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Preparing Each Student for a Successful Future
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It's so hard to believe, but August is here! We are looking forward to welcoming our entire district team back for another great school year!
As a reminder, the Staff Communicator will be distributed each Thursday that we are in session, and two summer issues are also distributed. One issue will be distributed in June and one in July before picking back up weekly in August. Archived copies can be found on the "Communications Department" web page.
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Contract and Letters of Intent Overdue
Contracts and letters of intent for the 2017-18 school year were mailed in July. They are now overdue. If you have not done so yet, please plan to return those to Central Office ASAP.
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2017-18 Back to School Information:
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: August 10
We are looking forward to kicking off the new school year with an
all employee breakfast and meeting on Monday, August 7 beginning at 7:30 a.m.
An expo featuring booths from local businesses and organizations will be available during breakfast.
**We just received word that roadwork has been scheduled for Hines Street that will close sections of the road next Monday-Wednesday. Please keep this in mind as you travel to RHS on Monday morning.**
For a full list of preservice meeting events CLICK HERE.
Emailed newsletters were distributed from each building principal on July 24 so please review that information! Also, letters from the transportation department should be hitting mailboxes this week.
CLICK HERE for the elementary and RMS supply list. EC needs can be found in the student handbook received during registration and RHS needs will be addressed by teacher the first week of school.
EC:
Monday, August 7,
5:00-6:00 p.m. (come and go): Morning Classes Open House
Monday, August 7,
6:15-7:15 p.m. (come and go): Afternoon Classes Open House
Tuesday, August 8,
5:30-6:30 p.m. (come and go): MPP Full Day Class Open House
Elementary:
Friday, August 4 by
5:00 p.m.: Class assignments posted on front doors of each building and through the Parent Portal.
Monday, August 7,
5:30-7:00 p.m. (come and go): Lyon & McCulloch Open Houses
Tuesday, August 8,
5:30-7:00 p.m. (come and go): Price, Schofield & Sweeny Open Houses
*Tiger STRIPES will be on site to answer questions, no payments being received.
*On July 31 from 1:00-4:00 p.m. Jordan Valley Health Clinic will open their location for student to receive the required vaccinations for their grade level.
RMS:
Students have the option of attending one of three available sessions:
August 1st-
8:00-10:00 a.m.
August 1st-
6:00-8:00 p.m.
August 3rd-
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Monday, August 7,
6:30-8:00 p.m.: 6th Grade Orientation (Chromebook pick-up also)
Tuesday, August 8,
5:00-6:30 p.m.: 7th Grade Orientation
Tuesday, August 8, 6:45-8:15 p.m.: 8th Grade Orientation (Chromebook pick-up also)
*See below section for in-person RepMO Ready Parent Orientation dates/times for 6th & 8th grade.
*Incoming 8th graders must get the Tdap and meningococcal vaccines before school begins. You will need to bring proof of immunizations to your school's nurse prior to August 10. For questions contact RMS at 732-3640.
*Jordan Valley Health Center's mobile unit will be on-site for vaccines from 6:00-8:30 p.m. on August. 8 to assist with meeting the state vaccination requirements listed below.
*Tiger TEENS will be on site to answer questions, no payments being received.
RHS:
Student Information Day for grades 10-12:
August 3
Seniors:
8:30-10:00 a.m.
Juniors:
10:00-11:30 a.m.
Sophomores:
11:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
*School and ID pictures will be taken during this time. School parking permits will also be available, but students must submit the student drug testing consent form before one will be issued.
*Jordan Valley Health Center's mobile unit will be on-site for vaccines from 8:00-10:30 a.m. on August. 3 to assist with meeting the state vaccination requirements listed below.
Tuesday, August 8,
5:00-6:00 p.m.: 9th Grade Orientation
Tuesday, August 8, 6:30-7:30 p.m.(come and go): RHS Open House
*All incoming 9th and 12th grade are required to have their Meningococcal vaccine up to date as well as all other immunizations. Proof of these vaccinations must be provided in order to attend school. Please contact your physician or primary care provider for an appointment to vaccinate your child if not already done so.
For questions contact RHS at 732-3650.
*See below section for in-person RepMO Ready Parent Orientation dates/times for 6th & 8th grade.
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SafeSchools Online Training
Last week an email was sent to you from "Republic R-III" with the subject line "SafeSchools Online Training." This email houses a link to the required training videos that all employees must watch annually along with the username to login (your email).
We are providing these videos should you want to watch them prior to returning to work, for some of you.
However, the due date to have these completed is not until Friday, August 18.
If you did not receive this email and feel you should have, please contact your supervisor directly.
A form indicating you have completed this training along with the additional information your principal/supervisor will share with you, will be given to you to complete during your building/department meetings next week.
TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT STAFF: You should NOT have received the email mentioned above and will watch the videos as a group.
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STRIPES 360 Enrollment Open
The Republic School District offers quality and affordable student programming during non-school hours through STRIPES 360. Care is offered before and after school daily and during days that school is not in session. The
TigerSTRIPES, TEENS and PALS programs will be using online enrollment only for registration.
As a reminder, each year students must re-enroll in this program.
 Registration for
Tiger STRIPES, TEENS and PALS will require a $30 registration fee along with the first two weeks of tuition. Online or in-person payment is available. A STRIPES 360 staff member will be available at all open houses and orientations to answer questions, but no payments can be accepted at that time.
As in the past, beginning August 7 employee students in K-6 can attend Summer Safari. If you'd like your child to attend Aug 7, 8, and/or 9 you will need to...
1. Complete the online STRIPES 360 registration form below
2. AND email
[email protected] with your child's name, grade, and the days they will be attending.
Anyone not registered prior to August 7 will not be able to attend.
Please note, Summer Safari will ONLY be open for employee children on August 9.
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RepMO Ready Update
The district's technology expansion plan, RepMO Ready is making great strides as we plan for the
2017-18 school year. At the start of next school year 3753 devices will be in the hands of students within their classrooms, and 2153 of those devices will be going home with students.
Incoming 6th, 8th and 9-12th grade families, you received communication regarding the required parent orientation. Please be sure to review that information
HERE. Keep in mind that most incoming 9th grade families have met this requirement from last school year. The orientation only needs to be completed one time. In addition to completing this training online you can complete it in person on the following dates. Should you have questions, contact
[email protected].
Below is a summary of what to expect for next school year in regards to RepMO Ready! You can also ready more about the entire plan at
republicschools.org/repmoready
or by clicking on the infographic at the top left in this section.
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Familiar Faces in New Places
Earlier this week an email was sent announcing some familiar faces in new places for the upcoming school year! Mrs. Beth Trogdon was named Interim Coordinator of Federal Programs and Student Support Services. Also, Mr. John Laster was named Director of Transportation. To read more about these individuals CLICK HERE. Congratulations and best wishes in your new roles!
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Employee Children Enrollment Information
*For employees enrolling their child(ren) for the first time in our district. Also, for employees wanting to request an elementary building transfer.
Employees who...
reside outside of the Republic School District (non-resident) boundary that would like to enroll their student(s) in our district
OR
live within the Republic School District boundary, but desire their student(s) to attend an elementary site other than their designated school (the building boundary in which you live).
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Employment Opportunities
 We have several employment opportunities available for the
2017
-18 school year! Please share with anyone that would be a good addition to our district team. A full list of opportunities can be found at
https://www.applitrack.com/republic/onlineapp/
.
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Staff Accolades
We are incredibly #repmoproud of RHS math teacher, Michelle Kiser for being selected as a Missouri state-level finalist by the selection committee for this year's Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching! Ms. Kiser is ONE of only FIVE teachers of mathematics that has been chosen to represent our state!!! She will be honored at the 2018 Interface Professional Learning Event in February. In addition, Ms. Kiser will automatically be a candidate for the state Presidential Award at the national level, which could provide her with a cash prize and a trip to Washington D.C. to be recognized. We send a big congratulations to Ms. Kiser for this well-deserved accolade!
 We are beyond #repmoproud of Mrs. Kathy Phillips for receiving the Luther T. Spayde Award of Excellence, the highest accolade given to music educators by the Missouri Chorale Directors Association! Mrs. Phillips, a music educator for more than 30 years (with most of her time being at RHS) was presented with this award on July 21 at a ceremony in Jefferson City, MO.
To be a recipient of this award, individuals must demonstrate the following:
- Excellence as evidenced by choral music training, performance, and scholarship.
- Excellence as evidenced by long-standing commitment to choral music in Missouri, positive communication with colleagues and active participation through service and leadership in MCDA.
The Republic School District wishes to congratulate Mrs. Phillips on this outstanding honor!
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Preschool Openings
 Republic Early Childhood Center is currently enrolling students for the 2017-18 school year. We have openings in our Monday through Thursday afternoon class and our Monday through Friday half-day classes. All other classes are on a waiting list. For more information please visit
http://www.republicschools.org/ec
or call 735-3736.
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Required Text Opt-In...If you haven't already!
To receive texts from us be sure you have opted in to do so! If you haven't opted in yet, the below directions might help!
*This is especially for new employees of the district!
If you are pretty confident your cell number is in our system first try manually texting "Y" to code 67587. If that goes through, you will receive a confirmation text letting you know you are signed up to receive future texts. If that works, you are good to go.
