The end of the third mid-quarter is Tuesday. Allowing for time for teachers to complete the mid-quarter reports, the reports will likely be emailed early next week. Use JMC to see the most current grades for students in at least grades 3-8.
Virtual Career Fair
This year’s Scott County Catholic Schools and St. Ambrose University 8th grade career fair is virtual. We would like to thank our “presenters” who did things much differently this year, and our counselors and student services personnel who organized the event.
Special Activities on March 12
March 12th is the last school day before spring break. Students have an out of uniform green/white themed day on the 12th, and we will do the Minute to Win It activities in the afternoon that had been postponed from Catholic Schools Week due to the weather. Classes resume after spring break on March 22nd.
Donations, Fundraisers, and Special Projects
We would like to thank Uncle Bill’s Pizza, which donated the pizza for all students and staff during Catholic Schools Week.
We have restricted use funds in memory of Janet Thomas, long-time librarian for JFK and organist for OLV, that will be used toward outdoor musical equipment to be installed near our rosary-themed play area by the playground this summer. If you would like to contribute toward that project, please specify that with your donation.
Major projects related to the Cultivating Our Future capital campaign are being planned. A quote was approved to replace the blower in the church’s HVAC system, and quotes are being received to replace the church’s sound system. (None too soon!) We are also finalizing the documents for the school HVAC project that we’d like to complete this summer. The school HVAC project includes heating pipes mitigation, mechanical ventilation, air conditioning, and air purification. Pledges and donations are still being accepted for the $1.6 million campaign. For more information about the campaign, use the following link: capital campaign.
Plans are being made for a late spring “Gala” fundraiser that will combine online elements and socially distant outdoor elements utilizing our vast campus. We also hope to celebrate the anticipated beginning of the school HVAC project. If you would like to donate an item or service that can be auctioned alone or in a basket combined with other items, please contact Angie Hillebrand in the school office.
Plant Sale packets went home with students this past week. I’m so done with the winter blahs. Now that we’re starting to see grass again, it’s time to think spring! For online ordering, please visit: https://www.janetsjungle.com/davenport-jfk-catholic-school.html Don’t forget to check back each week to see what new (online) BONUS BUYS have been added! The sale concludes April 5th. Plant Pickup Days (curbside only again this year) will be: April 29th & April 30th.
Marco’s Pizza is working with our Home & School Association for a “restaurant night” on both March 5th and 6th from 5:00-9:00 p.m. H & S will receive 20% of all online sales (marcos.com) and 15% of orders placed over the phone.
Fundraisers provide OLV/JFK one way to receive support from the broader community. If it weren’t for fundraisers, users of the school, that is, tuition paying families, would have to pay hundreds of dollars more each year.
We are also, of course, grateful to OLV parishioners, including most of you, who give generously to the parish. The parish support of JFK equates to almost $2,000 per K-8 student.
Last Day of School to be Decided this Week
The OLV/JFK board of education meets this week. On the agenda are the last day of school for this year and the first day of school next year. The DCSD approved August 23rd as its first day of school for next year, and I anticipate that we will too.
Tuition Contracts for 2021-22, Kindergarten Round-Up, PS, and ECLC Registration
Emily Sanderson, in the school office, is preparing the 2021-22 tuition contracts that represent the official registration document for next school year. If you have not turned in your kindergarten round-up paperwork yet, please do so or contact her ASAP. We don’t want to leave anyone off the list and without a kindergarten spot for next year. We hope to have the tuition contracts mailed to families before spring break.
Preschool registration for 3, 4, and 5 year olds and ECLC (childcare) does remain open. If you have not yet registered for these programs, please contact the school office ASAP. Information we receive from families is used to determine waiting lists, staffing levels, and the number of sections to operate for each grade level. We are, for example, already looking at student to staff ratios for preschool and ECLC for next year.
COVID Data
Below is a link to a .pdf file that shows several graphs of Scott County and JFK data.
