Great Bend USD 428’s custodial staff spent part of last week’s spring break cleaning district facilities, while administrators were in contact with state officials daily, Superintendent Khris Thexton said.
Monday’s school board meeting was perhaps the only district event that wasn’t canceled this week. During the meeting, the school board took action that assures employees such as paraprofessionals and teacher aides will continue to be paid when school is out. Board members also learned more about efforts that will allow anyone 18 years old or younger to receive free breakfasts and lunches when school is out — whether they attend USD 428 or not.
Food Services Director Kristy Alvord spent the weekend working on the plan that will allow children to receive meals while school is out, Thexton said. (See related story.) The district will receive reimbursement by accessing the same resources used during summer school.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday announced a feeding program partnership in response to Covid-19. During an unexpected school closure, schools can leverage their participation in one of USDA’s summer meal programs to provide meals at no cost to students.
“This process goes through the state, and (Alvord) applied for a waiver that will allow us to feed kids without school being in session,” Thexton said. “The hard part will be figuring numbers, and I know it’ll build as we go along and get the word out.”
In Topeka, legislation is being proposed so that schools won’t have to make up the days lost to the pandemic response, Thexton said.
“We’re doing the best that we can with the information we have,” he said. “I’m very happy with the community (response) as well.”
The situation changes daily. Last week, the district was on spring break but announced there would be no school on Monday while teachers received training. The plan was for students to return to school on Tuesday. But by Sunday, the decision was made to cancel classes for the entire week. Thexton said it’s likely the break will be extended.
“We’ll say when we’re sure,” he said. Meanwhile, the Kansas State Department of Education is looking at guidelines for remote learning.
USD 428 Director of Information Technology Ryan Axman and his staff can spend their time this week preparing Chromebooks and iPads for future use.
“We were fortunate that we purchased our Chromebooks and our iPads early this year,” Thexton said. “So now they can spend the time getting 800 Chromebooks prepped and ready to go for next year.”
At present, high school students take their iPads home but younger students leave their Chromebooks at school. However, the district has enough Chromebooks that elementary students could also have them at home for remote learning, Thexton said. The issue would be how many of the families have internet access. Those who can’t use the wireless devices at home might be sent packets, he continued. “We’ll have to do something to address all of our kids.”
Thexton reported that the district’s 12-month employees such as Axman are currently working regular hours to take care of things that need to be taken care of. “They’re kind of what I refer to as our essential staff that we keep working here at the district office and around the district to keep those things going.”
The transportation and maintenance departments have plenty of things they can work on and some repairs that are easier to do when students aren’t in school.
“(The) custodial staff spent their time deep cleaning all the schools last week as part of spring break,” Thexton said. “Their job right now is to keep up on things.” They’ll be making sure all classrooms have supplies such as disinfectants when the students return. Some changes may be implemented, such as wiping down desks frequently and testing surfaces in the cafeteria.
Paras and teacher aides typically for 10 months a year, and they are the ones who could be off work during an extended break. Assistant Superintendent John Popp said the money to pay them is already in the budget and he recommended the board vote to make sure they are paid. The state may reimburse the district but if it doesn’t it is still money that was already budgeted and the district wants to keep those employees, he said.
Assistant Superintendent Popp noted that Covid-19 concerns may delay other things planned in the district and throughout the state. For example, State Assessments began Monday and continue through May.
“At our meeting with the State Department of Education today, they let us know that there is not one single state assessment that was completed in the state of Kansas today, which we would expect,” Popp said.
Most of Great Bend’s state assessments are scheduled to be given in April. “So we’ll see,” Popp said. “I have no idea if we’ll even be doing state assessments this year. We’ll see how that goes.”
