NORTH NEWS January 19, 2021

Website: https://smnorth.smsd.org/
Location: 7401 Johnson Drive, Overland Park, KS, USA
Phone: 913-993-6900
Twitter: @SM_NORTH_HS

We have made a concerted effort to ensure that students grades are reflected accurately in both Canvas and Skyward throughout the first semester. As we approach the end of the semester and as 1st semester finals are entered, you may see a difference in grades between the two systems. Please know that Skyward is the official grading system and reflect the official grade that will be transcribed onto your student's transcript. Official grades via report cards will be posted in Skyward on Thursday, Jan. 28.

As always, if you have any questions or notice a large discrepancy, please reach out to the teacher to find out details on the situation.

1/5 -1/22/21 - Remote Learning Continues

1/18/21 - NO SCHOOL - MLK day

1/22/21 - Last Day of Semester 1

1/25/21 - NO SCHOOL - Teacher Workday

1/26/21 - Hybrid Learning begins (for those that signed up for this learning model)

The below information only pertains to those students who selected In-Person Learning for 2nd semester.

HYBRID LEARNING AT SM NORTH

1. Hybrid Learning starts on Tuesday, January 26, 2021. Students are expected to arrive at 7:40 am through the auditorium doors, main office doors, or the Fieldhouse doors. Students are expected to leave at 2:40 pm unless they are working with a teacher, coach, or sponsor.

2. STUDENTS MUST WEAR A MASK THAT COVERS THE NOSE AND MOUTH DURING THE ENTIRE SCHOOL DAY!

3. Group A are students with last names from letter A to Lamb. Group A normally attends on Monday and Tuesday (there are a couple of exceptions to this - please see the calendars below).

4. Group B are students with last names from letter Lamc to Z. Group B attends on Wednesday and Thursday (there are a couple of exceptions to this - please see the calendars below).

5. On the days that your student is NOT at school, he/she is expected to complete assignments in Canvas/WebEx. Students at home also need to log into SEMINAR in WebEx at 12:55pm for attendance.

6. You can ALWAYS get extra help from a teacher in SEMINAR!

7. Additional SMN Reopening details can be found here.

8. The weekly hybrid schedule can be found here.

9. Monthly schedule calendars for the remainder of January and February can be found here.

January Calendar

February Calendar

SYMPTOMS

1. If you have any of the following symptoms STAY HOME! Call the attendance hotline at 913-993-6945. You can also call or email Nurse Kelly at 913-993-6916 or maryalicekelly@smsd.org. Don’t forget to email your teachers to let them know. If you feel well enough to attend classes in WebEx, continue to go to class.

2. If you develop these symptoms you must ISOLATE for 10 days and only return to school AFTER you are FEVER FREE and NO symptoms for 24 hours. The day your symptoms begin is day 1.

3. If you are EXPOSED to someone who tested POSITIVE for COVID, you have to QUARANTINE at home for 14 days.

4. If you have questions about whether you should come to school, quarantine, or isolate - please call or email the SMN school nurse at 913-993-6916 or maryalicekelly@smsd.org.

We received many emails and phone calls last week about changing student’s learning preference for the 2nd semester. Unfortunately, we are unable to change learning preference (In-Person to Remote Only and vice versa) for students at this time. The master schedule and teachers schedules for 2nd semester was created using the preferences that were selected at the November 30th deadline. As such, there is very little to no room within classes to make adjustments. We apologize for this inconvenience.

• Mon/Wed - 3:20-4:20, ELA, ELL, Science
• Tue/Thur - 3:20-4:20, Social Studies & Math

Click HERE to sign up

1. STUCO will be hosting their first Student Trivia night on Saturday, February 6th, in replacement of the Winter Formal dance. More details will be sent out at a closer date.
2. A reminder that SMN Kindness Week is February 7-12, we plan to have many events throughout the week, so stay tuned for more information!
3. Our Northman crowning will be held on February 9th during halftime at the basketball game against Olathe Northwest. Students, please lookout for an email to vote for Northman soon!

9th Grade Students Only: Our 9th graders will be taking the winter MAP testing in the upcoming weeks in both their ELA and math classes. All testing dates and information will be shared with your student by both their ELA and math teacher so that they know whether they will take the test remotely or in-person if they are hybrid learning. Testing dates will be communicated by your student’s teacher!

