NORTH NEWS March 1, 2021

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

The information below only pertains to those students who have been learning in the in-person learning model and have been coming to the building during hybrid learning. If your student is a remote ONLY student, they will remain remote through the end of the school year.

At the BOE meeting on Monday night, the target date for all secondary students returning for full in-person learning was announced - that date being Monday, March 22. The calendar posted below reflects this target return date. If this target return date moves, the calendar will be adjusted. Several important pieces of information were communicated at the BOE meeting regarding the return for all secondary students:

• Maintaining 3-6 feet of space will not be possible in every situation. Staff will be working to arrange spaces throughout the building (including classrooms) to maximize the amount of space between students.
• Proper masking will become increasingly important when distance can't be maintained. During the BOE meeting, there was a lot of talk from JCDHE and SMSD about double masking. While it is not mandatory, it was recommended.
• Other mitigating efforts will continue throughout the building - classroom seating charts, classroom cleaning/sanitization, frequent/proper hand hygiene, limiting students in the bathroom, etc.

SMN Parents and Guardians,

Please be aware that with the end of the 3rd quarter approaching, Shawnee Mission North will be hosting our spring parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday, March 3. This is an opportunity for parents/guardians to speak with teachers about your student’s progress thus far in their classes. The conferences will take place virtually and by appointment only. The intent of parent-teacher-student conferences is to provide positive dialogue between parents, students, and teachers to help our students succeed here at North. Please make sure you include your student in the conferences if possible.

Parent-Teacher Conference Opportunity: Wednesday, March 3rd from 5:00pm to 8:00pm

Parents are encouraged to schedule conferences through Skyward. Directions on how to do this are attached, along with the following video link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWQo-6TTimA

Spanish-speaking parents that need assistance signing up for conferences via Skyward, please contact Maria Diaz-Lorenzana at 913-993-0277 or email her at marialorenzana@smsd.org.

If you are interested in celebrating Black history in a new way beyond February, come to a planning meeting on Wed or Thurs (March 3 or 4th) at 2:45-3:15 pm in the Learning Commons. For more details, see Mrs. J.B in room 107 or Mr. Durham. There will also be virtual meeting options provided if you are unable to make it to the meeting. See JB or Mr. Durham for that information as well or email them at:

Mrs. J.B : nataliejohnson@smsd.org

Mr. Durham: jondurham@smsd.org

Attention all students and parents:

We are beginning the exclusion process for those students who have not had their state required immunizations. We’ve checked all the Missouri and Kansas Databases and that leaves us with several students who are NONCOMPLIANT.

Everyone who needs a vaccine has been emailed 3 times as a gentle reminder to get their immunizations up to date. Please help us update your immunization records, if you’ve received an email. We are not excluding remote learners from class participation from home. But they are not allowed on campus for any reason – sports clinics, computer help etc. They will not be able to attend school on the first day next year until we receive proper documentation of their vaccinations.

If you have any questions about this please call us at 913-993-6916 or 913-993-6907. Thank you all!

Mary Alice Kelly and Val Snow

Top 20 Teachers have created a Canvas Top 20 Course for all students at Shawnee Mission North. Top 20 is a great resource for all our student to access. Top 20 is a way to help students and staff reframe their thinking to help identify where they are at socially and emotionally. It provides strategies to help when we are not in our best mindset. We encourage all our students to participate within the Top 20 Course on Canvas. If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to any Top 20 Teachers posted on the Canvas page.

Congratulations to the Top 10 Northman Candidates, it's an honor to be a part of the top 10 and we celebrated them at the boy’s basketball halftime on 2/12. Our Shawnee Mission North 2021 Northman is Luke Cramer, 1st Runner up is Jorge Coromac and 2nd Runner up is Shaun Brown. Congratulations to all of them!!

Class Fundraisers - The Freshmen Flower Fundraiser went amazing! Each flower brought a smile to the receiver's face.

Crush for Crush - The sophomore class did crush for crush. We sold around 30 - 40. This is less than what we did last year. We will still deliver some during next week's seminar. Some students did buy some for our all remote students so we might have to leave those in the office for them to pick up. Our sponsor bought a bit more soda than we planned so we might have to do something separate to sell the rest of that soda

MATCHMAKER - The Junior Class hosted the annual MatchMaker fundraiser where students fill out a questionnaire that matches them with other students in the school. 64 Students purchased their MatchMaker results.

KINDNESS WEEK NOTES - During kindness week, for the first time ever, STUCO hosted the opportunity for students to virtually send kindness notes to their friends, peers, and teachers! A google form was pushed to all students where they could put any student or faculty member from North and on Feb. 12th all notes were sent out. Students could remain anonymous or include their names in their messages. Over 900 notes were submitted to be forwarded to North Community.

Hygiene Drive - The hygiene drive was a great success and we loved helping out The one stop shop

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

Click HERE to sign up

See the calendar below for reminders about the upcoming schedule.

All IROC forms need to be turned in by the end of the day Tuesday, March 2nd. Students can either drop the forms off in Student Services or forms can be emailed to LeahMurray@smsd.org.

Seniors-

On Tuesday, March 2nd & Thursday, March 4th from 1-2pm Johnson County Community College will be giving a virtual presentation for those interested!

