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AUGUST 2020 DISTRICT DISPATCH The beginning of the 2020-21 school year is just around the corner. I hope you are having an enjoyable summer in spite of COVID-19 concerns. Registration for all grades will take place at the middle school on Monday, August 3, 2020, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Please keep in mind that we also have an online option for school registration. Go to the school’s website, underwoodeagles.org, and then click on JMC Online Access to get started. If you have any questions, contact the principal’s office in the building where your child or children attend. The first day of classes for students will be on Monday, August 24, 2020. As I write this article, we hope to have regular classes for all students every day. However, there is a strong likelihood that we will have a “hybrid plan” of some kind that will involve a combination of physical attendance and online work. More details will be available at the time of registration. Because of professional development activities for faculty members, we will have a one-hour early dismissal the first three days of school. Otherwise there should be no need for any early dismissals other than our normal early-out Wednesdays. However, if something unusual happens and there is a need to change our normal school day, please tune to the following radio or television stations: KFAB in Omaha (1110 AM), KNOD in Harlan (105.3 FM), KMA in Shenandoah (960 AM), KMTV in Omaha (Channel 3), WOWT in Omaha (Channel 6), and KETV in Omaha (Channel 7). In addition, our school district subscribes to the JMC Instant Parent Contact System. This automated telephone broadcast service enables school personnel to notify all households and parents by telephone within minutes of an emergency or unplanned event that causes a late start, an early dismissal, or a school cancellation. If you have not signed up for this service and are interested in participating, please contact the principal’s office in the building where your child or children attend. Parents/guardians considering the use of the open enrollment option to enroll their child or children in another public school district in Iowa should be aware of the following information: (1) The last date for regular open enrollment requests for the 2021-22 school year will be March 1, 2021; (2) The last date for open enrollment requests for entering kindergarten students will be September 1, 2021; (3) Parents/guardians of open-enrolled students whose income falls below 160% of the federal poverty guidelines are eligible for transportation assistance. This may be in the form of actual transportation or in the form of a cash stipend; and (4) Parents/guardians should be aware that open enrollment may result in the loss of athletic eligibility. Students whose families meet the guidelines of free or reduced lunch, the Family Investment Program (FIP), or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are eligible to have their student fees partially or completely waived. In addition, students who are homeless or whose families are experiencing temporary financial hardship should contact school officials regarding fee reductions or fee waivers at the time of registration on Monday, August 3, 2020. A partial or full fee waiver does not carry over from year to year. It must be updated annually. Students qualify as being homeless if they are sharing the housing of other people due to the loss of housing because of economic hardship, are awaiting foster care placement, or have been abandoned in a hospital. In addition, students are considered homeless if they are living in a car, a public park, an abandoned building, a bus station, or are migratory and are living in any of the circumstances noted above. The school district annually involves parents in the development of its Title I plan, the process for the review of its Title I plan, and the process for the improvement of its Title I plan. For more information regarding parental involvement in the development of the school district’s Title I plan, please contact the elementary principal at 566-2326. Parents/guardians in the Underwood Community School District have the right to learn about the following information regarding their child’s teacher’s qualifications: state licensure status, special endorsements for grade/level taught, and baccalaureate or graduate certification or degree. If the school district must utilize the services of a long-term substitute teacher for four or more weeks and the substitute does not have the specific licensure for the content area being taught, the school district will notify the parents of the students involved in writing. For more information, please contact the Office of the Superintendent; Underwood Community School District; P.O. Box 130; Underwood, IA 51576 (Telephone: 712-566-2332). The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords parents and students over 18 years-of-age (“eligible students”) certain rights with respect to the student’s educational records. Those rights are as follows: (1) The right to inspect and review the student’s educational records within 45 days of the day the school district receives a request for access; (2) The right to request the amendment of the student’s educational records that the parent or eligible student believes are inaccurate or misleading or in violation of the student’s privacy rights; (3) The right to consent to disclosure of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s educational records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent; and (4) The right to inform the school district that the parent or eligible student does not want directory information to be released. A parent or eligible student must make such a request annually to the building principal by September first of each school year. Directory information is defined as follows: name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, email address, grade level, enrollment status, participation in officially recognized activities or sports, weight and height, dates of attendance, degrees and awards received, the most previous school or institution attended by the student, photograph and likeness, or other similar information. The Underwood Community School District offers career and technical programs in the following areas: business education, family and consumer science education, industrial education, and marketing education. In these career and technical educational programs, as well as all programs in the school district, it is the policy of the Underwood Community School District not to discriminate on the basis of age, color, creed, national origin, race, religion, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical attributes, physical or mental ability or disability, ancestry, political party preference, political belief, socioeconomic status, or as otherwise prohibited by statute or regulation. For more information or for concerns regarding educational programs and activities, contact Edward H. Hawks, Equity Coordinator. For more information or for concerns regarding employment practices or civil rights grievance procedures, contact Edward H. Hawks; Underwood Community School District; P.O. Box 130; Underwood, IA 51576 (Telephone: 712-566-2332).

