It's been a rough winter. So far we have missed 10 days which has posed a few challenges in the calendar to fit everything in and still be done with school and summer school by late June. Here is the plan:
Make Up Days INCLEMENT WEATHER DAY MAKE-UP DAY Day #1 November 26, 2018 May 20, 2019 Day #2 November 27, 2018 May 21, 2019 Day #3 January 14, 2019 May 22, 2019 Day #4 January 23, 2019 May 23, 2019 Day #5 January 30,2019 May 24, 2019 Day #6 February 7, 2019 May 28, 2019 Day #7 February 8, 2019 April 19, 2019 (early release day) Day #8 February 15, 2019 No makeup required Day # 9 February 20, 2019 May 29, 2019 (early release day) Day #10 February 27, 2019 No make up required According to Department of Elementary and Secondary Education regulations, we are required to make up the first 7 days missed for inclement weather. After the seventh day is missed and beyond (up to the fourteenth day), every other day is forgiven. After fourteen days have been missed, no makeup days are required. Here is the district plan should additional days of school be missed. Snow day #11 would be made up on May 30, 2019 Snow day #12 No makeup required Snow day #13 would be made up on May 31, 2019 Snow day #14 No makeup required Pending board approval, Summer School will be held from Thursday, May 30 through Friday, June 28th. If we miss any more days of school that will change to be Monday, June 3 through Tuesday, July 2. 2019-20 Calendar: The Board adopted this calendar in the spring of 2018. We have since learned that Tuesday, February 4, 2020 is the presidential primary date and polls at three of our schools are expected to be busy that day. As a result we are asking the Board to make February 4, 2020 a full PD day and to transition the previous PD day on Jan. 6 to a teacher work day. This change will reduce the number of student attendance days from 173 to 172. This change is possible because the statute around required attendance days changes for the 2019-2020 school year to require districts to have 1,044 hours instead of a minimum number of days.
2020-21 Calendar: At their March meeting, the Board will review and vote on a calendar for the 2020-21 school year which includes 170 student attendance days and the same number of teacher work days as in previous years. This calendar ‘exchanges’ the four early release PD days in the current calendar for two additional full PD days. We believe this will lead to more productive PD time and also eliminate the challenges that accompany early release days, including issues with student attendance, parents finding childcare, and a shortened instructional day. The only remaining early release days with this calendar are the last day before Winter Break and the last day of school. Again, while there will be fewer student attendance days, we will meet state requirements by having at least 1,044 student attendance hours. Health screenings will begin in the buildings on March 11th. By participating you not only receive valuable information about your own health you also earn points toward your Go365 goals.
March 11th - Indian Trails - 8:00 AM-1:30 PM March 12th - Elm Grove/Woodland - 8:00 AM -12:00 PM March 13th - Buckner - 8:00 AM-1:00 PM March 14th - Blue Hills - 8:00 AM- 1:00 PM March 15th - Cler-Mont - 8:00 AM -1:00 PM March 18th - CTC - 7:00 AM- 11:30 AM March 19th - OTMS - 7:00 AM - 11:30 AM March 20th - Fire Prairie - 8:00 AM-12:30 PM March 21st - FOHS - 7:00 AM - 12:00 PM Instructions for Signing Up 1. Go to https://www.ehealthscreenings.com/signup 2. Within the red "Not yet registered?" box in the middle of the screen, click the Register now link. 3. Enter the Screening Key: HMV1456 and click on Register. 4. Verify your account with the username & password below: USERNAME:First Initial + Last Initial + DOB (MMDDYYYY) (example: John Smith born 4/23/1975 is JS04231975) PASSWORD:Last Name + last 4 SSN (example: John Smith social 123456789 is Smith6789) 5. In the Update Account section, enter a new Username and Password, verify your account information and click Register. 6. Use the drop-down list next to your screening event to choose your desired time and click Register. 7. Accept the Health Screening Consent and HIPAA Authorization forms by checking the “I agree” box located at the bottom of each consent. In the Signature section below the consents,enter our first & last name and date, then click Proceed to Confirmation. The Go365 program is a great way for employees on health insurance to track health and wellness goals. It's also a great way to earn points towards gift cards and help the district buy down the inevitable increase in insurance premiums. The more members who make it to silver, gold and platinum status, the greater the buy down. This has a direct impact on the funds available for salary enhancements and the cost of insurance both for premiums to staff and HSA contributions provided by the District. You can start taking your health risk assessment anytime by using the app or by visiting www.go365.com.
Believe it or not every day that passes is one day closer to spring and it will be time to plant flowers soon. A $20.00 gift card to the Fort Osage CTC greenhouse will be given away to one lucky winner utilizing the RNG. For those of you interested, please send an email to [email protected] with ‘Spring is Coming’ in the subject line. Entries will be accepted until 8:00 am on Monday, March 4.
Give Away prizes are not purchased with District funds. Only Fort Osage employees are eligible to enter the drawing. This morning the 2018 Annual Performance Report (APR) became public for all public school districts. I’m happy to report that Fort Osage has met its District goal with an overall score of 90.9 percent. This is an improvement on the 2017 performance score and marks the second time in the past five years that we’ve exceeded 90% on the APR. This takes the hard work and dedication of all staff members working to educate students and I’m sincerely thankful for your work to achieve this goal.
The strongest area of performance for Fort Osage was High School Graduation Rate. With a three-year average rate of 97.3%, the District earned a perfect score of 30 points on this standard. Success on this measure is a direct result of the District’s commitment to ensure that all students successfully complete their high school education. The District’s next highest areas of success are Student Achievement on MAP/EOC tests, which is especially impressive because 2018 marked the first year of a new state assessment for students in English Language Arts and Math. Student success on the new assessment as well as their growth from the previous year were critical to this success, along with the continued improvement of high school students on the Government End of Course assessment. Academic achievement was also strong for students identified in one or more of the state’s ‘subgroup’ populations, which include students receiving special education, those who qualify for free/reduced lunch, Black and Hispanic students, and those identified as English Language Learners. Achievement of these students in particular is also evaluated by MSIP and those in Fort Osage performed well in all MAP/EOC subject areas. The MSIP APR also reports on student attendance; specifically on tracking the percent of students who are in attendance at least 90% of the time. Even though every building implements multiple improvement strategies, attendance continues to be a challenge in Fort Osage, with only 87.2% of students district wide meeting this 90% target, indicating a high rate of chronic absenteeism. As you know the District is working to improve this performance through our Every Minute Matters attendance initiative. Another area for potential improvement is in the District’s CCR performance. While an increasing percentage (90.2%) of students are going on to careers, the military or higher education after graduation, it’s been a challenge to meet state targets for student achievement on the ACT and other college-readiness assessments, as well as the percent of students taking college-level courses and earning career preparation credentials while in high school. Administrators and counselors at the High School and CTC continue to work closely with all students to ensure they are prepared for success beyond high school. There is so much more that we do everyday that can’t be measured by the APR. The relationships and continuous care that we provide all students is what I’m most proud of. I’m honored to serve as your Superintendent. Congratulations on a job well done! |
Archives
May 2022
Categories |