September 16 , 2021

Hello Josey,

As a reminder, the Staff Communicator will be distributed each Thursday that school is in session, and also distributed as needed throughout the year. Archives can be found HERE.

Jordan Valley School Based Clinic Opens October 1

Republic School District is excited to announce that our school based health clinic partnership with Jordan Valley Health Centers will kick-off on October 1!

One Jordan Valley community health worker will be available to work with our school nurses to coordinate a virtual visit with a Jordan Valley doctor or nurse practitioner for any student or employee that is sick and needs to be seen by a practitioner for the following illnesses: strep throat, ear infection, sinus infection, rash, pink eye, stomach flu, bug bites, lice and congestion. After being seen by a provider the student/employee will be able to return to class/work OR they will be given a diagnosis and will be ready to go home. If necessary, the practitioner will call in a prescription to the patient's pharmacy for them to pay for and pick-up.

This partnership is made possible primarily by funds provided by Jordan Valley Health Centers. Beyond office space for the onsite community health worker, this program has no other financial obligations for the district. Parents and employees will never receive a bill for care. If the patient has insurance, that insurance will receive the bill. If the patient does not have insurance, Jordan Valley Health Centers covers the cost of the visit and patients only have to pay for prescriptions, when needed.

This service will be optional, but available to all students and employees. Paper registration forms will be coming home with students September 13 and will need to be completed and returned to school before they can be seen by the practitioner beginning October 1. You can also print a form and return it to school at shorturl.at/juOSV.

A separate form for employees will be distributed next week. We're excited and thankful for this opportunity to partner with Jordan Valley Health Centers!

SI Day October 1

There will be no school for students on Friday, October 1 for a previously scheduled School Improvement (SI Day). Childcare is available through STRIPES 360’s Cub Care. The registration deadline is September 24 at 4:30 p.m. Details can be found HERE. Teachers, please put this information in your classroom newsletters!

Pearce's Listening Post

All patrons are invited to a new opportunity to listen, learn and share with Superintendent, Dr. Pearce at "Pearce's Listening Post." This hour-long event will be the first of three we will host this school year, one per quarter. It will take place on Monday, October 11 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the Republic High School library, and will be focused on two topics: the Return to Learn Plan and District Construction Projects.

American Fidelity Visits

American Fidelity Assurance Company representatives will be in the district to provide the yearly employee benefit package review. This review is provided annually to all employees who work 20 hours or more, which includes voluntary benefits offered through payroll deduction, plus the benefits of Section 125 Flexible Benefit Plan. Open enrollment for ancillary products will begin September 20 and run through October 29. This is the window of opportunity for employees to change or add American Fidelity products for an effective date of January 1, 2022.

Each employee who qualifies (20 hours or more, double route bus drivers, and part-time retirees) for the 125 benefit program must sign off that they have been given the opportunity to view available products offered. Please know that no one should feel pressured to sign up for any product. This is the only opportunity for individuals who want added insurance to sign up for these benefits/services. The Individual meetings are mandatory for eligible employees in order to keep the district compliant with the legal IRS guidelines.

Your building/department will share the date(s) in which American Fidelity will be in your building/department and also directions on how to sign up for a time slot.

MSU Pathways for Paraprofessionals

Missouri State University is looking to form a special cohort of current special

education paraprofessionals that have a desire to complete their teaching certificate in special

education while they are serving as paraprofessionals in special education classrooms. These

paraprofessionals will work toward their degree and continue to work as a paraprofessional at the

same time. This program is called Pathways for Paraprofessionals, more information on the program can be found HERE.

Staff COVID Vaccine Status

To help our nurses and our administrators with the efficiency of future contact tracing (as you can imagine, these can be very time consuming), we're asking our employees to share their vaccine status with us by completing the form below. Completing this form is completely voluntary and not required. However, by sharing your proof of vaccine with us, we'll be able to quickly determine that if you are exposed to a positive case you do not need to quarantine as long as you are symptom free instead of having to gather evidence during contact tracing.

This will be very helpful information, but it will be kept confidential and for district purposes only. This will also allow us to be able to determine our overall employee vaccination rate which can assist us in how we monitor future trends of COVID19 in our buildings.

Thank you in advance for taking time to complete this form and to upload your vaccine card, if you have been vaccinated. If you have not been vaccinated, please consider doing so. This form will be available throughout the year to complete as vaccines are received. Contact Health Services Director, [email protected] if you have questions.

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR PROOF OF COVID19 VACCINE.

Request to Complete Research Process

The Republic School District encourages educational research by advanced degree candidates, agencies, and institutions of higher learning. As a reminder, all research projects (including those from external candidates) to be conducted in the schools must have prior approval by the Assistant Superintendent of Academic Services and the Director of Professional Learning and Instructional Support. Additionally, in district personnel, should request to first meet with Dr. Yonke or Dr. Renegar in person or virtually for support with data. The document found HERE identifies the forms/documents that must be submitted and describes the procedures of the approval process. This can also be accessed by contacting your building administrator. Also, don't forget to submit a final product to Dr. Yonke.

RepMO Hero Nominations Open!

The Republic School District looks forward to honoring staff members who go above the call of duty through the RepMO Hero program! Each month (September-April) either a certified or classified employee from each of the building/department groups listed below will be honored for their part in implementing our district mission of preparing each student for a successful future. Those individuals will be recognized individually by their building/department group and by Central Office.

Then, a committee will review the nominations of those individuals and one employee will be chosen as the RepMO Hero of the Month. The RepMO Hero will receive $500 to be used at his/her discretion to purchase resources for his/her building/department. In addition, the RepMO Hero of the Month will be recognized at the following month's Board of Education meeting and through district communication channels.

RULES/GUIDELINES:

There is no limit on how many different employees you can nominate per month.

Nominations will be accepted throughout each month using the deadlines below.

Nominations will carry over.

You can nominate ANYONE! They do not have to be a part of your nomination group (listed below).

NOMINATION GROUPS:

1. Custodial, nurses, aides/paras, office staff, and food service building employees will be nominated by schools.

2. Departments will nominate staff members according to the schedule.

3. Central Office (including SPED office, Federal Programs office, and Food Service office), Elementary & Secondary Learning, Professional Learning, Data and Assessment, School Resource Officers, Maintenance and IT will combine for the nominations.

4. Transportation will nominate staff members according to the schedule.

5. STRIPES 360 Staff members can be nominated by STRIPES or sites.

6. Sites can nominate an additional person from any of the departments in numbers 2 through 6.

NOMINATION SCHEDULE:

Per the above schedule, classified employees will be honored for the month of September. Between now and September 24 use the link below (form link also under the "Staff" tab on the website) to nominate a classified employee for RepMO Hero.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO NOMINATE INDIVIDUALS FOR REPMO HERO!

District & Community Events

CLICK HERE to apply.

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CLICK HERE to register.

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CLICK HERE to register.

Dates to Remember

September 16: Board of Education Meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Central Office

September 17: Progress 1 Reports Distributed (RMS/RHS)

September 22: End of Progress 1 (Elementary)

September 30: End of Progress 2 (RMS/RHS)

October 1: SI Day/No School for Students

CLICK HERE for the website calendar.

REMINDER: Every Friday during the school year full day preschool through 12th grade students are released one hour early for teacher collaboration time.

Republic School District | republicschools.org