Hello Josey,

Tiger Talk e-newsletters are distributed the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month as a way to keep our patrons informed with important school information. Archived editions can be found HERE. Have a great week!

Each student has been assigned a school Chromebook to use both at school and at home, if needed. Beginning August 30 elementary students will begin taking these devices to and from school each day. Although the goal is to keep students in-person, at school and learning, students taking devices home daily allows the district to be able to quickly implement an AMI Day (virtual learning), if needed. The district will do its very best in communicating the need for an AMI Day as far in advance as possible, should this need arise. The practice of sending devices home daily is simply a precautionary practice to help us be prepared in any unplanned circumstance.

The district provides an opportunity for families to help protect themselves from the cost of Chromebook damage. This is called the Accidental Damage Protection Plan. This can be purchased at https://republicschools.revtrak.net/protection-plan-1/ through August 30.

Republic School District has developed health-related protocols which were created in conjunction with the Springfield-Greene County Health Department in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The protocols are based on best practices from schools and businesses around the globe and recommendations from DESE and health professionals. The updated protocols were implemented August 10. CLICK HERE to review the full Return to Learn handbook that outlines these protocols. The biggest change from this summer to the protocol list is required masking for anyone age 2 and older (excludes students who attend the EC building location) while inside district buildings for the first few weeks of school. This will be reevaluated on September 3. The Return to Learn Handbook also serves as the district's SRCSP plan as required by DESE. 

CLICK HERE to see answers to frequently asked questions regarding the Return to Learn plan.

As a reminder, the USDA waiver providing FREE BREAKFAST AND LUNCH TO ALL STUDENTS has been extended to June of 2022!!! We are grateful to be able to offer this to our families! Lunch menus can be found HERE.

As a reminder, full day preschool through 12th grade students will dismiss ONE HOUR EARLY every Friday during the school year for teacher collaboration time. Details can be found at https://www.republicschools.org/fridayearlyrelease.

Check out these awesome first day smiles! We are looking forward to a FANTASTIC 2021-2022 school year. Keep sending us your photos and we'll update this album throughout the day. #repmoproud

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ALBUM.

SHOUT OUT to Mrs. Kristin Maerke from McCulloch as she was awarded a $500 classroom grant from the Missouri Retired Teachers Association! We are #repmoproud of you, Mrs. Maerke!

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!

Today we officially kicked off the new school year with our annual All Employee Meeting! We reflected, we celebrated and we got energized by guest speaker, Ken Williams. We're so thankful for this wonderful team who choose to serve in RepMO! 

In addition, we talked about how each teammate is a "piece of the puzzle" in meeting our mission, so we demonstrated that by having all employees sign the back of a piece of a banner and when put all together the "puzzle" showcased our district logo and symbolized it takes us all!

STUDENTS, WE ARE READY FOR YOU!!! #repmoproud

Also during our All Employee Meeting this morning we debuted a fun video we created called “Road Trippin’ Back to School!” This video includes teammates with all different types of positions from across the district demonstrating that it takes EVERY SINGLE person on our team to meet the needs of our students! Check it out! #RepMOProud

We do not own the rights to this music.

Today we got to welcome our new teachers with a FANTASTIC luncheon hosted by the Republic Area Chamber of Commerce! We are so thankful for our community and the amazing business sponsors that made this possible! #repmoproud

Republic School District is excited to announce a school based health clinic partnership with Jordan Valley Health Centers that will kick-off in late September!

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. Registration forms will be coming home with students on September 1 and will need to be completed and returned to school. We're excited and thankful for this opportunity to partner with Jordan Valley Health Centers!

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.

The Board took action and approved the following items (Details on BoardDocs):

Check register

Tuition rate

Tax rate hearing

COVID-19 employee leave resolution

The next meeting is scheduled for September 16 with the regular session beginning at 7:00 p.m.

CLICK HERE to register.

CLICK HERE to register.

CLICK HERE to purchase tickets.

CLICK HERE to register.

Mark your calendars for Wednesdays from 12-12:45 pm! Our partner, Burrell Behavioral Health is hosting virtual meetings through their Facebook page to focus on "being well" as we begin the school year.

September 6: District Closed for Labor Day

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)

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.