The sources I have been using to prepare some of the Scott County information I’ve been sharing on a weekly basis changed the way they are reporting the information, and I may have to change my information as well for the future.
Scott County data continues to trend downward. Health department officials are hoping that we can avoid a 4th surge even as new variants become more widespread. Looking at the “Confirmed and Epi-Linked Infections” graphs, one can see the first surge after the July 4th holiday, a November surge (which, oddly enough for Iowa, was before Thanksgiving), and the after Christmas surge. Health officials jokingly asked school administrators if we’d consider cancelling spring break!
Assumption Musical
Join the Assumption Knight Players as they present Shrek the Musical March 5, 6, and 7. Shrek brings all the beloved characters from the film to life on stage and proves there’s more to the story than meets the ears. A limited number of in-person tickets will be available beginning February 22, or watch from the comfort of your couch with our live stream! For all tickets, please click HERE. Please Note: No tickets will not be sold at the door.
The First Communion meeting for students and parents is February 28th in the church to allow for social distancing. The meeting is from 1:00-2:00. There will be some practical information for this year and information to assist families with helping their children prepare for this special sacrament.
Sacrament of Reconciliation at JFK
Catholic students in grades 2-8 will receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the school day on Tuesday. Students of other religious backgrounds may choose to talk with a priest, if they’d like, and about 1/3 to 1/2 of these students do.
Adjustments to Our School Calendar Not Yet Decided
Last week I indicated that the DCSD has extended its school year until June 16th to make up for the three weather related closures prior to February 8th. (After February 8th, all of the DCSD’s weather-related closures are virtual learning days for all students.) Our board has not made any decisions yet about the school calendar itself. The only decision our board made was that we would not have virtual inclement weather days as long as we had enough instructional time that we legally did not have to make it up. Given the challenges of everyone, including teachers with their own children, having to switch to remote learning with notice sometimes as late as 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. for inclement weather, we thought we could just let that option go.
JFK, like most schools/districts, has more instructional time than legally required. When it comes to whether or not to make up inclement weather days, the question often isn’t just about meeting the legal minimum but about compromising the school’s/district’s normal standard. JFK has made no decision on the school calendar itself. We typically don’t make that type of calendar decision until we know what the DCSD is going to do (so we know what the bus transportation will be) and, hopefully, we are far enough into spring that we won’t have any more cancellations.
Kindergarten Round-Up, PS, and ECLC Registration for 2021-22
If you missed kindergarten round-up, 3-5 year old preschool or ECLC (childcare) registration, please contact the school office ASAP. Information we receive from families is used to determine waiting lists, staffing levels, and the number of sections to operate for each grade level. These decisions are often made before March. We have, for example, already been looking at the student to staff ratio for ECLC in case we have more three year olds register for ECLC.
Without completed kindergarten round-up forms, there is no guarantee that kindergartners of current K-8 siblings will have spots available when we prepare the official tuition contracts for all families in the next few weeks. Return the completed forms ASAP.
Use Your Stimulus Funds for JFK Payments or a Donation to the Capital Campaign
Use your stimulus funds to pay for JFK tuition, childcare, or other fees. If you are running into financial difficulties, please contact the school office and/or Fr. Jake so arrangements can be made. We don’t want to have to talk about continued or future enrollment if we can avoid it by having a plan in place.
Consider a donation to our capital campaign. The $1.6 million dollar campaign included $1.1 million for school HVAC work, $400,000 for other campus work to include HVAC work and a new sound system in the church, repairs to smaller church windows, and parking lot maintenance, and $100,000 for ministry work. Just over $1.0 has been pledged so far. We hope to do the HVAC work to the school this summer. It includes heating pipes mitigation, mechanical ventilation, and air conditioning. We are also now examining an option for air purification. For more information about the campaign, use the following link: capital campaign.
