Midwest Central Primary School - Home of the Raiders

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Hello Raiders, Midwest Central stands to receive over two million dollars in stimulus money. The use of the money is for addressing learning loss, addressing social emotional health, and improving indoor air quality. We plan to use the money to hire some additional personnel next school year to help meet the needs of our students as well as improving indoor air quality. We were fortunate to have a project lined up for this summer at our primary school, and a portion of the money will be used for that. We also will be hiring some additional aides and/or teachers to help individual students, and we also hope to hire an additional counselor to help with emotional issues that many students currently face. Our villages and counties also will be receiving large amounts of stimulus money. Here are the approximate amounts: Village of Manito $183,000, Village of Forest City $27,000 Village of Green Valley $79,000 Village of Topeka $8,000 Mason County $2.6 million Tazewell County $25.5 million If you'd like to look at other states or areas, here is a link to an easy to use option. https://wirepoints.org/how-much-is-your-community-getting-under-the-american-recovery-plan-searchable-database-for-the-nation-is-here-wirepoints/ Best, Dr. Todd Hellrigel

Hope to see you there!

Pretty nice week we have had here at Midwest Central Primary School! We are in the midst of some pretty exciting insect and farm units including learning about beekeeping from our very own, Mrs. Krista Herrin. The building is also discussing what it means to be citizens and community members. This includes learning the history of how the colonies were settled and also having our local police departments spending some time with our students during our lunch periods. We will continue this for the remainder of the year with some additional special guests in May! School just feels very "normal" right now with guests, state testing, spring weather, outdoor fun, and planning end of year field trips. Be on the lookout for field trip plans from your children's grade level. As a reminder, please be sure that your children have closed toe tennis shoes to wear for PE each day. We are unable to take back shoes that we have loaned out as we have in years past so we are primarily out of shoes for the year. Your child will be offered an alternate activity during PE if they do not have appropriate shoes but we do not want them to miss the team building activities in PE! Spring pictures tomorrow. For those choosing to take these, be dressed in your best and ready to smile big! The district continues to offer COVID testing after 2p for your symptomatic children if you choose. We will be unable to do this on Friday's due to the extensive time it is taking for processing paperwork with our logging system. Feel free to utilize this testing option to get your symptomatic children back in school as quickly as possible. There is still time to sign up for Kindergarten screenings for Monday April 19 from 4p-7p or Tuesday April 20 from 8a-4p. If your child will be 5 on or before September 1, 2021, please call the Primary School office to schedule your appointment. Have a lovely weekend parents, guardians, grandparents, and great grandparents! Sally Timm

First grade has been learning about insects. Today Mrs Herrin came and talked to us about bee keeping!!

Reminder - Tomorrow will be a 1/2 day for students.

Picture Day will be the morning of Friday, April 16th for 2 groups of students. If students were previously on quarantine or remote learning, photos will be taken at this time. This time frame will also be Spring photos for students who have brought in picture money no later than Friday, April 16th. Please contact the PS at 309.968.6464 with any questions.

Parents are you looking for an inexpensive, super fun summer activity to do with your kids? The Peoria Academy of Science and the Peoria Riverfront Museum are proud sponsors of the 31st Annual Science Treasure Hunt. The Treasure Hunt is a combination of family adventure and scavenger hunt focusing on science and technology facilities and resources in the tri-county area for students between 1st grade and 8th grade on April 16, 2021. For more information, visit the website: https://sciencetreasurehunt.org/

Some of the MCPS staff are ready to say goodbye to all things winter! Mr. Guenther is even helping take down the decorations! :-)

Wishing you nothing but smiles, sunshine, and lots of sweet treats this Easter day.

With the recent change in the amount of spectators that can be allowed for an indoor event, the District has made a couple changes to the numbers allowed to attend our indoor events. Below are the new guidelines that we will be following at this time. Please remember while attending our events, we ask all spectators to follow our guidelines that have been set. By doing so, it will allow us to continue to allow spectators into our events. Failure to follow our guidelines may result in the spectator(s) being asked to leave the event. Our goal is to allow our spectators to view their children participating. In order to do so, we need to continue to do what we have been doing so far by keeping the athletes as safe as we can while they are participating in their sport. We will continue to stream our events on our YouTube channels.

