The Announcement
We make the announcements as soon as possible through the local news, social media, the district’s website, and via phone calls, texts and emails to families. Please take a moment to confirm or update your family’s contact information and communication preferences in the Infinite Campus Parent Portal to ensure you receive notifications.
Cancellation
Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI)
With an NTI weather day, school buildings are closed but students participate in learning at home so it counts as a school day and does not need to be made up or added to the calendar. Students use their Chromebooks to complete lessons virtually. Here are the details:
- On NTI days, we will follow our typical A Day / B Day block schedule. Students will have assignments in every class for that day. For your reference, the Block Schedule is linked below. (We follow the same schedule as TCHS.)
- Assignments will be posted in Toddle by 9:05 each NTI morning.
- Assignments will be labeled “NTI Day 1,” “NTI Day 2,” etc. and will include the date.
Students who are unable to complete their work on an NTI weather day because of power outages, internet connectivity, or other issues will have three school days after returning to school to complete and submit assignments.
The FCPS Technology Help Desk is open on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at (859) 422-4410 for assistance with Chromebooks and student email accounts.
Severe Cold
The district has not set a specific temperature, but would start considering a change to the school schedule if temperatures were forecast to be below 0 degrees and/or a wind child advisory has been issued. The National Weather Service issues a wind chill advisory when wind chills of -10 to -24F are expected and a wind chill warning when wind chills of -25F or lower are expected.
Student Safety
Student safety is the district’s top priority, and we try to ensure that school buildings are a warm, safe and ideal place for students to be when the weather is extremely cold. FCPS relies on families to make sure children are dressed appropriately. Ideally, students need winter hats, gloves, heavy coats, and boots. Layering thin pieces of dry clothing is best in extremely low temperatures. If you need help with winter clothing, please reach out to Ms. Church or your child’s counselor and we will work to connect you with resources.
Along with FCPS we are pleased to welcome back, Rachel’s Challenge, a nationwide program that was created after the Columbine High School shooting in honor of Rachel Scott and the other victims lost on that tragic day.
After Rachel’s death, her family discovered that she left behind a legacy of kindness and compassion – through her life, her writings, and the people she had reached out to. One after another, stories emerged about the profound impact of her simple acts of kindness. Her family soon realized that Rachel’s story could help transform the way we relate to each other, and how we feel about ourselves. It provides an antidote: a path to ending school violence, bullying, self-harm and suicide. How? By creating positive connections that improve self-worth and mental health.
Rachel’s Challenge brings people together. It helps break down the walls that lead to harassment, isolation, teen suicide and gun violence. Their programs are a catalyst that stimulate connection and hope, invites personal reflection, and ignites change. When people feel that they are not alone, individuals – and communities – are transformed. It is happening every day around the nation in culturally diverse schools who implement Rachel’s Challenge.
Rachel’s Challenge works with educators and mental health professionals to ensure that all of their programs are trauma informed and age-appropriate. While the shootings are addressed in the secondary programs, they are not mentioned in the elementary presentation. The emphasis of the program is focused on the kindness and compassion that will inspire cultural change within the school.
Tates Creek Middle School will have two separate assemblies on Monday January 13th. There will be message specifically for 6th graders as well as a follow-up to last year’s presentation for our 7th and 8th graders.
If you would like to opt your child out of the Rachel’s Challenge program, or have any questions, please email Mr. Lockhart (nathan.lockhart@fayette.kyschools.us) indicating that request.
I encourage you to read the history of Rachel's Challenge below, or visit the website linked here for more information, prior to our assemblies: https://rachelschallenge.org/
Honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy by reading one of these powerful nonfiction books that center young African American perspectives, as they experience the Civil Rights Movement. These books are good choices for readers 9-14.
- More Than a Dream by Yohuru Williams and Michael G. Long
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackmon Lowery
Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories by Ellen Levine
Tell All the Children Our Story: Memories and Mementos of Being Young and Black in America by Tonya Bolden
Witnesses to Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil Rights by Belinda Rochelle
Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary by Elizabeth Partridge
- Like a Mighty Stream: The March on Washington by Patrik Henry Bass
Students on Strike: Jim Crow, Civil Rights, Brown, and Me by John Stokes