 

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Underwood Community Schools

Baseball/Softball Game Expectations for COVID-19 Prevention

     Starting June 15, 2020, Underwood CSD will allow baseball and softball games to begin following the guidance of the governor, Iowa Department of Education, and the athletic associations. Extra-curricular activities are a choice to attend. We completely understand if you do not wish to participate during this time or attend events. If you choose to attend the following mitigation efforts are required to help ensure player, coach, and spectator safety:

 

❏ Posted signage prominently indicating no one should attend or participate in games if they currently have symptoms or have been in contact with anyone with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis in the last 14 days. 

❏ The use of dugouts is permitted during games only. Coaches may spread out players by using the fence line outside the dugout. No one allowed in the dugout except for the current games active players, coaches, and trainers. No managers, ball or batboys, players not active in the game, or media allowed. 

❏ Players should use their own gloves, helmets, and bats as much as possible. 

❏ Players must bring their own water/beverage to consume during and after games. No shared drinking fountains, water stations, or coolers may be used. 

❏ Coaches must sanitize shared equipment before and after each game.

❏ Players, coaches, and fans should check their temperatures before attending games. This is the responsibility of the player and coaches and should be done at home before attending. A temperature of 100.3 or above is considered a fever and you should not attend or participate in the event.   

❏ Anyone with symptoms of illness is not allowed to participate in or attend the game. 

❏ Underwood will not be using our bleachers. Fans should bring their own chairs or will need to stand at events. Plan on needing your own chair for all events you attend this summer, home, and away.  Fans should practice social distancing between different household units and accept personal responsibility for public health guidelines. 

❏ Schools must also implement any other reasonable measures under the circumstances of each school to ensure the social distancing of staff, students, and community members increased hygiene practices, and other public health measures to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 consistent with guidance issued by the IDPH. Each school has the right to impose more stringent guidelines for fans to attend. If attending an away game as a fan plan to have a mask in case that school is requiring you to have one to attend. Underwood will not require masks but may have to limit the number of fans that may attend based on the current guidance of 50% capacity being allowed by the Governor. 

❏ Fans must not attend if they have symptoms of illness. 

❏ No concessions stands are permitted. Fans may bring their own water, soda, sports drinks, and snacks. They are allowed to bring a small cooler out of their car, cooler items can not be shared with anyone outside of your family. Items should be brought from your car individually and not in a cooler if at all possible. 

❏ Public Health will be contacted  if a positive case of COVID-19 is reported

• Admission to all WIC conference games will be $5.00 for adults and free for students and passes will be accepted. We ask that you try to bring exact change if at all possible. Non-conference games will have various admission pricing.  

 

   Thank you for following the guidelines above and making this opportunity for our athletes possible. Please understand that anyone that does not follow the guidelines above may be asked to leave or cause future games to be canceled. Please understand that this opportunity is unique and will be different than a normal season. Refrain from addressing players, coaches, and officials negatively during games to help make this experience run smoothly. We look forward to seeing you all again soon and GO EAGLES!

School Closure: Middle School Student Educational Opportunities

 

            Due to the school closure starting on March 17^th until further notice we will have educational opportunities for our middle school students to remain engaged. The hope is that we will return from this closure with minimal reteaching and be able to continue with where the students would have been if the closure did not occur. We do understand that many of your students will have added roles at home as daycare providers. We have decided as a staff to minimize the number of assignments coming home during this time to 2-3 a week per class. Teachers will still be in contact through various platforms each day (i.e.: phone, google classroom, gmail, and other online platforms). Please remember that during this closure if it was a planned no school day (March 27^th) it will remain a no school day and staff will not be available on those days. Below is a list of each middle school teachers’ expectations and where students can find resources and classwork.

 

Ms. Biggs (Band): 6-8th grade students will have an opportunity to do lessons through zoom. If a student is unable to make that lesson time possible please email me to let me know. They will have a weekly assignment on Sight Reading factory. They are all already signed up for it. I will be available from 9AM-1PM daily to answer any questions you may have. 

Mrs. Kay (Resource): All assignments will be available on google classroom. Students should complete tasks and then mark assignment complete on classroom. I will communicate daily to check in on student progress. Please email me at mkay@underwoodschools.org with any questions or concerns. If students need additional help understanding assignments, please email me to set up a Zoom video meeting. 

Mrs. Hjelle (7^th Reading/English): 7th grade English and reading- All assignments and guidance will be given through Google Classroom and Zoom.  I will be available from 12:30-2:30 every school day for questions and communication.