COVID Data
Below is a link to a .pdf file that shows several graphs of Scott County and JFK data.
The sources I have been using to prepare some of the Scott County information I’ve been sharing on a weekly basis changed the way they are reporting the information on Thursday or Friday. I may have to change my information as well for the future. For example, the state’s official site, https://coronavirus.iowa.gov, does not seem to be reporting a 14 day positivity rate by county any more. They have switched to a 7 day rate. This change is interesting as the guidance regarding how a district/school applies to go 100% virtual due to COVID is still based upon the 14 day positivity rate. How a district/school accesses the 14 day rate any more is unknown. Thankfully, almost all counties in Iowa were below the 15% positivity rate that can be used to help trigger an application to go 100% remote for two weeks when this data reporting change was made. I have also used the following website as a back up source: https://iowacovid19tracker.org/scott-county/ This site served as a good source for historical data as the state’s site only listed the most current data. It, too, however, has changed its reporting. It no longer shows the 14 day positivity rate calculation for counties/schools either. It, in fact, now lists separately a 14 day PCR positivity rate and a 14 day antigen positivity rate. A good mathematician will tell us that we can’t just add the two together to get an overall rate!
We are still reviewing some of the latest guidelines from the CDC and the Iowa Department of Public Health to determine what, if any, updates will be made at JFK. The most significant change will likely be to add the exemption that a fully vaccinated person does not need to quarantine if they are a close contact within three months of their vaccination as long as they do not show symptoms themselves.
Assumption Musical
Join the Assumption Knight Players as they present Shrek the Musical March 5, 6, and 7. Shrek brings all the beloved characters from the film to life on stage and proves there’s more to the story than meets the ears. A limited number of in-person tickets will be available beginning February 22, or watch from the comfort of your couch with our live stream! For all tickets, please click HERE. Please Note: No tickets will not be sold at the door.
Due to the anticipated wind chill, JFK is closed on Monday, February 15, 2021. ECLC is open. All school events and practices are cancelled. Although the DCSD will be doing a virtual day for the district, JFK still has enough instructional time that we will not need to have a virtual “inclement weather day.”
Given that we have now missed four days of face-to-face instruction and the DCSD has extended its school year until June 16th, we will likely be having a discussion at our next board meeting (March) about extending our school year with additional face-to-face instruction as well.
Kindergarten Round-Up, PS, and ECLC Registration for 2021-22
If you missed last week’s kindergarten round-up, 3-5 year old preschool or ECLC (childcare) registration, please contact the school office ASAP. Information we receive from families is used to determine waiting lists, staffing levels, and the number of sections to operate for each grade level. These decisions are often made before March. We have, for example, already been looking at the student to staff ratio for ECLC in case we have more three year olds register for ECLC.
Without completed kindergarten round-up forms, there is no guarantee that kindergartners of current K-8 siblings will have spots available when we prepare the official tuition contracts for all families in the next few weeks. Return the completed forms ASAP.
Winter Screenings Almost Finished — Remote Learners Need to Participate as Well
About 98% of our students have completed the winter academic screenings. Looking at preliminary comparisons of reading between fall and winter, it seems to indicate that having kids in school is making a difference!
Long-term and temporary remote learners are also required to participate in all assessments. If you haven’t done so yet or haven’t made arrangements with Kitty Temming, please do so ASAP. The winter screening window closes soon.
Use Your Stimulus Funds for JFK Payments or a Donation to the Capital Campaign
Use your stimulus funds to pay for JFK tuition, childcare, or other fees. If you are running into financial difficulties, please contact the school office and/or Fr. Jake so arrangements can be made. We don’t want to have to talk about continued or future enrollment if we can avoid it by having a plan in place.
