Thompson Friday Forecast

It has been an exciting few days of school, especially the last two as all three grade levels of students have been in attendance. Our staff is certainly thrilled to be back and our students have matched their enthusiasm. As I have interacted with students over these last few days, I have noticed excellent behavior, attentive audiences, and eager learners and compliant “social distancers.” These are all student qualities that tell me our kids are excited to do the best they possibly can.

I appreciate your understanding with our scheduling issues and I am certain that many student changes will continue to be made as we respond to the educational adjustments parents are requesting. On a positive note, we could not be happier upon the dismissal bell, as our buses are already on site and ready to take home students. This is a huge improvement from years of having to hold students until their buses arrived after school.

I would like to share Information regarding our responsiveness to COVID-19: Building and District sanitizing protocols include hourly cleaning of touch points, handrails, door handles, and bathrooms. A deep cleaning of all cafeteria tables and surfaces is done prior to another person using that furniture. All buses are sanitized after both the morning and afternoon runs. This is in addition to standard cleaning protocols. "After the school day cleaning" includes standard night cleaning with an emphasis on sanitation of all touch points in the building. Areas of the building where a suspected or person who's tested positive spent uninterrupted time in is quarantined for three days while it is Super Deep Cleaned and disinfected using COVID-19 cleaning protocols.

The measures we have put into place such as symptom checking, using face coverings/masks, social distancing, heightened hand hygiene, and hybrid learning models serve to slow transmission of the virus by keeping even mildly symptomatic students out of school when symptoms develop and testing is recommended. Our role in the community is to mitigate, or slow the spread of this infection, while being as effective as possible at meeting the educational needs of our students and community.

It’s good to start a new school year; enjoy your weekend!

Steve

On Monday, August 31 and Tuesday, September 1, students will be taking district-wide assessments in the areas of reading and math. To learn more about the testing program and resources, please review this letter.

All students will be completing these assessments at home instead of participating in their scheduled asynchronous learning activities to allow for ample time to complete the assessments. Here is the student letter that was emailed to your child about taking the test. Below is specific information for both our Hybrid and Remote learners.

Hybrid Learners

• B Day students

• Complete the Reading and Math tests during their asynchronous learning time at home on Monday, August 31.

• Attend regularly scheduled synchronous, in-person school day on Tuesday, September 1.

• A Day students

• Complete the Reading and Math tests during their asynchronous learning time at home on Tuesday, September 1.

• Attend regularly scheduled synchronous, in-person school day on Monday, August 31.

Remote Learners

• ALL remote students will be completing the Reading and Math tests at home on Tuesday, September 1. There will be no classes on this day as the tests can take up to 4 hours to complete.

• Attend regularly scheduled remote A day on Monday, August 31st.

Getting Started

• Use the directions in this document to login to the tests.

• Expect each test to take 90-100 minutes.

• Tests can be taken in any order.

• Feel free to take breaks as needed during and after each test.

• No asynchronous work will be assigned during testing days.

• Breaks from the screen are encouraged! Choose from one of these optional activities that supports physical, mental/emotional, and social sides of the health triangle.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter problems with login or issues during the test, please reach out to District 303 Technical Support Resources.

Parents and Guardians: Please note that, as some families and students are choosing to move from in-person to remote learning, we must continue to make adjustments to student schedules, which in most cases may also include a change in teacher. When class sections become too small or large based on these adjustments, your child’s schedule may also need to be adjusted. Although our preference is to keep consistency in our scheduling, please understand that it has become necessary to accommodate the choices families are making for their children. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we try to balance all of the different constraints we are managing during the pandemic.

Picture retake days are scheduled for Wednesday, October 14th and Thursday, October 15th. We are planning to offer time slots for our full remote learners and will provide you with more information in early October.

We want to make sure that all students and staff members are included in our yearbook this year! If you did not get your picture taken this week, and cannot come to Thompson for picture make up days, please upload your own portrait to:

• www.yearbooksforever.com
• Access code: thompsonms

Mr. Harmon, one of our yearbook advisors, created this video to show you how easy it is to upload your child's portrait.

If you have any questions, please call the Main Office (331) 228-3100.

The middle school food vendor is OrganicLife again this year. District 303 has collaborated with our food service vendors to provide grab and go meals for students to enjoy at home. As we move into the school year, we want to make you aware of procedures for making sure that students continue to receive meals, whether they are learning in-person or remotely. Please review the information attached to this Friday Forecast from the District Office.

Click here to view the Food Services website with a link to the daily menus.

Breakfast: $1.60; Reduced Breakfast: $0.30

Lunch: $2.90; Reduced Lunch: $0.40

Milk: $0.60 (when purchased separately from meals)

Due to COVID-19, the school district is no longer accepting check payments and cash at the schools. Parents will need to use PushCoin to apply funds.

SCHOOL FEES WAIVER: The school fees waiver will ONLY be a PAPER application since there is financial documentation required for income verification. A family can only qualify for a free waiver of fees; there are no reduced fees. The application is on the district website. Questions regarding school fee waivers - Sharon Wlezien at 331-228-5417

FOOD WAIVER: Only one application needs to be completed for each household. Please include ALL family members that live in the household (even those not attending a school). Applications are posted on the district website. In addition, paper applications are available at the schools and the Administration Building as in years past. Unlike the school fees, families can qualify for Reduced. Questions regarding food waivers - Patti Townsend 331-228-6529

Families directly certified by the State of Illinois for the 2020-2021 school year will receive FREE FOOD and their FEES will be WAIVED. If your family is qualified by the state, do NOT need to complete either application. You should have received an approval letter in the mail in July.

• Tuesday, September 1 - Curriculum Night (All Grades) - Video (not virtual) posted by 6:30 pm
  
• Friday, September 4 - No School for Students - Teacher Institute Day
• Monday, September 7 - No School for Students - Labor Day Holiday
• Thursday, September 10 - PTO Meeting (Virtual) - 9:00 - 10:00 am
• Wednesday, October 14 - Picture Retake Day
  
• Thursday, October 15 - Picture Retake Day

Mr. Steve Morrill - Principal

Mrs. Michelle Dague - Assistant Principal

Mr. Shane Darnell - Assistant Principal

Mrs. Danielle Moeller - Student Support Coordinator

Mr. Sam Pasholk - Student Support Coordinator

Let's Talk!

Email: kimberly.walters@d303.org
Website: http://thompson.d303.org
Location: 705 West Main Street
Phone: (331) 228-3100
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thompson-Middle-School-671638232903851/