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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.
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Training Videos Due August 27
All employees should have received an email with required training videos in early July. The email was from Republic R-III and the subject was "Vector Training, K-12 Edition Online Training." Login information is your district email address with no password required. The deadline to complete watching these training videos is August 27. Please contact your principal or supervisor if you did not receive an email with your assigned videos.
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CSIP Survey Reminder
 Six years ago we embarked on a journey to create a Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) to guide our work in meeting the needs of those we serve. We've met many goals and seen many successes during this period due to the CSIP you, our community, helped us create.
It's time to reevaluate our strategic efforts and get to work on an updated CSIP. With feedback from our community, together we will create this updated "road map" that will guide our efforts over the next five years. The CSIP development process will take place throughout the current school year with the goal of presenting an initial draft to the Board of Education in the spring of 2022.
The process will include the development of a district mission and vision. It will also include goals and focus areas based on feedback from our parents, students, employees and community members. More detailed information will be forthcoming, but the first step is to gather input regarding what our patrons feel the purpose of our existence as a district is and what you hope our district becomes in the future...our mission and vision.
Please take a few minutes to answer the TWO QUESTION survey by September 3 at the below link to help us get the CSIP process going. Although we know navigating COVID19 is our current reality, we ask that you look outside the scope of the pandemic when responding to this survey.
We appreciate your time and input as we develop a plan that best fits the needs of Republic students and employees!
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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.
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ADPP Due 8/30
 Every student in grade preschool-12 will be issued a technology device as part of the RepMO Ready plan. Our goal is to provide a digital learning device to all students for use both at school and at home. Secondary student devices will begin going home immediately, elementary devices will begin going home the second week of school and EC devices as needed. This allows the district to implement an AMI day (remote learning), if needed. Students are responsible for the care of their assigned device at all times, both at school and home. The district strongly encourages families to purchase an Accidental Damage Protection Plan explained in the online form found on the Parent Portal. Students will not be allowed to use school technology resources until the appropriate online form has been completed. To purchase the ADPP follow the link: https://republicschools.revtrak.net/protection-plan-1/ or payment can be made at open houses or in the building office. The deadline to purchase is August 30. Take note that any damage that occurs (either at school or at home) without ADPP payment will incur the full cost for repairs or replacement of the device. **Teachers please share in your newsletters!**
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Updated Health Protocols
As the new school year is in full swing we'd like to remind our employees and families about the health-related protocols currently in place through our Return to Learn Plan. This plan will be reevaluated on September 3, two weeks into school. Below is an infographic summarizing the plan, but the full Return to Learn Handbook can be found HERE. Our goal is now, and will always be, to implement practices that will create the safest and healthiest learning environments for our students and employees. The first two weeks of school are crucial in establishing relationships and routines, which is why we want to provide the best possible opportunity to avoid traditional quarantines for large numbers of students during that time frame through universal masking. Together we can make sure our students are able to be seated inside our classrooms learning as many days as possible by adhering to these practices that worked so well for us all last school year.
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HRA Update Reminder
The Republic School District participates in a health insurance consortium with 85 other school districts which allows us to qualify for the most competitive rates on the market. To continue qualifying for these competitive rates the consortium has implemented a new requirement of participating districts. This requirement is that at least 50% of the district's employees who are eligible for insurance coverage MUST complete an annual Health Risk Assessment (HRA) in order for that district to participate in the consortium.
Without participation in this consortium insurance costs are guaranteed to increase significantly.
As an incentive to receive the 100% Board paid insurance, we're asking all employees eligible to receive insurance coverage to complete a Health Risk Assessment (either through the district event in the spring or through their primary care provider) between July 1, 2021 and May 15, 2022. CLICK HERE for full details that were shared in May 2021. More details will be shared when the district HRA schedule has been determined.
