Principal's Newsletter

Happy Friday Packer Families,

I need your help. Please complete the Spring 2024 Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey linked here or below. I need your input on what is working and what needs to be redesigned. It should only you take you 5-10 minutes, but the input you provide will be invaluable. Please take the time to complete the survey! PLEASE!

End of Trimester 3 is just 12 days away. With only 12 days left in Trimester 3 (and the school year), please check in with your student and ask them the following questions?

• How has this trimester gone for you?
• Are you happy and/or satisfied with your grades?
• Is there work you could be doing over the upcoming long weekend?
• What do you need to do to finish the trimester strong?
• How can I support you?

Together, we can/will get our students across the Trimester 3 finish line!!! If your student needs any additional support to complete Trimester 3 successfully, please make sure to send them in on W.I.N. (G.S.D.) Wednesday.

In this week's newsletter you can find more information regarding:

• Senior Schedule for their last week of school,
  

• Spring 2024 Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey
  

• Stride for Packer Pride Saturday (come support this wonderful event),

• New COVID guidelines,

• Summer Strength and Speed,
  

• and many more topics. Make sure to check the newsletter out.

Thanks for all the support you give your student and the school! Have an fantastic weekend!

Go PACKERS!

Sincerely,

Chuck

Mr. Chuck Ochocki

South St. Paul High School Principal

700 2nd Street North

South St. Paul, MN 55075

(651) 457-9402

cochocki@sspps.org

Packer Pride: Today. Tomorrow. Forever.

5/27- No School- Memorial Day

5/28-

5/29- W.I.N. Wednesday

5/30-

5/31- Final Exams in periods 4, 5, 6

6/3- Final Exams in periods 1, 2, 3. Students check-in to period 4, return devices, senior picnic on the competition field.

SSPPS Families,

SSPPS is dedicated to creating a positive experience for all whom we serve. We are committed to listening and responding to your experiences with our organization to continuously improve our service to you. Our partners at Studer Education are providing an opportunity for you to provide feedback anonymously, at the link below.

Please take a few minutes to complete the Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey at this link:

South St. Paul Public Schools – Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey

The survey will remain open until Friday, May 24.

Your feedback will be used to celebrate our successes and to create action plans for improvement. Your input is valuable; please take a few minutes to complete the survey.

Thank you for your commitment to our success!

The 5K Run/Walk Fundraiser is back this year! For those unfamiliar, my family and I have organized this event for the previous 14 years or so to raise money for kids in our school district who struggle to afford activity fees. Our parents both graduated from South St. Paul in the early 50’s and believed in the importance of participating in co-curricular athletics and activities. We’ve done this event to honor them and help the kids who need it most.

We’d love to have a big crowd involved this year! Please consider participating (run or walk), volunteering (we never have enough volunteers), donating, and/or spreading the word to anyone who may be interested. A Kids Run is also part of this! All proceeds go directly to the kids of our community. Please contact me if you have any questions. Thanks and have a great day!

LINK TO SIGN UP, VOLUNTEER, DONATE

Pete Schultz

History Teacher

So. St. Paul High School

pschultz@sspps.org

SSPPS is excited to announce that our district has partnered with STOPit Solutions to bring HELPme, a 24/7/365 technology platform, into our school community.

HELPme is designed to provide invaluable assistance to our students, families, and staff, offering a private and accessible way to access a wide array of resources and support. Our aim with HELPme is to provide:

• Private Access to Essential Resources: From necessities like food and shelter to clothing and beyond, HELPme ensures individuals can access vital resources.

• Connection to Support: Whether it’s school, community, or governmental resources, HELPme provides convenient access to a network of support services and helplines, both local and beyond.

• Culture of Support: We recognize that asking for help is a fundamental life skill. HELPme fosters a culture where asking for assistance is not only accepted, but encouraged.

HELPme mobile app offers three key features that empower our students, families, and staff:

• GET HELP: Anonymously request assistance from local school contacts, including a unique Messenger feature which allows two-way communication without revealing identities.

• CRISISTEXTLINE: Direct access to non-local trained crisis counselors via text, providing immediate support in times of need.

• GET RESOURCES: Easily search and access a wide range of community, local, state, and federal resources and helplines

It’s important to know that No personal information is needed to use HELPme. The only way personally identifiable information will be accessible through HELPme is if a requester voluntarily includes it within the content of a request or message.

Both our school and HELPme are committed to protecting the privacy of student data. STOPit is a signatory to the Student Privacy Pledge, spearheaded by the Future of Privacy Forum and the Software & Information Industry Association. You may review STOPit’s Privacy Policy for details, including more information on how anonymous reporting works.

We are sharing the HELPme information with our families before we roll out this program to our secondary students only during their Connections class next week.

We encourage you to also download the HELPme app and search for your students' school using the directory. You can privately ask for help for your student, family, others you care about, or even acquaintances who appear to need help.

To gain a better understanding of how HELPme works and the various support it provides, I encourage you to watch the short videos linked below:

• Student Video

• Family Video

We are excited about the introduction of HELPme to our SSPPS community. We believe this resource will complement our existing support systems seamlessly. Together, we can make sure everyone in our community gets what they need to thrive.

Visit our website at https://www.sspps.org/departments/student-services/helpme for more information or reach out to your building principal with any questions.

