Update: School starting on September 2

 

Welcome to the 2020-2021 School Year!

South Bend School District

To All Parent, Students, Families, & Community Members-

The 2020-21 school year is now upon us and will begin next Wednesday, September 2, 2020.  I am writing this post as one final update as we get ready to start the year.  I don't have to tell you this school year is different, challenging, or unprecedented.  In fact, I think all of us are getting tired of hearing these descriptors for everything that is going on in our society.  That being said, I am thankful that we are somewhat sheltered from many of the realities being experienced by others across our state and nation.  

With that, below are several updates for us here in South Bend.

Starting school

Teachers and staff are geared up and ready to begin school remotely.  Our first three days (Sept 2, 3, 4) will be used for on-campus student/family conferences with teachers, which are now being scheduled.  If you do not have a conference appointment, please call your school office at 875-6041.  At the conference, students will receive a computer, training in logging in and accessing their virtual classroom, and will receive other materials and resources.  Finally, any remaining paperwork and/or registration can be done at this time.

Also, preschool registration is happening now.  If you need to register for preschool, contact the Early Learning Center at 875-6041.

Food service will continue and be available to all families.  We will be delivering meals to homes in September with the eventual transitioning to regional pickup locations until school resumes in-person.  More information will be coming on meal delivery soon.

Who to contact

Please feel free to contact the following people if you have any questions with regards to your student and/or their school:

Early Learning: 

Mackenzie Trotter, mtrotter@southbendschools.org; 

Amy Nelson, anelson@southbendschools.org

Mike Morris Elementary: 

Tammy McDougall, tmcdougall@southbendschools.org

Kresta Byington, kbyington@southbendschools.org

Jr. Sr. High School:

Susie Williams, swilliams@southbendschools.org

Theresa Mee, tmee@southbendschools.org

Jason Nelson, jnelson@southbendschools.org

Jon Schray, jschray@southbendschools.org

When will students be back on campus?

We are maintaining regular contact with the Pacific County Health Department in monitoring COVID-19 cases in our county.  We are hoping the new case count will continue to drop and will allow us to resume an in-person hybrid model in October.  This is our intent and we are making plans now for the safe return of students.  You can expect regular updates as we learn more in the coming weeks.

Medical care available to all South Bend students

In an attempt to help families access medical care for their students, South Bend School District has partnered with Hazel Health to provide telemedicine accessible from your home.  This is accessible to all South Bend students, regardless of income.  Details can be found here.  Through this program, most all urgent care needs, prescriptions, and other follow-up type medical services can be provided virtually from your home.  Hazel bills both private insurance and Medicaid, with zero copays.  Financial assistance is available to any student not covered by health insurance.  Please contact your school office for questions.

Mike Morris Elementary School

Our new elementary school is basically complete.  Teachers are moving in to their classrooms and our offices are up and running.  Phase 2 is just about to begin, which will include a new parking lot and play field.  We will be planning an open house soon.  Below are just a few pictures.

Parking

As you can imagine, parking is still a challenge due to our construction.  When you need to park, please park on First Street, or in one of our parking lots.  There is no parking available behind the high school.  Access to the elementary school can be found just east of the school library.  Please follow the sidewalk back to the new school.  

In conclusion, we all look forward to serving our students and we will do everything possible to ensure student education is the best it can be.  If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas, please feel free to contact me at 875-6041 or jtienhaa@southbendschools.org.   

Go Indians!

Jon Tienhaara

Superintendent

Planning for Fall: Update #4

Community Update

August 3, 2020

To all South Bend Parents, Students, and Community Members-

This last week Pacific County superintendents received an advisement from Dr. Krager of the Pacific County Health Department.  In this letter he states:  

"We all want our children to go back to school, as the benefits for students and families are obvious. However, with the current disease burden in Pacific County we recommend that school districts in the county start the school year with distance learning and then re-evaluate the conditions monthly."  

Over the last two weeks many school districts across the state announced they will begin the school year remotely due to COVID-19, and more districts continue to announce these intentions.  Due to Dr. Krager's recommendation, we believe our safest option at this point is to start September with remote learning, which will be considered by our Board next week.  

Our principals continue to work with teachers and staff in planning for remote learning, and we will have detailed plans to release to parents toward the end of this week or early next.  Much of our planning stems from lessons learned this past Spring, and include:

1. Structured daily and weekly schedules with students having the opportunity to see their teachers each day; 

2.  A standardized Google Classroom for each grade;

3.  Live teacher instruction that will be recorded and also available for students and parents outside of normal school hours;  

4.  Live help sessions for extra student support.

5.  Provision of special education services.   

In addition, daily student attendance will be taken and typical class expectations will be followed. The elementary grades will focus on reading, writing, and math with other subjects integrated appropriately.  We are looking at a model where the junior/senior high will be focusing on just three subjects per day, rather than six, allowing for a more focused learning approach and faster earning of credits.

Another component we are looking at is a student/teacher conference (in person) the first one to two weeks of school, where students and parents will have the opportunity to meet their teachers, receive technology and materials, and get a feel for what will be expected.  

Our goal and intent is to seamlessly transition from the remote model to our onsite face-to-face model when we are able.  As such, we are also planning our on campus model so that we can return as soon as we can safely do so.  More information on returning face-to-face is forthcoming.

I want to thank our parents, students, staff and community for continued patience.  We are working as hard as we can and continue to adapt to very fluid circumstances.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 875.6041 or email at jtienhaa@southbendschools.org.

Sincerely,

Jon Tienhaara
Superintendent