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Friday Early Release
Each Friday throughout the school year full day preschool through 12th grade students will dismiss one hour early for teacher collaboration time. Please keep this in mind when planning your student's after school plans. For details visit
Also, Tiger STRIPES will be available at no extra cost to families already enrolled from 2:30-3:30 and/or a cost of $4.00 per weekly release day for students needing care until 4:30 p.m. To attend Tiger STRIPES, families will need to sign up in advance. Registration details can be found at
**TEACHERS PLEASE REMIND FAMILIES OF THIS FOR THE FIRST FEW WEEKS OF SCHOOL!**
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Smore Accounts
As a reminder, district Smore accounts (e-newsletter distribution tool) are available for all teachers across the district! Grade level accounts for each elementary building and EC are available. Three accounts at RMS (6th, 7th & 8th grades) and three accounts at RHS (1st, 2nd and 3rd floors) are also available to accommodate any secondary teacher who would like to use this e-newsletter service! An account for specials teachers along with extra-curricular activities are available as well. CLICK HERE for login information.
An introduction email was sent in the fall of 2017 that included helpful information and directions on how to access Smore accounts. It' s an "oldie but a goodie" so CLICK HERE for that information. A video tutorial is included, but can also be found in Google Drive. Keep in mind, the video and original information was geared toward EC and elementary teachers, but is pertinent for any Smore user.
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Daily Wellness Check
Each day we are asking all employees and students to do a wellness check before they come to school. Following these guidelines will help everyone stay healthy!
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Republic Community Foundation Grant Opportunity
The Republic Community Foundation is seeking grant applications. Below is the description. CLICK HERE to apply (2nd one down).
The Republic Community Foundation works to improve the quality of life for individuals in the Republic area through thoughtful grantmaking and community leadership. The Republic Community Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors, chosen for their knowledge of the area. Grant decisions are made by the grant committee. The unique role of a community foundation is to conduct a flexible community grantmaking program which addresses the most important needs of the community at any one time. The flexibility this requires is made possible by charitable donors who established unrestricted or field-of-interest funds and place the decision-making in the hands of the community leaders serving on our Board of Directors as well as dollars raised by the Republic Community Foundation.
Grant proposals are accepted according to an announced time table, and grant recommendations are made as funds are available.
501(c)3 organizations or other IRS approved entities (government entities, school districts and churches) serving the Republic area are eligible to apply.
In awarding grants, affiliates of the CFO will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or veteran status. Grantees must not, in the use of CFO grant funds, discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or veteran status either in its employment practices or in its policies and procedures concerning access to services.
PLEASE NOTE: This grant application system uses a character count on all grant questions. This character count includes letters, numbers, spaces, and punctuation.
Applications are due at 11:45 PM on
September 8, 2021
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Board of Education Meeting Recap
At the August 19 Board of Education meeting the adoption of the agenda and approval of consent items ( found on BoardDocs) took place after the Pledge of Allegiance. In addition, President, Todd Wojciechowski, provided a Board Update.
Two speakers participated in the public comment section of the agenda regarding the Return to Learn plan.
Report Items: Superintendent, Dr. Pearce presented a district update. All administrative reports can be found on BoardDocs.
There were no discussion items on the agenda.
Check register Tuition rate Tax rate hearing COVID-19 employee leave resolution - This item includes important information about the district's COVID-19 leave policy for this school year. CLICK HERE for the resolution document. Please take time to review.
The next meeting is scheduled for September 16 with the regular session beginning at 7:00 p.m.
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| Staff Accolade
Congratulations to our very own Dr. Debbie Yonke, Director of Professional Learning and Instructional Support for being named a 2021 Most Influential Woman by the Springfield Business Journal. Dr. Yonke was selected for this honor because of her tremendous professional and civic accomplishments and contributions. Dr. Yonke is known as a compassionate, dedicated and well-respected educator that goes above and beyond to meet the needs of the students and educators she serves. We are tremendously lucky she chooses to serve in Republic! She will be honored at a ceremony in October. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Yonke!
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| Employment Opportunities
STRIPES 360 EMPLOYEES
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District & Community Announcements
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Upcoming Dates
September 6: Labor Day - District Closed
September 10: End of Progress 1 (RMS/RHS)
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)
*Reminder that every Friday during the school year full day preschool-12th grade students are released one hour early for teacher collaboration time.
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For questions or comments please contact me via email or by calling 417-732-3605.
Sincerely,
Josey McPhail
Director of Communications
Republic School District
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