder of the school year. I do not see that changing, but in these crazy times almost anything is possible. Your students are being provided with learning opportunities, and I would strongly encourage parents to follow-up with your child and make sure that they are taking advantage of that. Unless it is make-up work that was needed to bump a grade, this work is strictly for educational enrichment to prepare your child for next year, not to be graded. For most students, their grade in a subject or class (unless it was a dual enrollment college course) will be what they had when they left school upon the COVID-19 closing.

The benefit of learning is priceless. Teachers are available and easily reachable via email, so please, I urge you to sit down with your child and see what they have been given to do. It is very important that your child is ready for next year, ready for the ACT test, etc.  Our teachers are ready and able to help in a variety of ways. Please, please help teach your child the habit of life-long learning. There is everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Thanks to those families who have taken advantage of the lunch program that is offered at our pickup points in Indianola, Bartley, Danbury, Lebanon and Wilsonville. Our staff is more than willing to prepare more and make those deliveries to our sites! Remember, there is no “qualification” for these lunches. Any child ages 0-18 is eligible. There is a lunch and a breakfast for the following day. We want to help. If you live in McCook, McCook Public Schools will provide a meal for you without question. Please contact them.

With the Governor’s statement that the peak of this virus will probably be in mid-April, he also said there will be a gradual easing of restrictions later. How this will affect a possible later date for a prom and how we may do some kind of graduation ceremony is yet to be determined. We hope very much that these are both possible, but things are a bit out of our control at this point. We will continue to update you on these things as we get more information. Sadly, having full access to many things may be longer than we were initially told.

Sincerely,

R. Todd Porter

Superintendent

3-30-2020

Dear Southwest Jr/Sr High School Parents and Students:

As indicated to the students and sent out by Blackboard messaging when we were required to dismiss school, a week was given to all students and teachers to prepare for distance learning, which primarily would come through contact with teachers via the students’ e-mail accounts. The week has passed so students will begin the process of accessing these lessons. All students were told to take all books home, take their Chromebooks home, and if students did not have internet access, they were offered the opportunity to get free internet access through Pinpoint. We were able to forward the names of families to Pinpoint so they could connect those students. A huge shout out to Pinpoint!

Last week a letter was sent to all families that had failing grades that those students still had time to turn in missing or incomplete assignments that had already been assigned to them previously in the semester, so they could make an attempt to raise their grades to a passing status. Any student needs to contact their teacher if they had any missing work prior to their dismissal and that work will still be accepted to raise their grade. Our hope is that those parents and students work to get those assignments promptly. Grades for that work, therefore, would still be able to raise the semester grade.

In light of the fact that most of our students are not used to doing all on-line classes, or distance education, it was decided that the new assignments sent out would be for students to come to closure in their classes, prepare for next year (whether that be the next grade or graduation), and their grades would remain at the level they were at when they were dismissed from school. We are encouraging parents to check with their students to make sure that they are taking advantage of this learning opportunity. They will not be downgraded for not doing this new work, but it would be a great loss of opportunity to not do the work. It will not be the same amount of work as a usual full day/week of school. We want our students to be the best prepared as they can be when they return to school. Some assignments may arrive at night or on the weekend, but that doesn’t mean that it is due at that time. Teachers will get information to students at a variety of times and students can work when it works best for them. Some teachers may have group chats or Zoom meetings to have class discussions.

This has hit us all hard. Every school is handling this situation as best they feel they can for their students. This is something that we never expected, nor had experience in. Students should not feel burdened or overwhelmed by the work assigned. There will be a variety of methods used, and most should feel quite comfortable with it. If you are having any difficulties, contact the school or e-mail your teachers or Mr. Springer immediately.

Sincerely,

R. Todd Porter - Superintendent

Free Breakfast/Lunch at Southwest Public Schools

Beginning MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2020

To order call: 308-364-2613

Southwest Public Schools will offer free breakfast/lunch for curbside pick-up at the following locations:

• Bartley Jr/Sr High School—11:00-1:00 enter south drive, pick-up at curb, exit north drive

• Indianola Elementary School—11:00-1:00 enter from east between City Park and school, pick-up at curb, exit south to highway

• Danbury—10:30-11:30 City Park

• Lebanon—12:00-1:00 City Park

• Wilsonville—12:00-1:00 City Park

All children ages 0 – 18 years old are eligible for these free meals.  We just ask that you call the school by 9:00 a.m. to let us know how many meals are needed and which pick-up site you will visit.  When you call, we will order for the whole week.

For our students who live in McCook

McCook Public Schools offers the same option.  Pick-up site is

McCook Jr. High 800 West 7^th

Order by 9:00 a.m.: 308-344-4400 Option 4

While we are away from school, many teachers want to share some resources with families to help students continue their learning. 

Elementary:

This is a great Google Doc with LOTS of links that are ready to use.  Includes stuff for all ages!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o6IvDj3hqD2eOa_rrPhtLUTUX7SPLT9OY-y7hx8vukA/edit?ts=5e710667

Southwest Family, with recent events we are trying to fill our yearbook pages (Track, Golf, Prom, etc.) with other types of pictures.  The yearbook staff has worked very hard on taking pictures but we still need some help to fill these unprecedented times (COVID-19).  If you could please click on the banner, and type in the access code: Southwest.  You will be able to upload photos so the yearbook staff can use them.  Thank you for your help!!

Access Code:  Southwest