The high school Summer Strength and Speed program has a long tradition of fostering athletic excellence and healthy behaviors for grades 6-12. This program starts with safety, technique, and peer-to-peer support, and grows into highly competitive, intense summer workouts preparing student-athletes for physical fitness and varsity athletic success. See the attached flier to find the summer morning session that fits students’ goals and experience. Note the affordable cost ($90 for the whole summer): coaches are committed to ensuring access for the entire community. The teams and friend groups that work out together, find support AND excellence! Reach out to Tim Kennealy (tkennealy@sspps.org), Manuel Spreigl (mspreigl@sspps.org), or Tyler LaRose (tlarose@sspps.org) with questions.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has issued updated guidelines for managing respiratory viruses, including COVID-19. If you experience symptoms of a respiratory virus, it is recommended to take the following steps:

• Isolation: Stay away from others until:

• Symptoms have improved for at least 24 hours, and

• If a fever was present, it has subsided without the use of fever-reducing medication.

• Precautionary Measures: After resuming normal activities, it's important to continue taking precautions for the next 5 days to minimize the risk of disease transmission. This includes:

• Improving indoor air quality

• Practicing enhanced hygiene, such as frequent handwashing

• Wearing a well-fitting mask

• Maintaining physical distance from others

• Consider getting tested for respiratory viruses.

This updated guidance provides a unified approach to managing the risks associated with various common respiratory viral illnesses, including COVID-19, influenza, and RSV.

Please make sure to update your contact Information.

In order to receive important information regarding school closings and family messages, make sure your contact information is correct in our student information system, Infinite Campus- Parent Portal. To do so:

• Log into your Infinite Campus Parent Portal account

• Click on the user menu icon in the upper left hand side of the screen

• Click on Settings

• Click on Contact Preferences

• Check to make sure all information is correct and preferences are updated

ParentSquare Communications

South St. Paul Public Schools uses ParentSquare for school to home communications. When the need for an emergency school closing arises, this is the system that will alert you.

• One of the best ways to receive these alerts is by downloading the app from the Google Play Store or the iOS App Store

• Look in your ParentSquare account settings and be sure you HAVE NOT turned off notifications from your student’s school or the district, directions here

• Check your phone settings and be sure you are not blocking unknown calls, or you can add SSPPS as a contact in your phone 651-457-9400

• If you have not been receiving school texts, you many have accidentally opted out from receiving them, to start them back up send the word "START" to 66458 to opt back in

W.I.N. Wednesday will start on April 3. Wednesday is NOT a late start. Doors will open at 7:30 AM and first period will starting at 7:50 AM.

Students who are earning a C or lower will need to attend W.I.N. Wednesday and come into school to get help in their classes. Students who are earning a C+ and above may work from home if they have their parent/guardian permission to work from home. You may always send your student to school.

9th and 10th grader students must come to school if they are earning a C or lower in any class. 9th and 10th grade students that are coming in for W.I.N. Wednesday must attend all their classes, no matter their grade in their classes.

11th/12th grader students must come in for the class/es that they are earning a C or lower in. Depending on their class schedule and the time of their classes, 11th/12th grader students that choose to come late or leave early must sign in and out of the high school attendance office if they choose not to attend the entire day (this is only for W.I.N. Wednesday).

Teachers will create 2 W.I.N. Wednesday folders for each week: C and lower (for Additional support), C+ and higher (extension) so your student will have work they need to complete both at home or in school.

Instilling healthy habits and routines (adequate sleep/nutrition) and consistent attendance ensures a student’s success in school even as early as kindergarten. We know that too many absences/tardies, for whatever reason, can cause children to fall behind both academically and socially.

To help ensure healthy habits consult with your health care provider regarding well-visits and immunizations, as well as maintain good personal hygiene. Also:

• Get the appropriate vaccines.
• Wash your hands frequently.
• Stay home if you are sick (so you do not spread the illness to other people) (do not return to school until fever free for 24hrs without use of medication or 24hrs after last time vomited).
• Use a tissue, or cough and sneeze into your arm, not your hand and turn away from other people.
• Use single-use tissues. Dispose of the tissue immediately.
• Wash your hands after coughing, sneezing, or using tissues.
• Do not touch your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands (viruses can enter your body from unwashed hands).
• Do not share cups, glasses, dishes, cutlery, or cellphones.

The school district will follow the guidelines from the Minnesota Department of Health for recommended exclusion and notification for vaccine-preventable diseases including mumps, measles, rubella, pertussis, diphtheria, viral hepatitis, chickenpox, and meningitis. Families will not be notified, and students are not excluded for lice, mononucleosis, pink eye or strep throat.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me:

Rick Moore BSN, RN, PHN moorer@sspps.org

651-457-9449

• May 22- W.I.N. (G.S.D.) WEDNESDAY
• May 24- No School for Students
• May 27- No School for Students
• May 29- W.I.N. (G.S.D.) WEDNESDAY

Want to see our students and staff in action? Come watch them at a home event. Here is the link to this weeks schedule:Weekly Schedule

If your family is experiencing homelessness, such as staying in a shelter, hotel or temporarily with others, we can help make sure your child has stability in their education through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act. For help in accessing these services, please contact Candace Burckhardt, Special School District #6 Homeless Liaison/Local Coordinator.

For more information please look at the resources at the following link: https://www.sspps.org/departments/student-services/special-education

Additional resources can also be found at https://www.co.dakota.mn.us/HealthFamily/PublicAssistance/Housing/Pages/default.aspx or MDE's website: https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/ESEA/home/

Email: cochocki@sspps.org
Website: https://www.sspps.org
Location: 700 2nd Street North, South Saint Paul, MN, USA
Phone: 651-457-9402