Consider a donation to our capital campaign. The $1.6 million dollar campaign included $1.1 million for school HVAC work, $400,000 for other campus work to include HVAC work and a new sound system in the church, repairs to smaller church windows, and parking lot maintenance, and $100,000 for ministry work. Just over $1.0 has been pledged so far. We hope to do the HVAC work to the school this summer. It includes heating pipes mitigation, mechanical ventilation, and air conditioning. We are also now examining an option for air purification. For more information about the campaign, use the following link: capital campaign.
Bell Time Changes
Bell time changes, including the one hour early dismissal on Wednesdays, begin now on Tuesday, February 16th. If your children ride a bus in the afternoon, expect them home about 25 minutes later than they currently arrive home. Cross your fingers that it runs smoothly!
Below are JFK’s new belltimes:
K-8: 7:25 a.m. – 2:40 p.m. (Wednesday dismissal at 1:40)
Morning 4/5 year old PS: 7:25 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. (Wednesday dismissal at 9:55)
Afternoon 4/5 year old PS: 11:40 a.m. – 2:40 p.m. (Wednesdays: 11:10-1:40)
Three year old preschool times were not changed due to COVID and would stay at 7:25 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.
These belltimes, again, begin Monday, February 15th.
COVID Data
Below is a link to a .pdf file that shows several graphs of Scott County and JFK data.
Last week, I reported that since the pandemic began, approximately 10.3% of Iowans have tested positive for COVID-19. During the same period at JFK, we have had 12.8% of staff and 3.25% of students who have tested positive. We are currently not aware of any transmission having occurred at school, and we have only had two situations where students or staff had to quarantine because they were close contacts while at school.
Field trips were discussed at our principals’ meeting on Friday. At the present time, we are still not having field trips in at least K-8.
The training of future teachers was also discussed. If we want to have future teachers, and Iowa, as well as the nation, is experiencing a teacher shortage, we need to continue to train them today, even if there is a pandemic occurring. Any St. Ambrose education students who are in our building for student teaching or observation/practicum hours will need to follow the same safety guidance as our staff.
The CDC released a number updated guidelines last week, and the Iowa Department of Public Health was quick to follow with its own update of one guideline. We will be examining this information to determine what, if any, updates will be made at JFK.
I guess we should not have been taken too much by surprise by the weather and school closings these last couple of weeks as it is still winter. I think I’m just hopeful for most things to go by quickly this year, it seems, so things can get back to normal!
That change from a 2 hour late start to a full closure on Friday was awfully late. Typically, when there’s bad weather predicted, I’m awake at about 4:30-5:00 a.m. as I can’t sleep and am just waiting for a decision by the Davenport Community School District. The first message we received was just after 5:00 a.m. that it would “likely” be a two hour late start, but they were still out checking on the roads. Then, we got the affirmative message for a two hour late start, and we sent our messages to families. My guess is that as the bus company and the DCSD were later getting out into the more rural areas of the district around Walcott, Blue Grass, Buffalo, etc., they realized the buses would not be able to travel on the roads. When our one Catholic school administrator received the official change from the DCSD, he was driving himself and couldn’t relay it to the rest of us. I was doing the same. I had been working from home early in the morning and was then on my way to school and didn’t get the message until about ten minutes later. It then takes a couple of minutes to get the email, text, and phone messages set up and sent out. Although I hit the “send” button for all three types of message at the same time, emails are delivered almost immediately, text messages take just a bit longer, and then all of the “robocalls” are completed.
PS, ECLC, and Kindergarten Round-Up for 2021-22
“In-house” registration for 3, 4, and 5 year old preschool and daycare for OLV parishioners and current JFK community members begins on February 8th at 7:30 a.m. Registration opens to the general public on February 11th. Make sure you register right away as spots fill up fast, especially morning preschool spots.
Kindergarten Round-up will be adults only this year on February 11th. The information session and round-up begins at 6:30 p.m. when it will be socially distanced in the gym. This session is intended for those who have never been to a kindergarten round-up at JFK. For those who have been to a JFK round-up in the past, round-up with forms only will take place any time between 6:30-8:00 p.m. in the cafeteria.
