Pleasanton USD 344

Greetings! USD 344 Picture Day is Friday, October 9th for all students.

Good evening, to honor the memory of Mr. Richard Carpenter school will not be in session on Wednesday September 23rd to allow staff, students, and patrons the opportunity to join the family in celebrating his life. The service will be held at 11:00 AM in the north gym that day.

Good afternoon parents, I pleased to announce that our district has been approved to receive FREE lunches for all students through the end of 2020! The USDA has extended the meal program that we were utilizing last spring to make this possible. If you currently have a positive balance in your account it will be carried forward.

Good afternoon Parents: Just a reminder that if you signed up to pick up meals during Wednesdays in September that you may pick them up in the back parking lot at the cafeteria door between 11 and 12 noon.

Good afternoon everyone! Our staff has been in meetings all morning finalizing plans for your students arrival in our buildings. USD 344 is proud of the many staff members that have taken classes and learned new methods of instruction during the summer. We are also ready to see students back in the buildings. Students you have been missed! On Wednesday at 7:30 am the doors will open for students. Students will have their temperatures taken with an infrared non-contact thermometer prior to their entry to the buildings. Parents may bring their children to the door however we ask that you not come in to the buildings at this time. Masks are required upon entry unless a prior note from a medical doctor has been provided. In the rare occurrence that you would need to drop something off at the building, the office staff will give you instructions on how and where to leave the item. Overall it is our desire to keep everyone as safe as possible while at the same time delivering the best model of instruction that we possibly can. We are following these precautions to hopefully allow us to continue face to face instruction all year. Keep in mind that anything that we are doing can and may change rapidly as we make adjustments to keep this ship on course. Thank you for understanding and allowing us to educate your children!

Good afternoon parents, today we had a group of administrators and teachers meet and discuss framework and expectations for our upcoming school year. In doing so we would like to request more information from each of you in regards to expectations and desires. Please take a moment and fill out the attached survey. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1yI77bHriuCDyqPlIG2Z1iFVzFX9IYcavq4T-2xeWJjk/viewform?edit_requested=true

Good evening parents and families, I apologize for the late notice. Graduation will be on the football field at 2 PM Saturday. Parents and guests should bring lawn chairs and you will be able to sit on the field. We ask that you space yourselves on the field and social distance. This will be the same format that we had planned inside. In addition we will live stream it and have it playing on the radio for you if you choose to remain in your car or at home. We will send links just before graduation. Thank-you for your patience as we navigate this and try to make the very best graduation that we safely can for our seniors.

Good afternoon everyone, The Governor just announced that she will have an executive order Monday stating that school will not start until after Labor Day. I assume that we will just shift our calendar. We will make an announcement as soon as we know for sure.

Good evening! Please place July 18th at 10:30 am on your calendar as a tentative graduation date. Our desire is for this to be a traditional graduation however we ask that you be patient as we continue to navigate through this.

This is a friendly reminder. Chromebooks and text books need to be turned in today. Last names A-K 8-11 am and L-Z 11-2 pm. Thank you!

PES Families - as there is a confirmed COVID-19 cases in Linn County, NO STUDENTS will be allowed in the building. Student's will retrieve their items via drive through, in the front parking lot. We have a lot of things coming home to you. Packets of school work, chrome books (grades 3-6), art supplies, art projects, and all of your child’s belongings. That said, we are concerned that you may be a little overwhelmed by the amount of things coming home and the task that you may feel before you. Please know that your classroom teachers are available to help you through this. Each week teachers will make at least one contact with you to ensure that you are being supported. They will also be checking in and supporting your children every day with their work. If you happen to need to get in touch with them any time throughout the week, teachers have set aside 2 hours everyday to be available to communicate with their families. We are here for you. Pick up of these materials and your students belongings will happen on Friday. Here is the pick up schedule for the elementary school. It is by last name. A - B 9:00 - 10:00 C - D 10:00 - 11:00 E - J 11:00 - 12:00 K - L 12:00 - 12:30 M 1:00 - 2:00 N - S 2:00 - 3:00 T - Z 3:00 - 3:30 *Families with JH/high school students, the elementary school will make accommodations so that you can pick up your families belongings all at the same time. Please come over after you pick up your things from the high school.

Good evening Parents! We have been busy getting things ready for our teaching staff. Starting Monday you will be receiving calls from your child’s classroom/home room teacher. When they call they will give you a time that you can come to the school to pick up necessary supplies, etc. and they will also have a few survey questions to ask. We have been fortunate to receive approval to give all children age 1-18 in our district FREE breakfast and lunch. You will need to tell the person calling if you would like to receive that, and if you have a bus student, you have an option to have the meals delivered to the bus stop. If not you would be able to pick them up between 11 and noon behind the school just outside the cafe. (Someone will bring to your car). In addition you will be asked about internet connectivity in your house as well as if you have a computer available that your student could work from. The last thing I want to reiterate is that all the planning in the world can change at any moment. Please bear with us as we continue down this path. We are currently clearing the path the best we can however those of you that have been hiking know that sometimes you have to go back and try a different direction to get to where you are trying to go. Together we can do this!