A representative will discuss:

• Information about JCCC
• What to do after you've enrolled
• Briefly discuss FAFSA
• Answer any questions you may have

NOTE:

1. SMSD does not support Zoom, however you can join from browser! If you are having trouble, feel free to join from an iPhone or outside device.
2. This is during seminar time! The presentations will be the same for both days, so only attend one session. Please choose the day that you are remote. If you have any class conflicts reach out to me!

Sign up here to receive the zoom link.

Wednesday, March 3rd @ 3pm

The University of Kansas will be holding a virtual visit to give information/updates!

Contact College Adviser moniquewesley@smsd.org for more information.

Click on the link for more information about Scholarships.

https://studentscholarships.org/newsletter.php

Scholarship Database

Student Scholarships

Advent Health - Nutrition Service Worker click here

Countryside Child Development - Child care worker click here

Dandelions and Mud Puddles - Child care - Carrie Carter 913-825-0399

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

JCPRD - Lifeguards, sports officials, concessions workers, and more click here

Lowe's Careers - Seasonal Worker - click here

Panera Bread - Mission location click here

Rally House - Mission location click here

YMCA - Lifeguard click here

YMCA - Before & After school care click here

SMN Alum Darian Dozier is offering online ACT Workshop for students who may be interested. She is passionate about helping students who otherwise may not have access to materials that could help them with college admissions and has designed ACT Workshop session to help. The workshops will be Monday and Wednesdays from 6:00-8:00pm. She will be alternating weeks with Mondays being for Math or Reading sections and Wednesdays being for Science or English sections. The workshops cost $10 for each class and the registration link can be found here. A video explaining why the ACT is so important and providing a little more information about these workshops can be found here.

Varsity Bowling held senior night on Monday, February 22nd. The varsity girls won versus Piper and SM East; leading the girls was Junior Alyssa Williams 625, followed by Senior Kayla Anderson 2nd with 580 and 5th place, Senior Brianna Hubenett! The varsity Boys took 3rd led by Senior Christian Hedrick with 464.

February 22 was Regionals! Regionals looked different with some schools bowling in the morning and some in the afternoon. Results were not known until after everyone left the center. The girls team WON Regionals and are heading to state. The team was led by Alyssa Williams who took 2nd with 563, Kayla Anderson 3rd with 552 and Brianna Hubenett who took 8th with a 501 series. State will be Friday, March 5th in the morning for the ladies!! Boys took 7th at Regional and worked hard and showed improvement this year!

SM North boys’ basketball beat a scrappy KC-Wyandotte High team 51-34 to advance in the KSHSAA post-season competition. Statistically North was led by Johnny Macan with 18 points and Logan Oberle with 13 points and 7 rebounds. The TRIBE will travel to KC- JC Harmon High School on Tuesday evening for a 7:00pm tip.

Girls basketball team played solid team basketball but came up short last Thursday vs Olathe East, 23-32. The team finished the regular season 2-15. They beat KC-Wyandotte in a regional playoff game on Saturday afternoon, 51-11. Leading scorers were Baylee Doolin with 14 pts, Kiara Williams with 13 pts, and Ciera Washington with 8pts. The girls will travel to SMNW on Wednesday for a 7:00pm game.

*Both of the boys and girls basketball games are KSHSAA events and will costs $7.00 to attend with limited spectator entry (families only of participant).

Spring Sports begins TODAY Monday March 1, 2021. Please make sure you have your physical turned in to the office. If you have participated in Fall or Winter sports you have already completed this requirement. See Mrs. Rettig in the office if you need to check on your paperwork.

If you are interested in tryouts make sure you visit or reach out to our varsity coaches. Try-outs for 2021-22 Cheer and Dance are on the horizon as well.

Track - Aaron Davidson aarondavidson@smsd.org

Baseball - Shane McBride shanemcbride@smsd.org

Softball - Julie True coachtrue22@gmail.com

Girls Swim - Kailey Morash kaileyelise421@gmail.com

Boys Tennis - Jon Durham jondurham@smsd.org

Girls Soccer - Joe Gliori josephgliori@smsd.org

Dance - Ali Pavlich smndancecoach@gmail.com

Cheer - Ashley Steele asteele1219@gmail.com

Live Eligibility - The athletic department practices live eligibility via skyward reports. A friendly reminder our student-athletes must be passing 5 courses in order to participate in competitions.

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.

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.

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

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.

You and your high school student are invited to participate in a research study investigating bicultural identity and the decision to pursue higher education. Please see the letter below for more information and how to sign up.

Did you know that March 8-12, 2021 is National School Breakfast Week?

A breakfast program is available in the cafeteria every day. This is a great time to try School Breakfast. Let’s help students to perform better every day by making sure they eat a healthy breakfast at home or at school.

Students who eat school breakfast are more likely to:

• Maintain a healthy weight
• Have better concentration and memory
• Be more alert
• Reach higher levels of achievement in reading and math, and score higher on standardized tests
• Drink more milk and eat more fruit daily

Eating school breakfast is associated with:

• Lower rates of absenteeism and tardiness
• Fewer behavioral problems
• Reduced number of nurse’s office visits
• Higher grades and increased standardized tests scores
• Positive learning environments

School breakfast can also:

• Decrease the risk of food insecurity
• Improve children’s overall dietary intake
• Help protect against childhood obesity
• Protect against other negative health outcomes

• Reduce students’ stress and anxiety

The school breakfast menus, lunch menus, and other nutrition information are available on the district’s website at https://www.smsd.org/about/departments/food-service.

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