NORTH NEWS February 1, 2021

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

On Monday, January 25, the Shawnee Mission Board of Education approved a revised calendar for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year. A copy of the calendar may be found on the district’s website. Barring unforeseen circumstances that would prevent SMSD from holding classes, here is a brief summary of the changes in the new calendar:

• Friday, March 19 – No school, professional learning
• Wednesday, May 19 - Last day for Seniors
• Wednesday, May 26 – Last day for Pre-K
• Tuesday, May 25 - SMN Graduation @ North Stadium - 7:00 PM
• Thursday, May 27 – Last day for grades K-11 (1:10 early release)
• Friday, May 28 – Teacher Workday/Last day for staff

Based on the revised state guidelines, the last day of class for seniors will be Wednesday, May 19.

See the calendar below for reminders about the upcoming schedule.

• 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.

2021-2022 Tentative Enrollment Timeline

• 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 began on Jan 19!

Come learn about Scholarships, admissions requirements etc!

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 - 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

Boys Basketball: the team traveled to Pittsburg, KS to play the dragons on Saturday afternoon. After playing a solid first half; the dragons pulled away with a final score of 66-42. The team is in action this week at Gardner Edgerton and home vs Olathe North.

Girls Basketball: the ladies traveled to Topeka Seaman for a Saturday afternoon game and came away with a solid victory! The final score was 40-34. The team also played on Friday night at home vs. Life Prep Academy (Wichita) and made a final push closing the margin to 6 before falling 62-47. On Thursday night we hosted SMS and lost 48-21.

Wrestling : the team went 1 - 3 at the Extremely tough North Invitational. Leading the team and going 3 - 1 on the day was Jasper Dewey. He will lead his team one more time this Wednesday at Home for Senior Night against South in the Field House. After that we prepare for Regionals which will be on Friday the 12th at BV West. The top 4 placers will qualify for Sub-State competition.

Swimming: The boys swim and dive team had their best week of the season this past week as we smashed a lot of season and personal records, culminating with a big win over Olathe West and Olathe North last Thursday night. We had a season best time in the 200 Freestyle Relay and matched our best time in the 400 Free Relay. Junior Lopez swam one of the fastest times in the state this year in the 500 Freestyle. Cameron Lee and Caleb Sostarich are also going to be seeded very high in their events at the league meet this week. Congratulations to all of the Junior Varsity swimmers for a great season! They really made tremendous strides, with many of them earning the opportunity to swim and dive at the Sunflower League Championships this week and weekend. We compete this Wednesday night for diving, Thursday night for Swimming Prelims, and Saturday morning for Finals. Good Luck to all the Indians!

Bowling: We had 3 meets last week. Varsity Girls took 1st on Tuesday at Park Lanes beating Mill Valley, Olathe South and Olathe West. Leading the ladies was Kayla Anderson with a 3rd place finish followed by Brianna Hubenett in 5th and Alyssa Williams taking 6th. On Wednesday at Olathe Lanes East, the Varsity Girls took 2nd with Alyssa Williams taking 1st and leading the ladies with Brianna Hubenett in 5th and Kayla Anderson taking 6th. Friday at Mission Bowl ‘n Olathe, the Varsity Girls took 2nd with Alyssa Williams leading the ladies with a 2nd place individual finish with Kayla Anderson taking 4thand Brianna Hubenett taking 6th.

Varsity Boys took 4th on Monday, 2nd on Tuesday with Dylan Deathe leading the team and a 3rd place on Friday. Improvement is showing each meet and we have a lot of practice time this week coming up!!

Spring Sports begins on Monday March 1, 2021. Please make sure you have your physical turned in to the office no later than Friday February 26th at Noon. If you have participated in Fall or Winter sports you have completed this requirement.

Live Eligibility - The athletic department practices live eligibility via skyward reports. We will run our first report on Monday, Feb 8 for semester II. A friendly reminder our student-athletes must be passing 5 courses in order to participate in competitions.

Spring Off-Season/Open Gym Guidelines

Weight-training Conditioning Hour – check with Coach Carpenter and Coach Walter about work-out dates for North.

Dual Participation Athlete (JJ) – If your student is interested in participating in two after-school activities please complete the DUAL ATHLETIC PARTICIPATION CONTRACT and schedule a meeting with both coaches and the athletic director.

