Excelsior Springs Schools COVID-19 Update

As the COVID-19 precautions continue, the school districts have been forced to come up with policies and implement immediate changes to learning, for the safety of students and teachers. Below is a series of updates regarding our local schools and what to expect moving forward.

End of the School Year

With the graduation date now having past, the schools have been busy this past week and next preparing for the official end of the current school year.This coming week on May 18th and 19th from 9:00am-6:00pm, high school and middle school students can return their iPads (with chargers cord and block) and get their belongings from their lockers.

ES High School
Students are being asked to stagger their times at the school to the following, if it can be helped:
Last name beginning with letters A-K: May 18th
Last name beginning with letters L-Z: May 19th

ES Area Career Center

The amount of people will be limited in the building at a time. There will be no congregating in the parking lot, classrooms, or hallway. Students will have the option to test for, and receive their Industry Recognized Credentials (IRC) for their courses. Program teachers are working with their state accreditations in order to better understand the waivers for their programs (clinical hours, skills testing sites, deadlines, etc.). This includes EMT, Fire, and CNA students and their certification assessments. They’re asking students to stay in contact with their program teachers and to stay up-to-date on tentative plans for testing as they’re updated.

ES Middle School
Students will also be able to pick up a yearbook if they had preordered one, collect their track apparel if they put in an order, and collect any medications from the nurse’s office. They’re also letting parents know that at this time, students can drop off updated immunizations. They state that if you do not need to return a device or need to pick up any of the items mentioned, you do not have to come to the Middle School.

The Middle School has released a map to illustrate the routes to take when arriving:

Summer School

The Excelsior Springs School District announced on May 12th to the community that the district would be holding a modified “virtual” summer school for grades K-12. Since that time, the schools have released the following information for each building.

Elementaries

Middle School

Excelsior Springs School District is partnering with Launch this summer to provide an online opportunity for Middle School students that are interested in an enrichment learning experience this summer. For information and to register, go to https://www.sps.org/explore to do so. The program will run from 6/3-6/30. Students who currently have district-issued devices checked out to them may keep the devices for Summer School.

High School

ESHS is partnering with Launch this summer to provide online opportunities for both credit recovery and credit acquisition. Even if you have filled out the interest form previously, everyone must fill out the form in order to be enrolled. Students who currently have district-issued devices checked out to them may keep the devices for summer school. Click here to fill out form online.

School Lunches

School lunches are a big part of the decision making that goes in to the schedule of schools, knowing that many children rely on the district’s food for their only meals. Up to this past week, the school district in partnership with Aramark and Apple Bus Company have been delivering meals to students. They won’t be delivering those meals again until the beginning of the Summer School session, starting meal delivery like they’ve done previously on Thursday, June 4th and running through Thursday, June 25th.

To help in getting food to students who need help until summer school starts, the Excelsior Springs Baptist Church will be handing out food Monday through Friday from 11am to 1pm. People can go to the church and pull up to the front doors under the covered driveway where a volunteer will hand them one packet per child. There should be no need for them to exit their cars when they arrive. Their address is 1500 Rosalea, here in Excelsior Springs. Their food supply is limited, so they ask that only the most needy come for assistance. As a reminder, the Good Samaritan Center is handing out pantry boxes with no qualifications needed every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10am-2pm.

June 2nd Election

With the pandemic having impacted the original date for the election, the School Election Bond will now be on the ballot on June 2nd. The district will be holding a Virtual Prop T Question and Answer Session through Facebook Live on the Friends of ESSD Facebook Page on Thursday, May 21st at 1:00pm. Citizens are welcome to watch live or watch the video later for information shared.

Graduation

The official Graduation Ceremony has been rescheduled to August 1st, tentatively. To mark the celebration, last Friday, May 8th, the seniors lined up for a Senior Parade that wound through the community, as citizens cheered them on and honked in congratulations.

This week the Excelsior Springs High School released a “Virtual Senior Awards Ceremony” to recognize the seniors for their scholarships and achievements.

Excelsior Springs Area Career Center also released a virtual Awards and Recognition Presentation:

Reopening of Schools

With this past week the president encouraging schools to reopen, Missouri’s Governor Mike Parson is being asked to consider waiving a new state law requiring school districts to start no earlier than August. 24th. The association asking for the waiver is the Missouri School Board Association, who states that some districts are requesting to open earlier in order to help with the slide in learning that has occurred from students being out of school since March. The association also released a detailed guide in helping schools plan to reopen, covering academics, mental health, transportation, human resources and other topics.

In response, Superintendent Dan Hoehn released a statement on May 12th:

“On April 28th, the district received guidance from the Clay County Health Department that included phases to “re-open” our community and school district. This opening will be a gradual process and one that contains many ideas. To provide clear direction for the future, we put together a “Tiger Re-Open Task Force”. This district team will use all available resources for a quality framework, but will be stewarded by the Clay County Guidelines. Please note, in recent days, the Missouri School Boards Association (MSBA) also released a 97 page document that provided recommendations for re-opening schools. (The MSBA release is just a recommendation as we may use portions of it that best fits our district and community). Rest assured, the school district will put together a common sense/safe learning and attendance plan that will benefit our students.”

Enrollment for 8th Graders and High School is already underway. Contact each building for details on what you need to do to get your student enrolled. Kindergarten students are invited to attend an orientation on Tuesday, July 28th, with kindergarteners needing to be 5 years of age before August 1st.