Good afternoon. Throughout the year we have been constantly monitoring COVID numbers, guidance from medical leaders, safety protocols, and educational trends at MSS as well as across the country, the state and beyond.  As previously explained, those trends have led us to believe it is time for us to consider additional educational options to avoid additional educational loss for our students. In February most of you participated in a survey regarding the option of returning your child to school full-time if given the option. A big thank you to those of you who participated in the survey. Often good surveys get anywhere from 15%-30% of responses, 60% of our families responded to the survey. Thank you, as this information was very valuable in helping us to determine next steps. 88% of the students represented in the survey said they would return for full-time in-school face to face instruction.   

 

As many of you know, members of the MSS administrative team met with the Tribal Council last night to discuss the next steps of our Return to Learn plan to return students to full time in-school instruction. Taking many factors into consideration including recommendations from Health Director Rudy Papakee, the school was approved to bring back all students on Monday, March 22nd for full-time in-school instruction.  The council approved for 4 year olds to return at the start of 4th qtr on March 29th.  The decision to return to in-school learning is essential for our students to move forward. 

 

To support the continued safety of our students and staff, we will continue the following mitigation protocols to decrease the likeliness of exposure. Some of the mitigation practices we currently have in place include but are not limited to:  

  •  Masks worn by all students, staff, and visitors
  •  Limiting visitors to the building 
  •  Temperature check upon entering the bus or entering the building for non-bus riders
  •  Following social distancing guidelines
  •  Limiting student movement throughout the building as much as possible
  •  Sanitizer availability and encouraged use
  •  Cleaning areas before and after use as appropriate
  •  Maintaining virtual meetings as much as possible
  • Majority of the staff has been vaccinated

We recognize there may be some families who still do not feel comfortable returning to full time in-school instruction. Those families interested in remaining in hybrid must complete an application indicating their desire to remain in hybrid. Online students must contact the building principal if they want to switch from the online learning model. Students continuing with the Hybrid model will begin following their regular class schedule by logging in through zoom to each of their classes from home on the days they are not in school. Students must participate each day and daily attendance and participation will be monitored.  Students wishing to maintain the Hybrid model must fulfill their educational responsibilities in order to keep the Hybrid model as an option. Students wishing to remain Online will continue to complete their classes as they have been. The application for this option can be located on our website, parent emails, and the school’s Facebook page.  This application should be submitted

by Tuesday, March 16th at the end of the day. 

 

Link: https://forms.gle/p6rXxghYjcAYAZec7

 

We will continue to monitor all relevant data points and adjust the plan accordingly. Building principals will communicate additional details as appropriate. Please do not hesitate to connect with your building principal with specific questions. Again, thank you for all that you have done and continue to do to support our students and our staff in these challenging times.

 

Dr. Willie Barney

Meskwaki Settlement School Superintendent