Registration for students currently in grades K-7 will be in late February/early March.
Winter Screenings Almost Finished — Remote Learners Need to Participate as Well
We hope to finish our winter academic screenings soon. Looking at preliminary comparisons of reading between fall and winter seem to indicate that having kids in school is making a difference!
Long-term and temporary remote learners are also required to participate in all assessments. If you haven’t done so yet or haven’t make arrangements with Kitty Temming, please do so ASAP. The winter screening window closes soon.
Catholic Schools Week Events to be Re-scheduled
We will re-schedule some of our missed Catholic Schools Week activities for the future. I anticipate holding onto them for when we need a break later this semester.
Thank you to those who helped sponsor Catholic Schools Week with donations. I believe we had a little over $800 in donations, and our costs were about $1,200.
Second Quarter Report Cards Emailed Friday
Second quarter report cards were emailed on Friday evening. You can always check grades in JMC as well for at least grades 3-8.
JFK Parent/Teacher Conferences
K-8: Drop-in K-8 parent/teacher conferences have been moved to Tuesday, February 9th from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. Please wait on a green or black “dot” in the hallways. Face coverings and social distancing are, of course, required for conferences.
4/5 Yr Old PS:
Conferences that had been scheduled to begin after 2:30 on Thursday, February 4, will be held at the same time of day but on Tuesday, February 9th. If you are unable to do the same time on the 9th as on the 4th, please contact Mrs. Blocker or Mrs. Zeimet.
Other PS conferences that had been scheduled for February 4th, and all conferences that had been scheduled for February 5th will need to be re-scheduled. We will determine dates and procedures for those conferences.
Three year old preschoolers only have conferences in the fall and spring.
Use Your Stimulus Funds for JFK Payments
Use your stimulus funds to pay monthly tuition payments or the second payment for those doing their tuition in two payments or to get caught up if your financial situation this summer/fall caused you to fall behind. All paid up? Consider a donation to our capital campaign. I’m sure parish leaders will be looking to see how many JFK families are willing to financially support the campaign too. We hope to do the HVAC work to the school this summer. It includes heating pipes mitigation, mechanical ventilation, and air conditioning. We are also now examining an option for air purification. For more information about the campaign, use the following link: capital campaign.
Bell Time Changes Coming
The Davenport Community School District administration is recommending to its board on Monday night a return to pre-COVID bell times. The DCSD pre-board meeting materials also included the one hour early dismissal on Wednesdays, with the note that they may need to be discontinued later in the school year. (I’m not sure what impact missing school Thursday and Friday might have on the Wednesdays.)
JFK’s own board approved our bell times also returning to the 2019-20 schedule, primarily to maintain bus transportation. Below are the bell times that were used in 2019-20, and we will follow the DCSD for the Wednesdays as well:
Bell time for K-8: 7:25 a.m. – 2:40 p.m. (Wednesday dismissal planned for 1:40)
Morning 4/5 year old PS: 7:25 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. (Wednesday dismissal planned for 9:55)
Afternoon 4/5 year old PS: 11:40 a.m. – 2:40 p.m. (Wednesdays planned for: 11:10-1:40)
Three year old preschool times were not changed due to COVID and would stay at 7:25 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.
These bell times are scheduled to begin Monday, February 15th.
What Happened with the Bathrooms on Wednesday?
At about 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, we lost the water to the building and had to go to “emergency bathroom use only.” At 1:00 p.m., just as we were about to fully implement our back-up plan for toilets, the water was restored. The city was doing water work on 42nd Street and was able to better to isolate their work and turn our water back on. I’m glad it was such a short disruption as you know exactly what happens when a bathroom is unavailable – suddenly you have to go!
COVID Data
Below is a link to a .pdf file that shows several graphs of Scott County and JFK data.
Since the pandemic began, approximately 10.3% of Iowans have tested positive for COVID-19. During the same period at JFK, we have had 12.8% of staff and 3.25% of students who have tested positive.