Hello Raiders, Our school district is now able to provide COVID-19 testing for symptomatic students using BinaxNOW Rapid test kits. For the 2020-21 school year, testing will be performed at the unit office after 2:00 PM dismissal. As you can imagine, this is a new process for our nurses and continued patience is appreciated as they incorporate this into our setting. Initial appointment numbers will be limited until a system is fully established and more appointments will be added as time allows. Initial appointments will be at 2:15 and 2:30 as long as staff are available. Frequently Asked Questions: Who can be tested? Symptomatic staff and students who are excluded from school due to COVID-19 district policies. Asymptomatic persons who are excluded due to household symptoms will not be tested as the symptomatic person's negative test will clear them to return to school. What are the symptoms of COVID-19? Intermin Guidance from IDPH is subject to change. As of 3/15/21, symptoms include the following: fever, headache, shortness of breath, cough, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, new loss of sense of taste or smell, fatigue, and muscle or body aches. What type of sample is collected? The testing performed will require a simple nasal swab of both nostrils. A fact sheet from the manufacturer will be provided to answer additional questions. Can anyone bring my student for testing? No, a parent/legal guardian is required to sign consent and must be present for testing for the 2020-2021 school year. Will my student(s) still be sent home from school? Yes. For the 2020-21 school year, testing will ONLY occur for symptomatic students at the unit office after 2:00 PM. There are currently no changes to the call in/send home policies regarding student symptoms. There are multiple factors that were taken into consideration on this decision. Will the nurses be assessing my student(s)? Midwest Central CUSD 191 is not acting as your student(s) medical provider. Student(s) will be tested ONLY, and testing does not replace treatment by a medical provider. They still have vomiting, diarrhea, and/or a fever, but tested negative. What now? Asymptomatic student(s) and staff can return to school immediately. Symptomatic individuals must also be 24 hours without vomiting, diarrhea, and/or fever without the use of medication per non-covid policies. My student fears testing, what should I do? The school setting is a place of trust. If your student(s) are fearful of testing, please seek other testing locations. Our nurses WILL NOT perform testing on a student who is needing to be restrained. Denial will be at the school nurse's discretion. We need our students to continue to trust our nurses. While we understand the importance of returning to school as soon as possible, we also do not want this process to be traumatizing. The nurses are happy to assist you in finding alternative testing locations if this is a concern. Who will see my results? School nurses will see the results and are bound by FERPA to keep results confidential. Additionally, all administered tests must be reported to the State of Illinois. If COVID-19 is detected, student(s) and staff will be required to follow the IDPH and local health department guidelines on quarantining. You will be provided with a results form for your primary care physician. Can this test release us from official quarantine (not school exclusion)? No, please contact your local health department for their quarantine release policies. What if it's a "false positive?" Our district is required to report ALL test results. If you are concerned that your student received a false positive result, you will still be required to follow your health departments release guidelines. I'm at the Unit Office awaiting a test, now what? Stay in your vehicle and call 309.968.6868. A nurse will come out to your vehicle to assist you. Very best, Dr. Todd Hellrigel

It's time... for Spring Break (March 29 - April 5). We hope all of our Raiders have a fun and safe break!

April Menus

Spirit Day today = Mismatch Day! I think they had fun with this!

Mrs. Charlton’s kindergarten class grew some wheat. Today they got to give their cups a haircut!

There are still slots open for Kindergarten Screenings. Call to reserve your time today!

The Sunshine Committee is hosting ANOTHER spirit week at MCPS NEXT WEEK! Your child will be coming home with a flyer soon! For “Color Day” next Wednesday, follow the colors on the back side of the flyer. They are as follows: PK- red K- orange 1- Yellow 2- Green 3- Blue 4- Purple 5- Pink Staff- White

Wishing you a rainbow of happiness and good cheer today and always!

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