Mrs. Stamp (7/8 Science): Students: I will be communicating to students through email and/or google classroom daily, Monday-Friday.  I plan to check my email daily for correspondence and also have “online office hours” where I will be at my computer for instant communication if needed.  
  Assignments will be posted/submitted on google classroom.  Occasionally, students will be assigned activities through the HMH portal (student ebooks), but information about the assignment will be found on the google classroom page.  Daily “online office hours” also be posted and updated here.
 - Currently, there is an assignment posted on google classroom that is due on Wednesday, March 18.
 -HMH portal link:  https://www.hmhco.com/one/login/?state=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hmhco.com%2Fone%2F%23%2Fdiscover%2FSCI_NA18E_SCIDIM_MODA
             Some students also chose to have hard copies of their books, which they picked up today. Parents: Updated classrooms and assignments/expectations can be found on my planbook website.  Please communicate with your students about upcoming activities and assignment due dates, or if would like to see our google classroom.  If you have any questions or concerns, please email me at kstamp@underwoodschools.org

Mrs. Privia – (8th grade English and reading classes): I will communicate all lessons through Google Classroom, email, and Planbook. I will be doing most of my work from 9:00 - 12:00 most mornings, and then I will check in periodically in the afternoon.

AR tests can be taken from home.

Ms. Bolduan (7/8 Social Studies): Google Classroom and email will be utilized for all assignments and communication.  I will check my email periodically throughout regular school hours to answer questions and provide extra assistance

Mr. Mechaelsen (6^th Science and Social Studies): All assignments and communication will be done through Google Classroom and through student's email. I will also update my planbook weekly so that parents can continue to check and keep track of what their child is doing in Science and Social Studies. I will also be available between 9:00-12:00 each morning to answer any questions parents or students have via email. I will check my email periodically throughout the rest of the day in case there are any further questions I can answer.

 

Mr. Ridder: (6th-8th Grade PE): All assignments will be workout based and can be found on TeamBuildr.com (the "e" is supposed to be missing in builder) or the TeamBuildr App.  Seventh and eighth grade students have used this all year, but sixth grade created an account on Monday, March 16th.  There will be three workouts posted each week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Students need to click the check mark to show they have completed each activity in the workout.  I will constantly check my email for any questions Monday-Friday 8:00am to 3:30pm.  Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Mr. Hjelle (6^th Math): Students will get a daily email explaining daily expectations.  All videos, worksheets, and notes will be found on Planbook, most graded assignments will be sent using Google Classroom.  I know that daily situations for each student may differ so I will not put due dates on the assignments.  I have let students know that if they need individual help that they can email me to set up a Google Hangout video session if a general email won't solve the problem.  I should be available M-F 8-4, but will also be able to help later if needed.  As this situation is new to all of us some expectations may change as we maneuver our way through this process.  All assignments, quizzes, tests will be graded based on points.  There will not be any weighted categories in my grade book as there have been for the first 3 quarters.

Mrs. Mahoney (6^th Reading/English): I will be communicating to students through Google classroom, emails or planbook. I will have online "office hours" from 9:00-12:00 daily on school days for any questions you may have through google classroom or email.

Mrs. Minssen (7/8 Math): The students were given their assignments for the next 2 weeks. They will have 2 days to complete each assignment.  They are to take a picture of their assignment or type it up and send me an email at tminssen@underwoodschools.org.

Students may email me with questions and I will get back to them as soon as possible.  I also suggest to them if they need help to use Khan Academy. If they need further assignment I will email them to them along with the due dates.

Mr. Adamon (6-8 Choir): 6th-8th Choir students will have music literacy and listening activities. Communication will primarily be through Google Classroom and student email. Mr. Adamon will post assignments and due dates on each class's Google Classroom site. Mr. Adamon will be available daily from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM. Students also have accounts with SightReadingFactory.com to use and submit literacy assignments. If students or parents have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

The Underwood Quiz Bowl Team participated in the Iowa Masonic Quiz Bowl Tournament on Saturday, March 7 in Waukee.  After a close loss in the morning, the team came back to win their last 4 matches against Albia (210-90), Logan-Magnolia(150-140), IKM-Manning (180-170), and Chariton(160-130) to win the tournament.  In the championship round, sophomore, Max Casson scored the most toss up question points and junior, James Brainard, and freshman, Kira Hetfield also scored points on a couple of toss up questions to help the team win.  Kira also ran the table on a set of questions about the novel, Little Women, to help the team earn 30 points in the teamwork phase of the competition to help seal the victory.

 

As part of the tournament, the Grand Lodge of Iowa provided the Underwood Quiz Bowl Team with a $1000 cash prize for winning the tournament.  Team members were seniors: Zach Teten, Jared Redshaw, and Wyatt Redshaw; junior: James Brainard; sophomore: Max Casson; and freshman: Kira Hetfield.

 

Quiz Bowl is an academic competition where schools compete against other schools in a Jeopardy style format.  Questions typically cover the topics of literature, social studies, science, mathematics, fine arts, and miscellaneous.  The Underwood Quiz Bowl Team's next tournament is the WIC Tournament on Wednesay, March 18 at AHST-W.  Their final competition will be the State Quiz Bowl Championships at Des Moines Central Academy on Saturday, April 18.

Carleigh Opal(4th), Meredith Hjelle (1st), Ava Schuster (6th), and Owen Fletcher (3rd) each had their artwork selected for the Art Educators if Iowa Youth Art Month shows in Des Moines at the State Historical Museum during the month of March. Meredith's artwork was also chosen for National Convention to represent Iowa. Ava's artwork was also chosen for the Governor's Show which will be on display in the Governor's office at the state Capitol.