Downward trends in Scott County continued this past week, and even the 14 day positivity rate the Department of Education uses dropped slightly again.
JFK’s own data, which is in our charts for Tuesdays and Fridays, is interesting. The percentage of students and staff who were absent due to illness on Tuesday was 2.1%. That’s not a large percentage, but it’s the highest it’s been since right before Thanksgiving. All of Tuesday’s “illness” absences were either COVID or COVID symptoms related (and awaiting test results).
Given the above illnesses at JFK, one might expect that quarantining students and staff were also increasing. On Tuesday, however, the percentage of students and staff absent due to required or voluntary quarantining (which often takes place when another family member is being tested) was at 1.86%, below our illness percentage. One of the suggestions from this data is that there is not a lot of spread at school, and our mitigation strategies at JFK are working.
At JFK, we have a regular group of staff members (PDT) who meet weekly to discuss building-wide professional development and other concerns. As you can imagine, this group has spent quite a bit of time discussing COVID related issues this year. With our public school districts examining their mitigation strategies as they prepare to offer 100% in person instruction, we reviewed JFK’s strategies on Monday as well. As I have mentioned before, sorting through the COVID guidance available is not always easy. Even since we met on Monday, Governor Reynolds has issued a new proclamation that “loosens” things up in Iowa beginning today. Her proclamation was countered by Bishop Zinkula’s reminder yesterday that “The protection protocols in the diocese have not changed. Masks, 6’ social distancing between non-household members, hand sanitizing and sanitizing of surfaces continue to be required in well ventilated spaces.” The PDT recommended no changes be made to our current mitigation strategies, including our face coverings requirement. At the OLV/JFK Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, the board specifically affirmed that recommendations from the PDT would be followed. Our face coverings, social distancing, hand sanitizing, contact tracing and quarantining, etc. strategies will remain in place regardless of COVID numbers or positivity rate until the PDT recommends otherwise based upon our understanding and analysis of, hopefully, clear and consistent guidance from the CDC, Iowa Department of Public Health, Iowa Department of Education, Scott County Health Department, and Diocese of Davenport.
Don’t Forget Early Dismissal on February 12th
There is a regularly scheduled two hour (12:15) early dismissal on Friday, February 12th. There are no afternoon preschool classes that day.
The 12th is also red, white, and pink dress days. Students may be out of uniform if they are wearing red, white, and/or pink.
Catholic Schools Week Address
At the beginning of Catholic Schools Week each year, I give an update about Catholic School education and JFK. You can find the ten minute message here:
K-8: Drop-in K-8 parent/teacher conferences have been moved to Tuesday, February 9th from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. due to the anticipated inclement weather. Face coverings and social distancing are required. Please wait on a green or black “dot” in the hallways.
4/5 Yr Old PS: There are no 4/5 year old PS classes on Thursday. Conferences scheduled during the day will continue, as long as there is school. No “new” scheduled 4/5 year old preschool conferences will begin after 2:30. Conferences that begin after 2:30 will be re-scheduled for the same time periods on Tuesday, February 9th. If you are unable to do the same time in the evening of the 9th, please contact Mrs. Blocker or Mrs. Zeimet to arrange a different time. Face coverings and social distancing are, of course, required for preschool conferences as well.
If there is a two hour early K-8 dismissal on February 4th due to the weather, no “new” preschool conferences will begin after 12:30. Conferences that are scheduled between 12:30 and 2:30 would need an entirely new time, as we cannot just transfer those daytime conferences to Tuesday when school is in session. If there is no K-8 school at all on February 4th, all of the “daytime” conferences will need to be re-scheduled, but we’ll, again, try to transfer conferences that are scheduled to begin after 2:30 to the same times on February 9th.
