Education Updates
Greetings, Jennings School District (JSD) Warriors!
Thank you, JSD Staff, for your leadership and JSD Community for your hard work during this historic time.
Everyone is doing an outstanding job supporting each other. The Jennings School District Virtual Academy and Distance Learning that we initiated districtwide on April 6, 2020, has been a success. We continue to empower, enlighten, and engage the families of Jennings School District.
I am proud that Jennings School District was proactive in many ways: (A) We were one-to-one in technology from 3rd grade to 8th grade since 2017. (B) We used Google Classroom, Schoology, and E2020/Engenuity districtwide. (C) We had food hubs, school-based health clinics, and other partnerships and services. (D) We had a balanced budget and added funds to our reserves each year.
Below are a few updates and some educational information to keep you posted.
1. New Normal" in St. Louis and Beyond
Things are still shifting. Missouri is reopening on May 4 (Phase 1 of the Governor's 2 Phrase Show-Me Strong Missouri Plan and new State Order 4-27-20). But St. Louis city and county will likely be on local county stay-at-home orders a while longer.
Now, as we begin to transition to the end of this school year, each school is sharing information with me and making plans in order to proceed well. We will communicate with you and the community in May regarding end-of-year celebrations and summer learning opportunities. For more information about the "New Normal" in St. Louis and beyond see the webinar below.
"Arriving in St. Louis This Summer: Our Next Normal"
On April 27th, 2020, it was a pleasure to be a panelist on the webinar, with nearly 400 participants, entitled, "Arriving in St. Louis This Summer: Our Next Normal" (Click Here to View) with KTRS's Heidi Glaus and CannonDesign's Mike Pukszta as moderators and the panelists below. Thank you, Cindy Bambini, for your incredible leadership and for the donations to St. Louis Area Food Bank, who gives Jennings School District 40,000 pounds of groceries weekly for our families. This show provides the region with information and an update on many education, business, hospital, transit, and entertainment changes during and after COVID-19 in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area and beyond.
Panelists:
- Jessica Mefford-Miller, Executive Director, Metro Transit
- Jason Pippi, Director of Entertainment, St. Louis Blues
- Paddy Mullen, Real Estate Broker, Cushman & Wakefield
- Bethany Budde-Cohen, Owner of SqWires Restaurant
- Lauren Draper, MD SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital
- Art McCoy, PhD Superintendent, Jennings School District, Governor Parson's COVID-19 Education Council
ENJOY this informative program!
Click here to see The 6 Safe Checklist for Business Reopening
2. Teachers | Teaching in Room 9
The Nine Network is producing two hours of literacy and math instruction for prekindergarten through fourth grades, weekdays from 12:30–2:30 pm, free of charge on television. The grade-appropriate instruction, taught by committed local educators at home, ensures all kids in our region have access to quality teaching during the academic year shutdown and into the summer, regardless of access to the internet or computers.
I am so proud to have sponsored two of our very own teachers to teach the region on the PBS Nine Network Teaching in Room 9 Lessons. Take a look at the pictures, and you can tell who they are because Warriors represent Well. This is the Warrior Way.
12:30–2:30 pm, Mondays–Thursdays, on Nine PBS.
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on Fridays, followed by repeats of teachers' lessons.
12:30-1:00 p.m. - Reading, PreK-1st Grade
1:00-1:30 p.m. - Reading, 2nd-4th Grade
1:30-2:00 p.m. - Math, PreK-1st Grade
2:00-2:30 p.m. - Math, 2nd-4th Grade
Congratulations go to our Warriors:
Mr. Travis Rainey and Mrs. Semaja Smith
3. Blueprint for Summer Important Survey
Parents, we need your help with this summer camp survey.
This is the 6th year of Blueprint4SummerSTL and we have $150,000 raised for summer camp scholarships. In 2019, we had almost 9000 camps listed. We act as a partner in many ways to summer camps/learning providers, all FREE of charge. 53% of Blueprint4SummerSTL users live in St. Louis City and North County, and we want to make sure those families are represented. We want to be sure that the children have access to as much as is available.
Many have kids already signed up. People who use school buildings for summer programs may have to use programs like the YMCA, YWCA, COCA, Science Center, Girls Inc., Chess Club, and others who have their own facilities (because they have more flexibility but may have a limit on kids per class).
Please check out this link to give your feedback on what interests you for the summer: https://bit.ly/Summer4Families , families. We need and value your input. This Family Survey is for parents with kids from 4 to 18 years old. Also, feel free to share this survey with other parents.
We will follow up with more information in the coming weeks.
Thank you for your attention and cooperation.
Sincerely,
Art McCoy, PhD
Superintendent of Schools
Jennings School District