Owatonna Public Schools

District Newsletter

May 2020

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#MissionMoment Spotlight

Vanessa Boyum, ALC student, inspires excellence!

Watch the short video clip from the April 27 School Board meeting to hear how one of our students inspires excellence.

New High School Planning Continues

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The new high school planning team and committees have continued to meet, although in a slightly different format during the pandemic. Through virtual meetings and social distancing, planning for the new high school continues.

At the meeting in April, discussion and activities included:

Learning the value of a three story building compared to two stories.
Exciting progress and good evolution of the plan.
A balance of flexible and open learning spaces to create a viable and relevant learning environment.
Flexibility in spaces and walls throughout the plan.

Next Steps:

Smaller user group meetings will commence to identify more detailed room and space design. An update with design and renderings will be presented to the school board in June.

www.owatonnaproud.org

How We are Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Thank you for your support and patience during an incredibly difficult time. This has been a challenging time for our staff, students, and certainly our families. Thank you for being excellent partners in educating our students. We miss our students dearly and look forward to the next time we will gather. We will communicate additional updates via email or on our district website as they are made available to us.

Distance Learning

Distance Learning continues to provide Early Childhood - Grade 12 students with access to appropriate educational materials and ensure they receive daily interaction with their licensed teacher(s). Please refer to the district’s detailed Distance Learning Plan, available here, https://bit.ly/ISD761-DL, and linked from our district website.

May 4- No distance learning for students (Teacher Work Day)
May 25- Memorial Day (No School)
June 1-5 - Wrap up and end-of-year procedures, device and material collection

Technology Support Hotline 444-8630

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Virtual Field Trips

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"Cruise Through" parades to show support and give distance hugs

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Virtual art projects - our students, staff, and parents are true superheroes!

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Free Meals for Students

Our district will continue to offer free meals to children ages 1-18 through Friday, June 5. Meals are available at 14 different locations throughout the community. Starting the week of May 4, we are expanding lunch options and providing some hot meals on Wednesdays and Fridays at the meal pick-up sites of McKinley, Wilson, and Owatonna Middle School. After the first week, the hot meals may expand to Tuesdays as well. For more details, contact our Nutrition Services Department at 507-444-8616. For more information on meal pick up, please click on the links below. Information will be coming soon regarding our food service plan for the summer.

Free Meal Pick Up Flyer

Bus Delivery Locations

Owatonna Food Map

Child Care for Emergency and Essential Workers

We continue to offer childcare for students ages Kindergarten through age 12 for parents who are emergency and essential workers who are required to report to work per Governor Walz’s Executive Order through Friday, June 5. The District will continue to provide school-day care free of charge; however, a change for all families is a charge for before and after school care. Fees will be $4 for morning care and $6 for after school care.

Child care opportunities will be extended to ALL families for a fee of $30 per day. The application for care can be completed at school district/community education website. An FAQ sheet is available on the school district/community education website to answer questions, provide contact information and further directions to enroll in child care for the remainder of the school year. Questions can be answered directly by calling our Community Education office at 507-444-7900. More information regarding summer care programs will be communicated with you as additional guidance becomes available from the Minnesota Department of Education.

Please see this list of Tier I and Tier II eligibility for emergency/essential employee school day child care.

Care contracts will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis until site capacity is reached. A site capacity has been established that allows for continuing physical distancing and full utilization of available staff.

Celebrate the class of 2020! We are proud of our seniors.

You can help show our #OwatonnaProud seniors some love by adding an "I ❤️ Our Seniors" frame to your Facebook profile picture! Use the links below to add your frame!

Husky:
www.facebook.com/profilepicframes/?selected_overlay_id=2917820831636762

Owatonna:
www.facebook.com/profilepicframes/?selected_overlay_id=242622817102309

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Stay Connected!

Celebrate our students, our staff and our schools by following us on social media. If you like what you see, be sure to share it with others. Together, we are #OwatonnaProud!

Follow us:

@Owatonna761

Our new and refreshed website will be live on Tuesday, May 5th. With your feedback regarding our current site, we've redesigned and streamlined our site to make it better than ever.

www.owatonna.k12.mn.us or www.isd761.org

May School Board Meeting

The school board meeting that was scheduled for Monday, May 11 has been rescheduled to Wednesday, May 20 at 5:30 pm. A school board work session will immediately follow the regular meeting.