COVID-19 RELATED ANNOUNCEMENTS
Loup City Public Schools Return To School Plan 2021-2022
Schools across the nation are expected to receive federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act, ESSER III. A REQUIREMENT to receive this funding is the development of a shared plan of school operations and the collection of feedback from the community on the district’s efforts to return to school. The plan must include 9 components, listed under Maintaining Health and Safety. This feedback can be based on last year's plan, a draft of this year's plan, or a combination of both. A survey for input must be shared and posted by August 10, 2021. A draft of this year's plan is below that includes a link to public comment survey questions that will be open until the end of the month. Last year's plan can be accessed on the school website under Parent Resources. The purpose of this document is to outline the protocols Loup City Public Schools will follow for in-person learning in the 2021-22 school year. The return to school protocols were created to create a safe and predictable environment that can be used by parents, students, staff, and community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Loup City Public Schools recognizes that while it is best practice to have responses planned and to be prepared for a wide range of scenarios, individual's health situations are unique and private information. The Loup City Public Schools will work with staff, students, and families to develop the best possible response in regards to the scenarios that occur and reserve the right to act in the best interest of the health of all students and staff of the Loup City Public Schools. The district realizes that COVID-19 is unpredictable and as a result, these protocols may need to be modified as needed to ensure the safety of all staff, students, and patrons.
Return to School Plan 2021-2022
Notice of Move to Virtual Learning for August 30 and 31, 2021
published, Sunday, August 29, 2021
Saturday August 28, I was invited to a Zoom meeting comprised of Amanda Jeffries, RN, Executive Director of the Loup Basin Public Health Department, Nebraska Education Commissioner, Dr. Matt Blomstedt and Nebraska State Epidemiologist, Dr. Matt Donahue and several others within the Nebraska Department of Education. The purpose of the call was to discuss the infectious disease outbreak in Sherman County over the past week.
Dr. Donahue had some interesting insights. He stated that on Monday, August 16th, Sherman County wasn't even on his radar. By Monday, August 23rd, Sherman County had the second highest rate by percentage of transmission of Covid-19 of any county in Nebraska.
Ms. Jeffries expressed an alarming concern about the hospitals in the Loup Basin area and their inability to transfer patients with Covid-19 to hospitals in Grand Island, Kearney, Lincoln and Omaha because of a lack of bed space. They are very nervous about their ability to find the level of medical care necessary for patients who may find themselves in real medical trouble because of Covid-19 infections.
While we have seen a spike within Loup City Schools, this is not just a school issue. Late Friday, we had our first case within the elementary school. There have been more cases among adults in Sherman County.
The recommendation by Dr. Donahue was to pivot on Monday and Tuesday to on-line learning. The rationale for this two-day move has one main driver: the incubation period for the Delta variant of Covid-19 is slightly shorter than the previous strain. It is 3 to 4 days. The idea is that students, faculty and staff that may have been exposed on Thursday or Friday will have been home on Saturday, Sunday and then Monday and Tuesday. Anyone exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms would see them manifest by Tuesday.
We would ask parents to monitor their children and themselves for symptoms and to stay home while seeking their doctor's help id needed. This would hopefully buy us time to identify who could potentially spread Covid-19 at school.
Therefore, we are going to have all students and faculty stay home Monday, August 30 and Tuesday, August 31 and monitor for symptoms. We ask anyone demonstrating symptoms to go see their doctor.
We will have 7-12 students do their school work virtually. All 7-12 teachers will post an assignment for their odd numbered periods on Monday, and their even number periods on Tuesday. K-6 teachers will not post an assignment, due to the lack of technology in student hands. Any 7-12 student needing their iPad will be able to come to school this evening, Sunday, August 29, between 5:00pm and 6:30pm to retrieve them.
On Wednesday, September 1, we will wear masks K-12, until we see a decrease in the county-wide spike of cases. We will also monitor temperatures and pay close attention to our cleaning and sanitizing protocols.
I ask that you take care of yourself and anyone else that may have secondary underlying issues. Incidentally, this is the same action we would take in the event of any infectious disease outbreak, rather it be influenza, whooping cough or chicken pox.
Monitor for these Covid-19 symptoms:
Fever of chills
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle or body aches
Headache
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Congestion or runny nose
Nausea or vomiting
Diarrhea
Look for emergency warning signs for Covid-19. If someone is showing any of these signs, seek emergency medical care immediately:
Trouble breathing
Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
New confusion
Inability to wake or stay awake
Pale gray or blue-colored skin, lips, or nail beds, depending on skin tone
If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at (308) 745-0120 or dean.tickle@lcpublic.org
Saturday, August 1
Loup City Return to School Plan
I am glad to share the Loup City Public Schools Return to School Plan with our patrons. This afternoon at our board meeting the board voted to approve our plan and we are ready to begin another school year on August 13th. The plan is very detailed but here are a few highlights and probably some answers to your frequently asked questions:
There are 4 categories on the Risk Dial and we currently sit in the low yellow region. This means that we will be recommending our students and staff wear masks but it will not be required. When students can social distance in the classrooms we can take masks off.
