COVID-19 Updates
March 28, 2020
Santa Fe Trail Families,
Good News, we are about to begin providing education again on Monday, March 30, 2020. Teachers have been hard at work for the past week getting ready to provide learning opportunities for our students. I want to remind everyone that we will be using Google Classroom as our primary source of instruction delivery and communication. Email and telephone will also be used as communication methods. Emails may be coming to your student’s school email or to their Google Classroom, so parents please check there for information. For those without internet access we will be providing homework packets that can be picked up at your child’s school on each Monday. These packets will contain a weeks-worth of learning materials. By now most of you should have heard from your child’s teacher with information about the process going forward. If you have not heard from your child’s teacher please feel free to contact them through one of the methods outlined above. Though we have tried to create a system that will work smoothly for everyone, we know that there will be glitches. Please just let us know if you experience problems and we will work to correct the problems as we work through the next couple of weeks. With only one week to completely change how we provide education we know there will be some issues. It will take teamwork between students, families and educators to smooth out the bumps and improve as we move forward. Communication will be the key to success, please let us know if you experience problems and we will continue to keep you informed and respond to your needs. Contact your Child’s teacher or building principal if you have any problems and they will help you.
Governor Kelly issued a statewide stay at home order today, March 28. I wanted to let families know that this does not impact the plans we have made for providing education for our students. We anticipated this possibility and made plans that do not violate the order. We do want to remind everyone to maintain social distancing and follow the stay at home regulations for your safety and the safety of others. We are excited to work with our students again and collaborate with you to provide learning for the remainder of the school year.
John Denk, Superintendent
3/24/2020
Santa Fe Trail Parents:
Yesterday, I shared with you that you might not hear from me for a day or two, but here I am again. : ) I just wanted to remind parents that we will begin distributing Chromebooks tomorrow during lunch service from 11:00 to 12:30. We are asking that you go to the school your child attends to get their Chromebook. I know that may be a bit inconvenient, but it is necessary to get your child the proper access to learning materials. Pickup will be done in a drive through fashion, so you will not need to get out of your car. We are also asking that you adhere to the following schedule for pickup:
- K-8 grade students with last names beginning with A-L pickup on Wednesday from 11:00 to 12:30 at your child's school.
- K-8 grade students with last names beginning with M-V pickup on Thursday from 11:00 to 12:30 at your child's school.
- All remaining K-8 grade students who still need to pickup Chromebooks will pickup on Friday from 11:00 to 12:30 at your child's school.
- High School Students may pickup on M, W, or F at the high school from 11:00 to 12:30.
- If you cannot pickup on the day you are scheduled, please come on one of these three days that is convenient for you.
Your child's building principal will be contacting you with additional information to help guide you through the pickup process. Have a good evening, and we will continue to provide updates as they develop.
John Denk, Superintendent
03/23/2020
Santa Fe Trail Families,
I wanted to touch base with families tonight to let you know what will be taking place this week. This is the week that our teachers are planning and preparing to begin delivery of student learning opportunities for the remainder of the school year. We are planning to begin lessons on Monday, March 30, if all goes as planned. Toward the end of the week we should have some information to share from your child's teachers about when and where you will go to access the learning materials. We are planning to use Google Classroom as the primary location/learning platform to place lessons online. For those without internet access, we will provide homework packets at your child's school. We will let you know when and where to get those later in the week. We are also preparing to get Chromebooks to students on Wednesday (March 25), Thursday (March 26), and Friday (March 27) during our drive through lunch service from 11:00 to 12:30. You will need to go to the school your child attends to pick up their Chromebook on one of these days. There are still questions regarding picking up items from lockers, music instruments and medications left at school. We are working on those plans, but we are placing our focus on getting ready to provide learning opportunities. Once we get that going, we will turn our attention to these issues. We will have plans for getting these items to you within the next week or two.
I will continue to update you as I have more information, but you may not hear from me for a few days while we prepare for continuous learning through the end of the year. Your teachers are working very hard to prepare for students next week. We are very proud of our teachers and staff as well as the hard work they are undergoing on behalf of our students and families. Everyone is pulling together on behalf of our students and communities. Way to go, Chargers!
John Denk
3/20/2020
March, 20, 2020
Santa Fe Trail Families,
On Thursday morning we received guidance from the KSDE task force on continuous learning for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Since that time the leadership of Santa Fe Trail USD 434 has been hard at work creating a continuous learning plan for our students. I have included the plan with this message for your reference. Please read it carefully and continue to monitor your emails for future updates as we continue to plan through next week. I wanted to give you some forewarning that a teacher of teachers from the school will be contacting you by phone to complete a survey between now and next Tuesday, March 24. This information will be critical for us to provide students and parents with the educational opportunities we are preparing to deliver. The survey will be brief and should only take a minute or two. Unfortunately, you will receive a call for each school age child you have in the district. This can't be helped and we apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. We will continue to communicate with parents as we learn more and have updated plans to share with you. Thank you for your support as we work through the planning process to provide continuous learning to our students.
