Tuesday Meal Deliveries Rescheduled to Wednesday

Due to the snow that fell last night and the icy condition of some of the roads, we will not be taking food on bus routes today. The routes that were supposed to be traveled today will be made up tomorrow. Thursday and Friday should be able to be delivered as planned.

Lee County School District

Lunch Deliveries Start Tomorrow- Monday, Nov. 30

Please see the attached photos of our bus lunch delivery routes. Note the approximate time each bus will be at their first stop. The roads served by the buses are listed in the order traveled which may help you determine what time the bus will be at your child’s stop. When you see the bus or school van pull up outside your home or at your bus stop, please wear your mask and meet the drivers to get your food. Meals can still be picked up at either school on Monday and Thursday.

PLEASE NOTE THAT BUS 87 AND 102 START LATER EACH DAY THAN ALL THE OTHER BUSES.

If your child doesn’t ride a bus when we have in person classes and you want to receive food but you forgot to sign up, you can still do so and we will add you to the lists for future deliveries.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdnHJSP0M1cqbry-beokN14vTppGszi0BdmJioGUtu2oQGU-Q/viewform?usp=sf_link

Lee County School District

Parent, Student, and Community Input Needed

When we come back from Thanksgiving break we will have 3 more weeks of school before the winter break. We know that virtual learning is tough for many of our students and we have made changes along the way to make it better, but as superintendent I would like to hear from you to get input on things that are going well or things we need to improve upon. I am setting up a series of meeting times to meet with parents of students in grades K-5 and 6-12 separately so we can focus on school specific issues. I would also love to talk to students in grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 to find out how things are going from a student perspective. There is a Google form for parents and a separate one for students to pick a date and time to meet with me via Zoom meetings for anyone interested. I will have to have your name and email address in order to send the link to you for the meeting. However, if you don’t have email or you can’t meet and want to share your opinions, you can use this same Google form to do so.

Also, we are starting the work to develop what is called a “profile of a graduate.” This means we want to spell out what we believe every student who goes through our school system needs to know or be able to do when they graduate. We are interested in finding out the characteristics you believe every student should have by the time they are ready to walk across the stage. We are seeking the input of parents, community members, and students. Again, if you can’t meet, you can still provide input on the forms.

Please use the Google forms found on our district Facebook page or our website to sign up for a meeting time or provide us with your input. I will limit each meeting to about 25-30 guests so please sign up early. The Google forms will close on November 29 and the meeting links will be emailed on November 30 to those who want to participate. If you don’t have access to the Internet or email please also feel free to call me at 606-464-5066. If I am not available at the time you call you may leave your input on voicemail or leave your phone number and I'll get back with you.

Thank you,

Sarah Wasson
Superintendent

Parent Meetings on Virtual Learning
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfAOwlCOziWePgAICAw_nVeFKNmCtjgOaS_zwQxZN56Aq7AyA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Student Meetings on Virtual Learning
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfCxBuKFUqtB_PKquSWYr4cRY3UlrZ6JiFaeY5o1gnrjaFRtA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Parent/Student/Community Member Meeting on what we want our students to have when they graduate
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdG6EuuN4dDSXFQhWU4ADXTlqYrMaF-eSSwDJCnjdjvM4wr-w/viewform?usp=sf_link

Lee County School District

School Next Two Weeks As you likely have heard, the Governor has placed new restrictions on school districts in the new executive order that he put in place last night. His order says that all schools must stay on remote learning until January 4, 2021 with the exception that elementary students can return to in person learning on December 7, 2020 if our county is orange on the map. Next week, we only have school Monday and Tuesday. These will both be virtual days and we are going to be extremely limited on bringing in small groups of students. Please do not plan to meet with teachers in our buildings Monday or Tuesday unless they have contacted you. Wednesday through Friday of next week is a break for staff and students to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday. Please be careful as you celebrate the holiday so we can all stay safe and get back to learning in person as soon as possible.

During the week of November 30 through December 4 we will continue on virtual learning and will not have any small group instruction so families can keep their children at home and make sure there are not cases of illness that come up from gatherings on Thanksgiving. We will evaluate what we do for the next week depending on where our numbers are on December 3rd.

Additionally, all athletic practices will cease beginning tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. and will not start back until Monday, December 14th. This expectation was giving by KHSAA today and will be following through in our district. We hope our athletes will continue to condition at home and stay prepared to come in strong and healthy on the 14th.

Beginning on Monday, November 30, we are going to try something new to help get food out to families. We will be sending food out on 5 of our bus routes on Monday and then the remaining 5 routes on Tuesday. Drivers will drop off food at every bus stop they normally make and provide food for multiple days each time they come. They will repeat the routes Thursday and Friday. If your children were riding a bus before we went to complete remote learning the drivers will automatically stop at your children’s bus stop. If they weren’t riding a bus and you want food delivered on one of our routes, please complete the Google Form that is on our webpage and Facebook page or contact David Lyons by email at david.lyons@lee.kyschools.us or by phone at 606-464-5071. If he isn’t available to answer just leave a message with your name, your phone number, how many children 18 and under are in your home, and your address so he can plan which route will take your food. We will be working next week to determine exactly which routes will be delivered which day and about what time you can expect the bus to run so you can make sure someone is there to get the food.