Girls Swim & Dive - Open Swim & Dive @ SMSDAC- Tuesdays starting today, 1-26-21, 6:30-7:30PM Feb. 7, Feb. 9, Feb. 16 and Feb. 23.

The district has made the decision to change the doctors allowed to release students from COVID Return to Play to only MD, PO and APRN; DC and PA-C will be removed, as they do not have the ability to perform cardiac assessments.

KSHSAA Guidelines Return to Play

SMSD partners with The Health Partnership, which is a medical practice with family physicians and pediatricians; they also have equipment to perform an EKG. The Health Partnership the only federally funded health clinic in Johnson County. They accept families with no insurance as well as families with health insurance coverage. They have offices on the Shawnee Mission Medical Center campus and in Olathe.

KSHSAA

Starting this Friday, Jan 29, member schools’ transition to the revised restricted attendance policy allowing a maximum of four spectators per participant permitted to attend with appropriate social distancing required. Local school districts may choose to have stricter limitations based on seating and local health department guidelines.

3. Face coverings for all attending and supporting interscholastic activities. The only exception is for those actively participating in competition.

4. At their recent meeting, the Executive Board approved for staff to take the following actions when a school is found to be non-compliant with covid-19 risk mitigation protocols:

a. First report – notification to school administration detailing violation and identification of corrective action.

b. Second report – correspondence to school and district administration.

c. Third report – school/district administrative appearance before the Executive Board.

d. Fourth – implementation of Executive Board sanctions including, but not limited to:

i. Loss of postseason host opportunities

ii. Removal from postseason tournament(s)

iii. Suspension of KSHSAA membership for all activities

iv. Fines/Special assessments

Based upon response of school leaders, they move more rapidly through this sequence.

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.

• Download the Canvas Parent App from the App Store or Google Play store.
• Follow the prompts to create your account. Create a username and password.
• Search SMSD (Shawnee Mission School District) > Shawnee Mission North > Eventually it will ask you for a “Pairing Code”
• To find your student’s “Pairing Code”

1. In your student’s Canvas account have your student click on “Account” (Top Left)
2. Click on “Settings” > then click on “Pair with Observer” (Right side)
3. Enter this “Pairing code” when prompted in your Canvas Parent App.

• Note that each parent needs a different code, therefore repeating this process to generate a different code. If more than one student, you will be prompted to “add student” on the app. Repeat the process to generate their observer code.
• If your student will not provide the code to you, please reach out to the school to get the Pairing Code.

• Additional Canvas gradebook information can be found here.

• 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

The 7th Annual "Trivia Night for the Tribe" VIRTUAL event has been rescheduled for Saturday, Feb 20th!!

Did you know that you can raise $$$ for your favorite SMN team, club, or group by participating in the upcoming "Trivia Night for the Tribe"?

The cost of this adults-only evening is $240 per team with a maximum of 8 players per team. Each trivia team can designate a donation of $100 from your registration fee to benefit the SMN club, group, or team of your choice!

The 7th Annual SMN "Trivia Night for the Tribe" - will be a VIRTUAL EVENT hosted by TriviaHub. Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 20th at 7:00 pm and start recruiting your team - you can register and pay at the following link...

https://www.smnptsa.com/

Facebook Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/405427664151831/?active_tab=discussion

Much of the event will be the same as in the past – it will be a fun night full of Trivia, Prizes & Bragging Rights (including awards for Best Team Name/Theme/Costumes), plus our Raffle. The biggest change is that this year, you get to participate online from the comfort of your home!

Registrations and team payment must be received by FEBRUARY 11, 2021, to secure your spot!!

Teams will be assigned a number that will be used by each participant to sign-in to the event. This number is used to group your team together in “Break Out Rooms” to answer the trivia questions. Team members can log in as individuals, or if they are in the same location, they can log in as a couple, or small group. Team members DO NOT need to be at the same location during the event.

Raffle tickets and mulligans will be available for purchase before the event.

Trivia Night for the Tribe is co-sponsored by the SMN PTSA and the SMN Booster Club and all proceeds will be used to support SMN students, staff, and programs!

For more information, contact SMN PTSA at smnorthptsa@gmail.com or SMN Booster Club at smnboosterclub@yahoo.com - we will also be posting information, updates, and more on our Facebook event page...

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