MESSAGE TO FAMILIES Today, March 17, 2020 Governor Laura Kelly announced all school facilities will be closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. This will place tremendous hardship on our families and staff, and impact the social and emotional well-being of our students. We have been working on contingency plans since mid-March, including how we can meet the ongoing learning needs of our students as well as provide breakfast and lunch for our students. The administration will be planning meetings for individual staff members in small groups (Less than 10) to go over tentative plans and get the ball rolling on instruction. These meetings with staff will start Monday, March 23rd and will ramp up to resume instruction by the 30th, if not sooner. Realizing that not all families have access to internet connections, KSDE has provided schools with 3 different instructional delivery methods. We are able to instruct via worksheets, small groups, as well as online computer based. At this point I think it would be safe to assume that your student will see a combination of the three teaching delivery methods being utilized. As you know, our teachers are all trained to teach face to face. This will be a challenge for everyone involved, however, I can promise you that we will do the very best job we can to assure that students are meeting curriculum standards. You should also know that the instruction will evolve throughout the next few weeks that we have remaining. In the end, it is our desire to do all that we can to keep students and staff safe while following local, state and national guidelines/protocols. In addition to instruction, I am sure everyone is also wondering what will happen to spring activities. The Kansas State High School Activities Association has cancelled all spring activities. At this point in time everything on the calendar is considered cancelled with the exception of graduation. It is our desire to schedule graduation once the "all clear" has been given. At this point though all activities etc. are cancelled until June 1. No plans will be made for anything after June 1st until we are given the green light to do so. Our staff and board of education will also be working on other critical issues, such as what this means for our seniors, how this will affect the next school year, and what impact this will have on our employees. We will provide updates on these issues as soon as the information is available. We are committed to working together as a community to support one another throughout these unprecedented times, and communication will remain a top priority. As a reminder, this school closure is in response to the current public health crisis. The focus should remain on preventing the spread the coronavirus, or COVID-19 as it is also referred to.

Greetings!!! Parent Teacher Conferences for Pleasanton schools are today from 4-7 pm. and Thursday 4-8 pm. We look forward to seeing you there. Spring Break will Be Friday, March 13th -March 22nd. Thank You

Three Rivers League Basketball Team Selections. Congratulations coaches and players! GIRLS 1st Team Sophomore Danielle Howard – Uniontown (U) Senior Katie Coomes – St. Paul (U) Junior Railey Robertson – Southeast-Cherokee Senior Emily Hutcherson – St. Paul Senior Madelynn Collins – Yates Center Junior Emma Sabine – Pleasanton Senior Bailey Griffith – Marmaton Valley Junior Karleigh Schoenberger – Uniontown 2nd Team Junior Brali Conard – Chetopa Senior Taylor Wiatrak – St. Paul Senior Rylee Beckmon – Colony-Crest Senior Samantha Blundell – Chetopa Senior Shanler McNickle – Oswego Senior Kate Dawson – Jayhawk-Linn Senior Torrie Albertson – Chetopa Sophomore Aly Ard – Marmaton Valley 3rd Team Senior Haley Claffey – Northeast-Arma Senior Abby Long – Oswego Junior Rachel Fox – Northeast-Arma Senior Breleigh Harris – Uniontown Sophomore Claire Bradshaw – St. Paul Sophomore Mariah Stackhouse – Altoona-Midway Junior Kaylee Becker – Marmaton Valley Sophomore Elise Doherty – St. Paul BOYS 1st Team Senior Adam Albertinie – Saint Paul Junior Jake Harvey – Uniontown Senior Matt Cashero- Northeast-Arma Senior Brance Ware – Jayhawk-Linn Senior Chandler Bradshaw – Saint Paul Senior Luke George – Uniontown Junior Isaac Elliott – Oswego Senior Zach Beckmon – Colony-Crest 2nd Team Senior Reece Solander – Yates Center Senior Easton Dent – Saint Paul Senior Isaac Jurkovic – Northeast-Arma Junior Jace Coltrane – Southeast-Cherokee Senior Kaleb Lemmons – Saint Paul Senior Hayden Smith – Saint Paul Freshman Dale Gillespie – Pleasanton Sophomore Jackson Ashmore – Altoona-Midway Honorable Mention Senior Chase Bradshaw – Saint Paul Senior Jazper McCaauley – Northeast-Arma Sophomore Sean Hurst – Yates Center Senior Dayton Marsh -Altoona-Midway Freshman Cade Burdette – Southeast-Cherokee Senior Cole Cunninghame – Pleasanton Junior Kobey Miller – Colony-Crest Junior Tyson Hermreck – Colony-Crest Senior Jace Wilson – Oswego

You are not too late to join us for dinner tonight and to help support Caleb Secrest’s fundraiser for the Linn County Childrens Coalition. Dinner will be served until 7:00 PM

Good morning, The spelling bee will be rescheduled to February 26th at the same time in the elementary school.

School is cancelled today February 5th. We are currently in a winter weather warning and will already be short staff and students due to the parade. Please be careful today.

Staff and students. Classes will start at 10 am today. Doors will open at 9:30 with breakfast being served at this time. Busses will run 2 hours later than normal. Staff arrival time will be 9:30.

With the threat of bad weather coming in tomorrow night we are going to move up the start times for our home basketball games. Our varsity girls game will begin at 4:30 PM followed by varsity boys. The JV boys will start in the south gym at 4:30 followed by the JV girls.