John Denk, Superintendent
SFT Continuous Plan (pdf)
3/19/2020
March 19, 2020
Santa Fe Trail Families,
We received guidance early this morning regarding continuous education of your student(s) for the remainder of the school year. There is a great deal of information to sift through and our teachers are going to need time to plan and prepare to provide learning in ways we have never provided learning before. The state is giving us next week, March 23 through 27, for our teachers to plan and prepare. If all goes well, we hope to be ready to begin providing learning opportunities to students on March 30, 2020. We want parents to understand that this will not look like education in a traditional classroom. Much of what will be providing will be online or in homework packets that will be sent home. We will be addressing the essential learning necessary for our students to meet the competencies for this year at all grade levels and subject areas. The guidance we have received so far does say that all students will be expected to participate in these learning activities in order to earn credit and promotion to the next grade. I don’t want anyone to panic about that statement. We understand that families are dealing with their own unique difficulties during this time, and we will do everything we can to assist you and provide the necessary learning for your children. At the same time, I want to make it clear that we know that not everything we are going to try will work perfectly the first time. Our plans are going to be made to the best of our ability in a very short time frame. We are here to partner with you, work with you, and create an environment of learning in, in untraditional ways. We know there will be glitches along the way. Please, be patient and communicate with us if you experience problems. We will adjust, modify, and adapt as we go forward.
One of the first things we will do is contact you to complete a survey to determine what needs each family has. From this information, we will set up learning plans. We will keep the survey as brief as possible, but the information will be valuable to our planning process as well as the delivery of learning. This will take place over the next few days, and possibly into early next week. You will also receive a personal phone call from a staff member to gather this information. We are learning that some families are not able to access our meal program for a variety of reasons. There will be questions about your ability to access meals on the survey as well.
I will wrap by leaving you with a timeline for the next week:
- Friday, Mar. 20 the district leadership will meet to unpack the task force recommendations and organize preparations for delivering learning
- Monday, March 23 - Friday, March 27 teachers planning and preparing for delivery of learning.
- March 30 begin providing learning opportunities for our students (if preparations are complete).
One last thought: of all the 36 states that have closed schools, only Kansas is making plans to continue educating our students. Only Kansas teachers could pull this off in the time frame we are given. I am proud of the teachers, staff and administration for the teamwork they have demonstrated during this crisis. We will continue to work on behalf of the students and families of Santa Fe Trail.
John Denk, Superintendent of Schools
3/18/2020
Santa Fe Trail Families,
We have received our waiver from the state to begin serving meals to our children ages 18 and under. That means that even students who are under five years old and do not attend school are eligible to receive these meals. Meals will be provided at no charge. Meal service will begin on Thursday, March 19. Meals will be served in a curb side drive up manner. We want people to remain in their cars to limit exposure for everyone. To pick up your meals, drive up to the curb where we are serving at the appointed time, and we will hand boxed meals to you. We will serve lunch for that day and breakfast for the next morning at the same time. The meals will be boxed separately. One stipulation for providing meals is that we must see the kids in the car with you in order to provide the meals. This is a government requirement that we must comply with in order to receive the funding that allows us to serve these meals. It is also a requirement that at this time we are only allowed to serve children who live in households within our school district. Meals will be served at the schools in the following locations from 11:00 to 12:30 Monday through Friday until further notice:
Scranton:
We will serve meals in Scranton on the west side of the building along the curb where buses typically line up in the morning. Please drive in arriving from south to north. Pull up to the serving station with your children, and we will hand you meals for each child in the car.
Carbondale:
At Carbondale we will serve meals on the south side of the building near the south gym doors. Please drive in from the east to the west and pull up to the curb near the serving station. We will hand you meals for each child in the car.
Overbrook:
In Overbrook we will serve along the south side of the building near the front doors. Drive in from the east to the west and pull up to the curb near the serving station. We will hand you meals for each child in the car.
We understand that some children will not be with an adult, in this case we will allow students to use the sidewalk and grab the meals from a staff member. Please have your child bring a bag to hold their boxes while they walk back home.
We are happy to provide this service to the families of Santa Fe Trail. We will continue to partner with you to face the challenges of this time.
Thank you, John Denk
Santa Fe Trail USD 434 Logo
