ISASP and Iowa Assessments Finished — Out of Uniform Dress Day on Tuesday
We finished our statewide assessments and will celebrate with an out of uniform dress day on Tuesday!
Tuition Contracts for 21-22 Can Be Considered Past Due
With the end of the discounted registration period for the 2021-22 school year last week, the return of tuition contracts can be considered past due. Completed tuition contracts represent the official registration document that hold a spot for the next school year.
Preschool registration for 3, 4, and 5 year olds and ECLC (childcare) does remain open. We will likely need to make staffing adjustments given the high interest in three year old preschool! If you have not yet registered for these programs, please contact the school office ASAP.
Rock the Lot Gala
Buy your tickets now for a socially distanced (COVID friendly) rockin’ Gala event in our parking lot on May 15th!
Teacher Appreciation Week
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. Your Home & School Association is helping to celebrate by providing teachers with a special ordered lunch, t-shirt, and surprise gift. We appreciate the thoughtfulness of our families.
Thank You for Your Service
Each year the Home and School Association recognizes JFK and Our Lady of Victory employees who have completed their five year increments of employment. These people have a special dedication to the school and parish and work countless hours in the service of our children. Whether it is behind the scenes work in the parish and school offices, keeping our children safe on the playground, cooking the meals for our children, caring for our facilities, or working directly with students and those in need, they all serve in some way for which we are all indebted to the time and talent they provide on behalf of our parish.
For having completed five years of service for Our Lady of Victory: Evan Brankin, Bea Creech, Fr. Jake Greiner, and Andy Kuennen.
For having completed 10 years of service: Lisa Willows and Melissa Zeimet
For having completed 15 years of service: Elizabeth Motto and Jennifer Wemhoff
For having completed 20 years of service: Chad Steimle
For having completed 45 years of service: Mary Wahlig
While we celebrate these members’ service, we will also be saddened by the following staff members who are leaving JFK at the end of the school year: Mary Wahlig, Rachael Whelchel, Elisha Kubalsky, and Kim Burken. We wish them all the best as they experience the next chapters of their lives.
We also wish the best to Hannah Keep who is beginning her COVID quarantining prior to the arrival of her baby and will then be on maternity leave the remainder of the year. Mrs. Keep is one of our “jack-of-all-trades” employees and works as a floating instructional aide, lunch supervisor, recess monitor, ECLC aide, and aftercare supervisor. We thank Martha Pearce who will be serving as her long-term substitute.
New Staff
Megan Masterson will be starting in the office on Monday. Eventually, she will be taking Emily Sanderson’s place as Mrs. Sanderson transitions to work in the kitchen/lunch program. The Masterson’s have a daughter who graduated from JFK, one child in kindergarten, and a younger one as well.
Billie Inskeep has been hired for a K-6 position for next year, although the exact grade level has not yet been finalized. Mrs. Inskeep has prior teaching experience and has subbed for us for about 1 ½ years.
Morgan Clark has been hired for middle school. She has endorsements in ELA and math and has taught math at both the high school and middle school levels.
Bristy Potter has also been hired for middle school. She has endorsements in middle school language arts and social studies. She has been teaching at a Catholic school across the river and has also been involved in its drama program.
We still have one middle school position open for next year and are hoping to find someone with science endorsements or a high interest in science.
Registration for JFK’s Summer Leaps & Bounds and Vacation Bible School
Due to federal funding, Leaps & Bounds will be free this summer. We have three sessions on the calendar. Each two week session runs from 8:00 – 11:30 a.m. Two hours are for reading, one hour is for math, and 30 minutes is for recess and other fun.
June 21 – July 2
July 19 – July 30
August 2 – August 13
A two day Vacation Bible School program will also be held at JFK this summer. The dates for VBS are July 15 and 16.
Look for the registration materials and process soon for both L & B and VBS.
Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools Program
Under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (the December federal COVID relief bill), $2.75 billion was set aside for non-public schools. There are many restrictions on how non-public schools may use these funds as the funds don’t go to non-public schools directly. We need another agency or third party to purchase services/materials on our behalf, and any physical item that enters our building remains the property of the agency and may be retrieved by the agency at the end of the pandemic funding time period, which is currently standing at September 2023. Any person providing student services must be employed by a third party and assigned to JFK as well. Services/materials are available to non-public schools based upon a formula that Iowa is using that is dependent upon enrollment and free/reduced lunch eligibility. The allotment available to JFK was $356,000, and our application was approved. With these funds, the following services/materials will be used on behalf of JFK, and many would not be done if it were not for this federal funding:
Initiating and maintaining education and support services or assistance for remote or hybrid learning or to address learning loss, which must be provided by a third party: $212,000 over the next two years to be able to increase some instructional aide time, provide free summer Leaps & Bounds, add interventionist time as other federal funding for it is reduced, offer free services to students from a licensed school based therapist, and utilize new/more leveled reading materials in grades K-5.
Educational technology, including hardware, software, connectivity, assistive technology, and adaptive equipment, to assist students, educators, and other staff with remote or hybrid learning: $94,000, including Chromebooks, document cameras, webcams, and a new wireless network.
Other materials, supplies, or equipment to implement public health protocols, including guidelines and recommendations from the CDC for the reopening and operation of school facilities to effectively maintain the health and safety of students, educators, and other staff during the qualifying emergency: $22,000, including instrument covers for band so we can get back to large group band instruction as allowed, PE/recess equipment so there is less sharing, bottled water as long as water fountains have to remain off, etc. Again, these expenses were estimated for the next two school years.
Supplies to sanitize, disinfect, and clean school facilities: $19,000, with Clorox Wipes alone being about $11,000 for the next two years.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): $10,000, with nearly $9,000 of that being hand sanitizer, soap, and gloves over the next two years.
Calendar Highlights
May 7: 8th Grade vs Staff VB games
May 11: End of the 4th mid-quarter
May 13: Home & School
May 15: Gala
June 11: Last day of school for JFK. The DCSD will continue until the 16th. Because June 11th is not Davenport’s last day, there is no early dismissal at JFK on June 11th. Our last day will include both Mass and field day.
The full 2021-22 school calendar is finally available: JFK 2021-2022 Academic Calendar
COVID Data
Below is a link to a .pdf file that shows several graphs of Scott County and JFK data.
COVID Data, April 30, 2021
- The 14 day positivity rate for Scott County has dropped for the third consecutive week and is now starting to get back to levels seen in the late fall before the big Iowa surge. Scott County’s 7 day positivity rate seems to be trending downward, according to the information we receive each Wednesday, although if you look at what’s reported today on the state’s website, the rate is actually higher than it was the last two Wednesdays. For some reason, Scott County remains in the bottom approximately five counties in Iowa and has a higher positivity rate than the other more urban counties in Iowa.
- JFK’s numbers, however, are looking about as good as they ever have since we began graphing the figures in November. We have gone about three weeks now without a positive case identified among students. That’s the longest stretch without an identified case since we went about six weeks in February and into March. We’ve gone about seven weeks without a case among staff.
- This week we will start relaxing some mask wearing requirements, beginning with socially distant outdoor activities in PE and other classes that may be going outside. In these areas, masks will not be required. This does not yet include recess as we went to face coverings during recess because it is in these less controlled environments, in particular, that we have difficulty keeping kids apart from one another. Too many kids of all ages at recess are practically crawling on top of one another, hanging on each other, being in each others’ faces, etc. throughout the whole recess. (See the November 8th Principal’s Post for more information.) Nearly half or more of our situations where we’ve had to have kids quarantine due to exposure to a positive case at school have involved recesses. We will, however, continue to discuss recess options. Other changes will likely be coming in the future as we assess the situation, evaluate the guidance (often contradictory!) from the Diocese of Davenport, CDC, Scott County Health Department, and Iowa departments of public health, humans services, and education, and hold our discussions. We also hope that any changes we make do not cause more families to start (or return) their students as long-term remote learners; being able to have so many kids in the building all year has been a tremendous benefit to our students!
- As an example of the benefit of being in-person, the gap between the percentage of students at reading benchmark at the beginning of this school year between JFK students and all the students in the Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency was 18%. By the winter screening, after many of our public school counterparts were forced to do remote learning or hybrid models, the gap had widened to 20%. In the prior school year (before COVID), the gap had actually narrowed, not widened.
- Similar results were seen in math where the gap went from 16% in the fall of this year to 20% in the winter.
- Although these examples are, obviously, a simplistic review of the data, I think it shows that being in-person at JFK has really benefited kids!
Chad