If for some reason your student is absent during MAP testing, please communicate with your child’s ELA/math teacher so we can develop an alternate window for your student. All MAP testing has to be complete by February 12th.

MAP Testing Reminders:

• Student winter MAP data provides teachers, parents, and students a snap-shot of progress thus far in the year.
• MAP data is a great resource for teachers to know students' strength areas and growth areas and can drive the instruction taking place in the classroom.
• Teachers want to know what your student knows. This is low stakes. Please talk with your student about this being an opportunity to show what they know. There is no need to access outside “help” during the test to gain answers to the MAP test questions.
• Teachers want students to do their best so they can use the information provided by NWEA to better understand your student as a learner.

In typical years school nurses provide mandated hearing and vision screenings per Kansas statute. During this time of COVID-19 school nurses are working hard to maintain the safest learning conditions and respect the wishes of each family as it relates to their student’s health.

Parents have expressed concerns about performing mass hearing and vision screenings due to:

· Increased potential for COVID-19 exposure to students (exposure to additional building location, equipment, and personnel).

· Screening procedures requiring the nurse to be within 6 feet of the student.

· School nurses would be a part of every student cohort.

· Remote learning students coming into the school for screening, increasing exposure opportunity and mixing of cohorts.

If you would like the school nurse or nurse aide to complete vision and/or hearing screening for your student on a 1:1 basis, please email to nosnow@smsd.org or maryalicekelly@smsd.org.

Parents -

My name is Dillon Simmons and this is my 7th year teaching Social Studies at SM North. For much of the past year I have been conducting a case study for my doctoral dissertation at Kansas State over how members of our learning community at North (including students, parents, teachers, and administrators) feel about online learning as we have been forced to use it due to COVID-19. Part of my study includes this short anonymous 5 minute survey, and it would mean a lot to me if you could find some time to take it. I’m hoping to get as many responses from students, parents, and teachers at North as possible to utilize alongside data from my interviews. The use of online learning in high school settings is still a very under-researched topic in education, and the past couple months have revealed reasons to be both excited and cautious for future implementations of online learning. Your thoughts and feelings go a long way in helping educators develop learning opportunities that are most appropriate for you and your students!

Thanks in advance for your participation, love you North 😊!

Sincerely,

Dillon Simmons

Second Semester Schedules become live for students to view on Wednesday, January 13. Please know that the academic counselors have been working tirelessly to get your schedules complete. Some may not yet be complete by Wednesday. If you see that there is an error or your schedule is incomplete, please email your Alpha Counselor about your schedule. Students will have until Friday, January 22nd to request any preferential schedule changes.

Once semester 2 begins on Tuesday, January 26th, there will be no preferential changes allowed. We will only be able to make changes to a schedule if there is an error, due to the following circumstances:

• Incorrect placement in a class
• Failed the pre-requisite in first semester
• Seniors who need a class for graduation

Please email your Academic Counselor for schedule change requests or questions.

A – D jordanlandis@smsd.org

E – K leahmurray@smsd.org

L – Q jenniferfontaine@smsd.org

R – Z deannagriffey@smsd.org

2021-2022 Tentative Enrollment Timeline

• January 18-22: Northern Exposure week (videos to students along with virtual Q&A sessions during the course of the week)
• February 1-5: Finalize student enrollment remotely through Seminar (we may have to pull kids from classes if we can’t catch them in seminar)

Earlier this semester, students at SMN completed the YouScience assessment. YouScience is a researched-based tool with a goal to identify your student’s interests and aptitudes and connect them with in-demand careers. Through a series of scientific-based assessments, YouScience uncovers your student’s natural talents, then combines those aptitude measures with interests to generate their specific profile. The results that the school is provided with show each student who completed the assessment and their aptitude, interest, and overall fit in relation to in-demand careers.

As we begin the enrollment process for the 2021-2022 school year, the information from YouScience has been shared with SMN teachers. Teachers will use this data to contact students (via email) who have a “fit” that is associated with a course they teach to make an initial contact with them, encourage them to enroll in their class, provide them with additional information, etc.

Please remind your student to continue to check their email on a regular basis as teachers will be reaching out with important information that your student may find useful when determining the courses to enroll in. We hope that they find this useful and connects them with additional courses in which they are not only interested in, but that they also have an aptitude for.