Second Quarter Report Cards
Second quarter report cards should be emailed on Thursday or Friday of this week. We ran into some difficulties with computing final attendance for all of the long-term and temporary remote learners in December and early January. You can always check grades in JMC as well for at least grades 3-8.
Catholic Schools Week — Two Days Left
Below is the planned remainder of Catholic Schools Week activities. All days are “out of uniform” days, but with themes:
Thursday, Feb 4: Minute to Win It Day
Wacky dress day
Friday, February 5: Class Act (recorded), Human Scrabble, and Custard Cup Day
Hat and crazy sock day. We’ll take our hats off for Mass!
The custard cup provider uses a nut-free facility/process, and there should not be a cross-contamination issue, which is so often experienced with ice cream providers
The class acts video that will be assembled will not be shared publicly at this time so that all students may participate, including those whose image we do not have permission to publish/post.
4/5 yr old PS conferences are scheduled. No 4/5 yr old PS classes
What If There is No School During Catholic Schools Week on February 4th?
If there is no school on February 4th, below are the CSW activities for Friday. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as just pushing everything back a day as Friday has Mass, and time is needed to prepare the final video of class acts. We’d have to watch the video on a different day.
Friday, February 5: Minute to Win It Day and Custard Cup Day
Hat and crazy sock day. We’ll take our hats off for Mass!
4/5 yr old PS conferences are scheduled. No 4/5 yr old PS classes
What If There is a Two Hour Early Dismissal During Catholic Schools Week on February 4th?
If there is a two hour early dismissal on February 4th, below are the CSW activities for Thursday and Friday:
Thursday, Feb 4: Wacky dress day
Friday, February 5: Minute to Win It Day and Custard Cup Day
Hat and crazy sock day. We’ll take our hats off for Mass!
The class acts video that will be assembled will be shown at a later date. The video will not be shared publicly at this time so that all students may participate, including those whose image we do not have permission to publish/post.
4/5 yr old PS conferences are scheduled. No 4/5 yr old PS classes
Inclement Weather Announcements for JFK
If there should be a weather related late start, early dismissal, or school closure, this information will be sent out via automated email, text, and phone call. The automated message goes to all primary contacts and is shared as soon as we can. We also put the information on our website and main Facebook page. Typically, we will follow the Davenport Community School District, due to bus transportation.
If school is cancelled, we will just let it be a snow/inclement weather day; students will not have to go online for instruction. We have enough instructional time built into our school calendar to accommodate some snow days, especially seeing that we’ve been face-to-face all year.
On two-hour early dismissals, we do operate our after school childcare programs, but we ask that everyone try to pick up as soon as possible so all can travel safely.
Bell Time Changes Coming
The Davenport Community School District was able to livestream their Monday night meeting, and I was able to “attend.” It seems that the DCSD is proceeding with returning bell times to what they were in the 2019-20 school year. They do, however, still have some question about the hour early dismissal on Wednesdays that was in the 2019-20 school year. It sounds as if they will have the hour early dismissal on as many Wednesdays as they can.
JFK’s own board approved our bell times also returning to the 2019-20 schedule, primarily to maintain bus transportation. Below are the bell times that were used in 2019-20, and we will follow the DCSD for the Wednesdays as well:
Bell time for K-8: 7:25 a.m. – 2:40 p.m. (Wednesday dismissal planned for 1:40)
Morning 4/5 year old PS: 7:25 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. (Wednesday dismissal planned for 9:55)
Afternoon 4/5 year old PS: 11:40 a.m. – 2:40 p.m. (Wednesdays planned for: 11:10-1:40)
Three year old preschool times were not changed due to COVID and would stay at 7:25 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.
These bell times are scheduled to begin Monday, February 15th.
Don’t Forget Early Dismissal on February 12th
There is a regularly scheduled two hour (12:15) early dismissal on Friday, February 12th. There are no afternoon preschool classes that day.
I hope you’re able to keep everything straight! There’s enough going on to make one’s head spin!