However, if that does not work please contact Shawna Laffoon at Central
Office (
[email protected]) to ensure we have the correct number on file for you in SISK12. If we have to put a new number in the system for you then you should receive the opt-in message the next day.
If your number is already in our system correctly, the issue is most likely with your wireless carrier. In that case you will need to contact your wireless provider and let them know you are unable to receive SMS messages. They should be able to turn them on.
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Grandparents' Night
We are excited to continue the tradition of welcoming grandparents and grand-friends into our EC and elementary buildings this fall! Below are the dates and times for these come and go events. All in attendance will have the opportunity to pick-up a free game pass for the RHS home football game against Webb City on
Friday, September 1 beginning at
7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, August 29: Lyon and McCulloch
5:00-6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, August 29: EC AM classes 5:00-6:00 p.m.
EC PM classes 6:15-715 p.m.
Thursday, August 31: Price, Schofield and Sweeny
5:00-6:30 p.m.
Thursday, August 31: All Day Preschool Class 5:00-6:00 p.m.
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Random Student Drug Testing to be Implemented
After months of research and gathering community feedback, in June the Board of Education approved the implementation of a random student drug testing policy for the 2017-18 school year. As previously communicated, this will impact students in grades 7-12 who participate in the covered activities, athletics and privileges listed in the policy (JFCI) FOUND HERE.
As a reminder, the purpose of this policy is not to levy discipline, but rather to help prevent substance abuse among students, to encourage treatment for students with substance abuse problems, and to ensure that students have the opportunity to attend school and participate in activities in a fair, safe and healthy environment. To read more about the process in which the district followed to implementing this policy CLICK HERE.
Per the policy, each student wishing to participate in covered activities and/or to receive district parking privileges will be required to complete and submit a consent form within the first 10 days of the school year and/or prior to the first day of practice (see the policy for specifics as a second enrollment period is available for RMS students). Information on the policy, including a copy of the consent form, was mailed to 7-12 grade families July 17. A copy of the consent form can also be found HERE and on the district website.
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RHS Land Revitalization Project by FFA
The RHS FFA students are taking on an exciting project! Over the next 18 months the students will be implementing a land revitalization project at RHS. To enhance the usage and visual appeal of the acreage in front of RHS, these students have developed a crop planting and harvesting program. The project will not only increase the aesthetics
of the high school campus, but these students will get a great deal of hands on experience from crop to consumer.
The first step of the project is to spray and kill the current plants. Pardon our progress
and thanks for your patience as the students work to create an even more beautiful and productive campus!
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Total Solar Eclipse, August 21
The
#TotalSolarEclipse
is coming and we're ready! On August 21 every student in the Republic School District will receive eclipse shades. We are in a fantastic viewing location! The curriculum department and teachers are creating learning events for the day culminating in a viewing of the total solar eclipse! More will be coming your way soon!
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Activity Facility Update
Bids for the activity facility project at RHS were received in late July. Through the reviewal process the Board of Education selected the general contracting bid from Federal Construction at a special meeting on August 1. Final plans are being made to break ground in the near future. The bidding process indicated that the project is expected to be constructed within the initial projected budget and also within the initial given timeline. As previously mentioned, the facility is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2018.
To follow the progress visit
https://www.republicschools.org/constructionupdates
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Bandwidth Upgrade
Earlier this week the IT Department led the district in receiving a HUGE bandwidth upgrade! We went from a 500 Mbps connection to a 1 Gbps (1000 Mbps) connection.
This increase (along with several other upgrades IT made this summer) means that the performance of our electronic devices (specifically Chromebooks) will not be impacted during times of heavy use. This is a big celebration, especially with the influx of the large number of Chromebooks we are distributing through RepMO Ready!
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Community Events
On Tuesday, August 8th, 2017, the citizens of Republic will be given the opportunity to vote on the NO TAX INCREASE continuance of a One-Quarter Cent Capital Improvements Sales Tax. The original tax, dedicated specifically for stormwater needs, was approved by voters in 1995 and has subsequently been renewed in 1998, 2002, 2007 and 2012. This proposed renewal would allow for the funds to be used for capital improvements needed throughout the City and not solely for stormwater purposes. If approved, this tax will sunset in ten (10) years. For more information, visit the
Capital Improvements Sales Tax page
on the city's website or contact the City at (417) 732-3110.
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Upcoming Dates
August 2 & 3: New Teacher Orientation
August 7: SI Day and All Employee Breakfast/Expo and Meeting, 7:30 a.m.
August 8: SI Day
August 9: Teacher Work Day
August 10: First Day of School
For additional dates, please view the website calendar
HERE.
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Sincerely,
Josey McPhail
Republic School District |
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