Spring schedule of classes is available online -
The schedule of classes will display course offerings and any prerequisite requirements needed. You can visit the College Now website to get all the information needed to APPLY/TEST/ENROLL/PAY for the spring semester. These four steps will walk you through the process with FAQ’s to answer any questions you may have along the way.

ACT or Placement Test Requirements

For a complete list of how students can place into their courses, go to www.jccc.edu/CollegeNow.
CNA (Certified Nurse Aid) – ACT Reading sub-score 19 or higher, or appropriate JCCC placement test score (proof of a 2.8 high school GPA can also meet the Reading Requirement).

Enrollment and Payment Deadlines-
Deadline for spring College Now enrollment is Friday, Feb 12. Payment is due at the time of enrollment.

Spring College Now enrollment begins on Jan 19!

Come learn about Scholarships, admissions requirements etc!

Langston University

Tuesday Jan. 19 @ 3pm

https://zoom.us/j/9675506380

Pittsburg State

Thursday Jan. 21 @ 3pm

https://pittstate.zoom.us/j/96547984623

Wichita State

Tuesday Jan. 26 @ 3pm

https://wichitastate.zoom.us/j/99674389775?pwd=bkNNam1EWmpPcTd5L2pPQVJLS3kzZz09

Northwest Missouri State

Wednesday Jan. 27 @ 3pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82649411589?pwd=dHprZElEdHc0VVVURk1FZFRFaUF6QT09

Scholarships (students will need to sign up to access page): Click on the link for more information.

https://studentscholarships.org/newsletter.php

Scholarship Database

Student Scholarships

Advent Health - Nutrition Service Worker click here

Advent Health - Dietary Aide - Food Services click here

Lowe's Careers - Seasonal Worker - click here

Johnson County Park & Rec - Before & Afterschool worker click here

Panera Bread - Mission location click here

Rally House - Mission location click here

The boys Swim and Dive team continued making improvements and picked up a convincing win versus Shawnee Mission Northwest 98 – 74 last Monday night at the Shawnee Mission District Aquatic Center. Individual winners: Caleb Sostarich in the 200 IM and 500 Freestyle, Oliver Goering in diving, Junior Lopez in the 100 Butterfly and the 200 Freestyle Relay. New state qualifying times included Junior Lopez in the 200 Freestyle, and Cameron Lee in the 50 Free and 100 Free. The 400 Freestyle Relay dropped 5 second from their previous best time for the season. Other great swims or dives were put in by Henry Duff, Luke Cramer, Jakob Rooney, Gage Chapman, Charlie Brooks, Jack Nely and Nathan Jackson.

We continue to work hard and get a bit better each meet. The Indians are in action in a quadrangular meet at Lawrence HS on Wednesday.

Bowling had our first meet on Monday, January 11th at Olathe Lanes East. Girls JV took 3rd, Boys JV took 4th, Varsity Boys took 4th and Varsity Girls took 2nd!!

Alyssa Williams took 1st out of all the girls and Brianna Hubenett took 2nd! Evan Reed led the Boys Varsity for the day with his highest series ever.Practices for the rest of the week and this week. We have a busy week next week with 3 meets coming!

Girls Basketball plays this week on Wednesday at Lawrence, Friday at Junction City and at home on Saturday vs SM West.

Boys Basketball team earned their first victory over Shawnee Mission West on a last second 3-pointer by Jonny Macan. Great team effort!

Wrestling will compete in the home double-quad on Saturday, Jan. 30

Game Check-in for Parent/Guardian: A reminder that parent(s)/guardian(s) are limited to two people per essential participant (player, cheerleader, dance team member—when applicable—and other deemed personnel by the athletic director per KSHSAA mitigations). It is reminded those attending events at SMN your point of entry will be through Door 41 and you will check in at the table with game management. Once in the gymnasiums some basic reminders for mitigations are:

• Only parent(s) or guardian(s) of the person are allowed
• All those entering must wear masks
• All those entering should not enter the facility until 15 minutes prior to the scheduled game time per the schedule on www.sunflowerleague.org
• Once in the assigned seating location, fans should remain in the stands and keep proper social distance.
• Upon conclusion of the game fans should exit immediately

Shawnee Mission North is proud of the accomplishments of our student athletes and their ability to perform at the next level while earning a post-secondary education on a scholarship. If you are a student-athlete who has, or will, sign an athletic scholarship our intention is host our school athletic signing ceremony in the spring. As time progresses more information will be disseminated.

