Our main office phone lines are currently down. If you need to contact anyone in the District, please call 309.968.7916.
Raider Nation Proud! Alum, Taggart VanEtten recently made national news for an amazing accomplishment. Check out this article:
"Morton runner doesn't waste much time making quick name for himself in 100-mile race."
https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/2020/11/21/taggart-vanetten-runs-second-fastest-time-american-history-tunnel-hill-100/6353110002/
Do you enjoy evenings, weekends, holidays & summers off with your family? Midwest Central Transportation has just the job for you! We are now accepting applications for School Bus Drivers.
I cannot express how excited I am that we have made it another week. We are now 13 weeks in with students, and half way through the second quarter. You should have received your children's progress reports this week. If you have questions or concerns, please contact your children's teacher to discuss further.
We have had a jam packed week of learning with an extra focus on literacy during our Literacy Week: Read Around Your Home. Please view the fun on our Facebook page, especially the read alouds recorded by our very own Literacy Star, Ms. Crawford. Her read alouds have been viewed around the world, literally!
Today we are celebrating our PBIS theme for the month, "We are Thankful" with a popcorn and movie party within individual classrooms. We have heard so many of your children recognize and express what they are thankful for and it has been a pleasure to experience! We also have an 11:40 AM dismissal.
You might notice your children coming home from school with snack pack bags or lunch bags each week. The state has offered free lunch to all families. If you would rather not take this, just let your children's teacher know and they will communicate that with the kitchen staff.
We have just two days next week that will be full of learning so please make sure your children attend in-person or online if they are remote learning or quarantined. Today, our current positive rate between staff and students is 0.2%, the lowest we have been in a few weeks. It is with your continued efforts and partnership with us that we can keep our staff and students safe to attend in-person instruction. I sent this information earlier this week but am posting here again for review:
1. If you, anyone in your home, or anyone that your child has spent time with in the 48 hours prior begins to have COVID-like symptoms, please keep all children home from school for a 10-day quarantine or until you have received negative COVID results should you choose to test. Though not an all inclusive list, the COVID symptoms that we are seeing are fatigue, fever, wheezing, coughing, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, and/or abdominal pain. If anything seems even subtly unusual about your child, please consider quarantine and/or testing.
2. Most importantly, if you, anyone in your home, or anyone that your child has spent time with in the 48 hours prior is awaiting COVID test results, you must keep all children home from school until you receive results.
I wish you all the best Thanksgiving and hope that you have some time off as a family!
P.S. Though I was a little chilly last Friday morning on the roof, I did enjoy the excitement it gave to every student in this building...and the staff! The afternoon included a clear, blue, sunny sky!
Hello Parents,
If your in-person or remote learning student(s) need additional teacher support, please keep in mind that our teachers are available every weekday from 2:00 - 3:00 PM for all students. Your student(s) are welcome to stay after school and get in-person learning support. This is especially helpful if they’ve been absent from a quarantine. Please take advantage of this time by having you or your student arrange with a teacher or teachers to stay after school. We’re also running courtesy bus routes at 3:00 PM to take these students home.
Dr. Hellrigel
Check out our Thursday Read Around Your Home with Ms. Crawford!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rcb8tgKSm7H9dEp-kzNdWOpaiwj0RchJ/view?usp=sharing
Reminder - Friday, November 20th is a half day!
Check out our Wednesday Read Around Your Home with Ms. Crawford!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OiI2ACkuPS6kHmALGIbmS7GeZE7FVDFU/view?usp=sharing
Check out our Tuesday Read Around Your Home with Ms. Crawford!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IIzTbX_ZOEUAlK9jOeCms3oAsXDJMnz5/view?usp=sharing
Congratulations to Kenyon Jodlowski for being awarded a PNC grant for $985. The grant will be used for a new laptop computer for our CNC wood router as well as some other accessories for the router, such as noise suppressant earmuffs and clamps. Great work Mr. Jodlowski!
AND... A big congratulations to Alex Frank for receiving a PNC grant for $508 to purchase social thinking curriculum! Way to go Mrs. Frank!!
The Food Pantry Network-HOI compiled a listing of local meals and food boxes available to families in Central Illinois for the holidays.
Coin Wars concluded and our students, “as usual”, exceeded our expectations! The goal was to raise $1,000 to put Ms. Timm on the roof.
The students raised $1,645.36!!!! HIGH FIVE students! So, today Ms. Timm will be located on the roof, all bundled up, on Friday, November 13th. Stay warm up there!
Congratulations to Amanda Shaffer who just received a Digital Network Access grant from the state for $10,000!!!! We will use these funds to expand our internet access by installing open wifi access in our parking lots for the community to use. Great work Ms. Shaffer!
Join our team!
Ms. Gardiner’s class wants to thank our veterans - today and every day!
We are sad the were not able to do our annual Veteran's Day breakfast due to COVID. But, we still want to make special efforts to show our veterans the love and support they deserve.
Midwest Central High School students wrote thank-you cards to mail to our local veterans.
VETERANS - THANK YOU for your service! You are our heros!
JOIN OUR TEAM – We currently have 2 Part-time Primary School Paraprofessional openings. The positions will each be 29 hours per week; $11.00 per hour to help with the additional duties related to COVID. These positions will be hired through a grant with Career Link and are 12 month positions. The successful applicants will be working directly at Midwest Central Primary School helping supervise students in a variety of settings. For more information or to apply please call Maria Resource Room Technician/Clerical Staff Support at 309.807.1386.
Even when Ms. Canada is out of the building, she can still meet with the students via Google Meets! Yesterday we got to read a book together! Ms. Canada, your students think you are the best!
Good Afternoon Primary School Parents! Can you believe this weather?! We have enjoyed so much time bringing our classrooms back outside with this nice weather, and how timely that we have been able to do so with this sudden rise in COVID in our communities. We want to assure you that we are continuing to implement all recommended safety procedures and are making some adjustments in our movement throughout the day to reduce exposure risks to larger groups. When we contact trace, we look at all settings and examine who is within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes and quarantine those students and staff. In one of our preschool classrooms, we had a sudden rise in potential COVID symptoms that included fever in staff and students so we decided to be cautious and close that room for 2 weeks while some people pursued testing. This could be any other illness, but with a group of students and staff in one setting with symptoms, caution was our best option. To date, the Primary School has had 4 positive staff and/or student COVID cases, a .8% positivity rate. Locally in Mason and Tazewell counties, the rolling positive rate is 9.4%-9.7%. School continues to be a safe place to have our staff and students. If you have any other questions regarding our procedures with COVID or anything else, please give me a call!
Upcoming Dates of Importance:
November 6: End of Coin Wars-get those coins to school with your child to put Ms. Timm on the roof!
November 9-19: STAR Benchmark Assessing
November 11: Veteran's Day-be on the lookout for a presentation put together by our music classes!
November 12: Board of Education Meeting 6:30pm @ High School
Have a great, warm, weekend!!