Students riding the buses will need to wear a mask and we ask that you check their temperature before they load the bus. On buses students in the same family will be allowed to sit together. We will need to leave a seat open in between families. We will most likely be assigning seats on buses.
Any student participating in activities will be required to wear a mask in school vehicles.
The school district will provide masks to students in all grades. Masks will remain at school and will be laundered each night.
Students at the high school will be allowed to use a backpack to avoid lockers which make it difficult to social distance. Students will have staggered time for locker use.
Students will be able to use locker rooms for their PE and practice, but lockers will need to be cleared of all belongings each night.
Students will eat in the cafeteria but will have to use social distancing and there will be limited students at each table.
We certainly appreciate your patience and understanding as we prepare for a safe school year. On Monday, August 3rd I will be hosting a Facebook Live session to share some information about our Return to School plan and answer some questions. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions.
March 18, 2020
Here are the details to watch the school board meeting on Zoom on March 19th. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at 308-745-0120 ext 202. Please forward to any district patrons who may not be on our email list.
Angela Simpson, Superintendent
Angela Simpson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: LCPS Board of Education Meeting
Time: Mar 19, 2020 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/581296902
Meeting ID: 581 296 902
March 17, 2020
Information about the special board meeting:
Several of the places we would normally post in the lobby are closed. We will post in as many places as possible.
Due to only 10 people being able to gather the board meetings will be run as Zoom meetings to allow any patron of the district to listen.
Saturday, August 1
Return to School Plan
March 16, 2020
Patrons of Loup City Public Schools:
As this is a fluid situation and we promised our patrons to re-evaluate the situation each night we have decided Loup City Public Schools will be closed through March 31st at which time we will re-evaluate our situation. We will continue to communicate with our patrons, parents and students as to how we will be delivering our academic programs and nutrition programs available to our students.I appreciate your cooperation and understanding as we move through uncharted waters.
Angela Simpson, Superintendent
March 16, 2020
Notice to Parents: Effective Monday, March 16 all NSAA activity practices are suspended until Monday, March 30th and all NSAA activity competitions are suspended until Thursday, April 2nd. These suspensions may be extended should the conditions warrant.
March 15, 2020
Good Evening: Loup City Public Schools is planning to continue to stay open until we are informed by the Loup Basin Public Health Department or the State of Nebraska that we will need to close.
We understand that we will be informed of mandatory closure if there is a case of "community spread" in our Educational Service Unit area. Currently we do not have a case of the virus in our area. This is a fluid situation and we are in contact with state and local health departments, emergency management and the State Department of Education. We want you to know that we are trying to do the best for our students and our community.
In the meantime we will take several precautions to lessen the mitigation of the virus. Here are a few of the changes we will put into place:
We will not be allowing our students to travel out of the district for any school activities.
We will be postponing all internal activities like concerts or assemblies.
We will not be allowing visitors into the building.
We will not be allowing any outside activities to be held in our building such as youth sport practices. This will include weight room use by community members.
We will be continuing to allow practices but will be not be attending any sporting events until further notice.
I know that a commonly asked question is in regards to Prom and Commencement. We are unsure at this time but we will make every attempt to hold these activities but they may be delayed or announcements made closer to the time of Prom or Commencement as the picture becomes clearer.
We are finishing up our plans to address the continuation of our educational services and the nutritional needs of our students when we are asked to close the school buildings. As I said in our earlier communication, please begin to make some plans for your children now.
I have called a Special Session of Loup City Public Schools Board of Education for Thursday, March 19th at 7pm in the Loup City High School Commons to address issues related to possible school closure.
I appreciate your understanding and your communication. Please feel free to contact me by email at angela.simpson@lcpublic.org, by phone at 308-745-0120 ext 202, or you are welcome to set up a time to meet me in my office.
Respectfully,
Angela Simpson, Superintendent
March 14, 2020
Activity Notice: District FFA in Broken Bow on Monday, March 16th has been postponed.
March 14, 2020
Activity Notice: The Indoor Track Meet at Concordia scheduled for Friday, March 20th has been cancelled.
March 13, 2020
Notice to Parents: We have been informed that the NSAA is regretfully suspending district and state speech contests until further notice.
March 13, 2020
Notice: The Middle School Quiz Bowl at UNK scheduled for March 17th has been cancelled.
March 13, 2020
Notes from the Superintendent.
I have had the opportunity to visit with some of our parents and appreciate the phone calls I have received with questions and hope we can continue to be of help. At this time Loup City Public Schools does not have the conditions necessary to close our schools. But I would be remiss if I didn't ask our families to think about and discuss a plan of action should that become necessary in the future. We continue to work with Sherman County Emergency Management, City of Loup City, Loup Basin Public Health, Educational Service Unit 10, the Department of Education and the State of Nebraska to keep up to date and do the right thing for our students.
We have and will continue to make announcements about any activity changes. To date the following activities have been cancelled: FFA, FBLA, and FCCLA State conferences.
I appreciate all of the communication and hope we at Loup City Public Schools can be helpful in this current situation.
