Connecting with Dr. Joe Morelock         

 https://www.smore.com/qd87b

Upcoming Events:

Election Day, November 3, 2020. Vote your whole ballot, from the White House to the School House!

News links of interest:

Department of Education issues ban on hate symbols—OregonLive

Oregon requiring transparency about COVID cases for school districts—OregonLive

First week successfully underway!

We are hearing good reports from our teachers of high attendance and engagement in our first week of Comprehensive Distance Learning (CDL). Thanks to all our students and to the adults helping them through this new adventure. It takes all of us working together. One teacher summed it up well:

"We have learned how to copy Google Docs, add tabs, have more than one window, and split our screens so that we can see each other and learn at the same time. We are learning how to be responsible online and have a positive mindset about learning I have met with all but 3 of my parental units in Google meets (I have arranged over 40 meetings due to rescheduling no-shows).

I spent 2 1/2 hours on Sunday meeting with parents that could not show up at any other time. With my class we have laughed, been frustrated and problem solved. Students learned how to present their screens to help others and reminded each other of expectations. I have had complete strangers step in to help students problem solve technology issues. Most of all we have practiced patience. We have shared about our pets, dogs, cats, tortoises included. I love my class already and appreciate their willingness to try and the support from home to make sure they show up. Support staff has added supplies to bags at the last minute to make sure they had what they needed."

At the high school, we have implemented an advisory program this year called Tiger Time. Each Tiger Time advisory has approximately 16 students. The primary purpose of Tiger Time is to connect students with a trusted adult at the high school who can serve as an advocate. Activities include social emotional learning, relationship building and high school and post-secondary planning.

We will continue to work to improve on standardizing where to go for the information needed, as each class is a little different right now. There are things to work out, but all in all we are grateful to students and staff alike for getting things going!

Food Service

Our Nutrition Services team has been working very hard to work out the problems. Food delivery began a week ago Friday, delivering more than 8,500 meals for kids across the district. Two meals are delivered on Wednesdays, and three meals on Fridays to anyone in our district who requests it.

The Federal Government has extended funding similar to our summer food program through December 2020. This allows us to deliver these meals free of charge to anyone age 1-18 who needs them. We encourage you to sign up. We also encourage you to look at the new guidelines and apply for free/reduced lunch. Not only will this help if the government doesn't extend funding, it will help with other things like reduced athletic and other school fees.

More information here, including the link to sign up if you haven't already. (Applying for free/reduced lunch does not automatically enroll you in food delivery; you must do that as a separate step with the sign up link.)

School Construction Bond

On August 11, 2020, the Newberg School Board voted to place a construction bond on the November 3, 2020 ballot. If approved, these bonds will allow the district to improve health and safety in our schools, update classrooms and learning environments, improve technology, provide needed maintenance, upgrade Career and Technical Education classrooms at the high school to cutting edge facilities, make substantial improvements to Edwards Elementary School, and replace Dundee Elementary School.

More information will be coming out in the weeks ahead, but here is a basic fact sheet to inform you.

When can we reopen school to in-person learning?

Unfortunately, we are still some time away from being able to open to in-person learning. We very much want to open in person when it is safe to do so.

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) has set metrics we have to watch. Weekly cases per 100,000 in each county where we have significant numbers of staff and students must be under a certain amount for three weeks, and the test positivity rate must be under 5%. While they have relaxed the test positivity rule for the month of September due to less tests being given because of wildfires, we still are not close on the other metrics.

To reopen for grades K-3, we must have less than 30 cases per 100,000 per week, for three weeks in a row. Any week with more than 30 cases resets the clock. For the first time since June, Yamhill County met that mark with 28.7 cases. However, Washington County was over the benchmark at 30.3.

To reopen all grades, the benchmark is more strict: less than 10 cases per 100,000 per week, for three weeks in a row. You can track the information at this website. Remember that in October, we will also have to watch the test positivity number again for our counties and for the state. All of them will have to be under 5%.

We will monitor this data carefully. Remember as well that these are the minimum criteria for opening; we will not necessarily open the very first week it is possible, as we want to minimize moving back and forth between hybrid and CDL as much as possible.

Joe's Thoughts:

I know that many of us feel a sense of relief that our first week is finished and we are all still in one piece. Although I know this was not a “perfect” first week of school across all areas, I heard from many places across the district that things had gone relatively smoothly, and we got better as the week went forward. We still have lots to learn and even more to plan for in the coming weeks, but I would like to honor the fact that after a delayed start, our staff and our students were able to come together for some learning and teaching time.

We started our food service program last Friday, and had a few hiccups with getting enough food to enough families that first day. Our food service team and our transportation contractor got together to make the necessary changes and the next two deliveries (Wednesday and Friday) went very well— all told, we delivered more than 22,700 meals in a week and half. Our teaching staff launched literally thousands of Google Meets this week, connecting with each student and family as possible, and were able to begin the semester by getting to know their students and starting in on the content and skills they need for their academic growth. Our support staff has been hard at work filling in the gaps where we cannot yet connect with families, distributing technology and paper-based materials, loading curriculum into horse trailers (no kidding!) for delivery to schools, and doing every other thing possible to make this a successful start to the year.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the adult caregivers in every home who are helping their students get connected, stay connected, stay on task, get the tasks done, figure out the technology, contact the school, get their student back on task again, and make sure the homework gets done and turned in to their teacher. And this is for each one of their children, maybe at different levels in school, in different parts or the same part of the house, while possibly working themselves, and trying to make a lunch for their student’s lunch break. I have been fortunate to work at home a few days this week, and I have had very, very similar experiences to each of you— I know this is hard and I also know we will all get better at it.

We are also preparing plans for what a return to in-person school could look like. We are still a ways away from bringing large groups of students back in, but we need to continue our planning for the future when they do all eventually return to school. We have placed a capital construction bond on the ballot this fall, as we know that someday soon we will be back in buildings and we need to upgrade, replace, and improve the facilities we have for both the short and the long term. HVAC systems, safer entry locations, increasing career opportunities, and replacing aging buildings are all part of our plan to continue to keep Newberg Public Schools the best places your kids can attend school. There will be public information nights in the coming weeks where we will explain what is included in the bond plans and to answer the questions you may have about it.

We are in a different place right now, but soon we will be able to talk about that “crazy COVID time” we had in the past when we all worked or went to school from home for months. Thank you to everyone who made this week a solid victory, and I hope you all take a needed break this weekend to recharge for the last few days of September and the first week of October!

Joe