For those families enrolled for paid transportation service, it is time to submit payment for 2nd semester to DS Bus Lines. Payment must be received by January 29 for second semester transportation service. If you did not enroll your student to ride the bus 1st semester and you want them to ride 2nd semester, please see the information below.

Enrollment (online) is required for all students that want to receive bus service. This includes those that qualify for free busing.

● For those who qualify for free busing (residing over 2.5 miles from school)
Click here to enroll: Shawnee Mission Bus Registration .

● For those enrolling in Parent Pay Busing (in areas with established routes): Click here to enroll:
https://dsbuslinessm.revtrak.net/-school-bus-parent-pay#/list

Bus fees will be prorated for the days that district is in remote attendance per JCDHE gating criteria. Additional information may be found on the SMSD transportation webpage: https://www.smsd.org/families/transportation

Bus number and information will be available in Skyward 3-5 days after student has completed enrollment for transportation via DS Bus Lines. If you cannot find your bus information in Skyward please call DS Bus Lines 913-384-1190

Shawnee Mission Signature Programs provide high school students the opportunity to explore unique areas of study in preparation for specialized academic and future career opportunities. Students receive targeted instruction that is both rigorous and relevant.

Interested in enrolling in one of the Signature Programs or finding out more about a specific course? Watch the videos on this page about each of the courses

Tuesday, January 26th from 6:30 p.m. - 7:45 p.m., Informational sessions for all students and families

• Use the links on this page to learn more about each program and connect live with teachers. Session will begin at 6:30, 6:50, 7:10, and 7:30.

The Signature Programs provide Real World Learning opportunities for students as outlined in the district’s Strategic Plan. Real World Learning opportunities prepare students for college and careers. Real World Learning is the connection between classroom learning experiences and the application of knowledge and skills in a realistic setting with guidance and mentoring of business and industry partners. Together, we are equipping our learners and communities to thrive in a rapidly changing, increasingly connected and complex world.

Our Shawnee Mission community is looking toward the future. The Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution to place a $264.2 million bond proposal on a mail ballot this January. Click here to learn more about the SMSD mail-in bond referendum being held in January 2021.

This bond proposal is designed to provide lasting facilities improvements across the district, and to strengthen student learning. View a video overview about the proposed bond here.
The goal is that the Shawnee Mission School District can continue to be ranked among the finest school districts in the nation, employing exceptional educators who work in state-of-the-art facilities, where learners achieve their full potential.

Meal pick up will continues on Fridays from 6:30-7:45 a.m. at all schools. Food service provides free meals to students regardless if they are in remote, hybrid, or in-person learning. This includes breakfast and lunch meals. Meals provided cover the days the student is not in-person learning (including weekend meals).

Please contact the Food Service office with questions at (913) 993-9710 or foodservices@smsd.org. The school breakfast and lunch menus, pick up meal information, and other nutrition information are available on the district’s website at https://www.smsd.org/about/departments/food-service.

All families that have not already applied for free or reduced meals this year are encouraged to apply if they feel they may qualify. There is a possibility that additional Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer ( P-EBT) funding may be available later this school year for those who have been approved for free or reduced meals. Click here for information and applications. If you have questions please call the Food Service Office at 913-993-9710.

• Student Support Tech Link: Lastly, if you have not already, please have your student check out the Black SMSD Icon in the dock next to the life preserve (Hep Desk) icon. This Student Technology Support link will direct you to helpful information and be a reference when troubleshooting your MacBook during remote instruction. Student Tech Support Reference

• Please contact the front office for support 913-993-6900

In order to give more teams the opportunity to participate, the SMN Booster Club has decided to POSTPONE the 7th Annual SMN Trivia For The Tribe VIRTUAL event - it WILL NOT be held on January 16 as originally scheduled.

We hope to have a new date and more information available soon!

Every January, SMN PTSA seeks individuals who would like to join our team for the next school year. If you would like to help us ensure students have supplies and gear, staff have resources and are appreciated, and positively impact the culture at North, please email smnorthptsa@gmail.com. We welcome all!!

For SMN PTSA/Booster Club news and updates like us on Facebook and follow on Twitter....

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=403968853023402

https://twitter.com/SMNorthBooster

https://twitter.com/SMNorthPTSA