We are going to have to work together as a community to slow the spread of this virus. In looking at the map this evening, our number is 683.1, which is extremely high and is largely due to the numbers of cases at the prison being added to our daily average. However, we are also seeing some community spread and would ask our community to try hard to follow all the guidance provided by health officials regarding social distancing, mask wearing, hand washing, and refraining from gathering in large groups in order to try to get our community back in a healthy range again.

We want to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving break next week.
Sarah Wasson Superintendent

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdnHJSP0M1cqbry-beokN14vTppGszi0BdmJioGUtu2oQGU-Q/viewform?usp=sf_link

Lee County School District

Update for the week of November 16- November 20

Lee County recently had a large increase in our incident rate on the KY COVID-19 map to 252.8. This is in large part due to a spike in cases at the local prison and we want to extend our thoughts and prayers out to the staff and inmates that are affected by this recent attack by the virus. With our number so high, we will be continuing virtual learning next week. However, we will continue to work in our small groups as planned by the schools. We want to keep all students and staff safe, so if your family has connections with anyone working in the prison we would ask you to hold off attending small groups until after Thanksgiving break. This would give the health department time to get a handle on the spread of the virus and reach out to those who need to quarantine. It will be important for our community to work together by wearing your masks in public places, not having large gatherings, and follow the guidance in our decision tree that was explained last week to determine if your child can come to the schools in small groups. The rise in cases in the state is concerning and, with the holidays coming up and more activities moving in doors, we all must do our part to help slow the spread of the virus.

We would like to remind you that lunch and breakfast may be picked up at either the elementary school or the middle high school on Monday or Thursday next week, and if your children are struggling with any of their work reach out to the schools and they will connect you with people who can assist you.

Thank you for your support through this challenging time.

Superintendent,
Sarah Wasson

Lee County School District

Update for School for Week of Nov. 9- Nov. 13

We have moved back into the orange color on the Kentucky COVID-19 map, but all counties around us are red and additional testing is being done in our county. I have spoken with our regional health coordinator and we have decided that we will continue with virtual learning next week, but we will start to bring in individual students and small groups of students who need extra assistance. I have created a video explaining how long students must remain out of the schools if they have symptom of COVID-19 or if they have been in contact with household or non-household members who have tested positive for COVID-19. I also placed the decision tree on the Message from the Superintendent section of our district webpage. Please help us keep all staff and students healthy by following this guidance. We will continue to monitor the situation with cases in our community and all around us to make the best decisions possible on returning to school in person. Please continue to help slow the spread of the virus by wearing your masks in public places and maintain social distancing when you are around groups of people in public or private settings. We look forward to seeing some of our students next week and hope for a continued downward trend of the virus so we can bring back all of our in person students soon.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SMExVE8NW2gCJy3CC0Cstn2tp0M6FX-D/view?usp=sharing

Lee County School District

Meet Our Virtual Academy Team

Our district staff and Board of Education are committed to trying to make this virtual environment we are in work for our students and families. Right now all of our students are working on a virtual platform, but when we are able to come back to school in person, we still have over 350 students who will work virtually because their families feel it is best for their circumstances. We want to support all students, and have developed a Virtual Academy to be able to reach out to students and families and help in any way we can.

The team in our Virtual Academy is led by Mr. Phillip Angel, our district DPP. We also have Mr. James Dailey overseeing the plans to help the students at the elementary school and Mr. Joshua Broadwell overseeing the plans to help the students at the middle high school. We have hired two additional people to provide direct services and make phone contacts as well as home visits to families who are struggling with virtual lessons. Ms. Barbara Brownfield will be working with elementary students and Mr. Stephen Donithan will be working with middle high school students.

Our Virtual Academy does not assign separate work or replace the work that teachers assign the students, but will provide support in catching up and try to communicate with families the importance of staying caught up on their work. The team can schedule time with students and/or guardians to find out what the barriers are to being successful and help resolve the issues that may be causing students to get behind or fail their classes. They can hold individual Google Meets, make phone contacts, and soon will be setting up time to provide individual tutoring.

If families are struggling, please reach out to our Virtual Academy team who will be able to help answer your questions or connect with the teachers or people who can help get students back on track.

James Dailey- Elementary Dean- 606-464-5088
Barbara Brownfield- Elementary Intervention Instructor- 606-464-5084
Joshua Broadwell- Alternative Dean- 606-464-5197
Stephen Donithan- Middle High Intervention Instructor- 606-464-5083
Phillip Angel- Director of Pupil Personnel- 606-464-5064

Lee County School District

Update For School for the Week of Nov. 2-Nov. 6

Our current number on the Daily Incident Rate map is 158.2 and, in speaking with our regional health coordinator, we will continue to work in a virtual environment this coming week. This number is slightly lower than it was yesterday, and that is encouraging. However, more tests were performed on Monday and more today, and those numbers are not necessarily reflected in the incident rate map at this time as the numbers on that map come from the national data counts.

I know the numbers and data are confusing. The Daily Incident Rate map is made up of data over a 7 day average and based on a population of 100,000. Our population is much lower than that, so a relatively small number of cases in our county will show up as a rather large number on this map. This map is the designation by the state based on CDC and health professionals to guide us in our determination of whether we have school in person or not, but it is not the only factor and it doesn’t just affect schools. When a county is red, the governor asks the entire community to focus on safety measures that will help the community reduce the number of cases.

I want to assure our community that we want our students in school. Our staff is working hard to make connections with our students and provide curriculum that meets the academic standards. However, we know it isn’t the same as being in person with our students and our students are missing out on socialization and activities. We may eventually go back to in person learning even with numbers on the map that are escalated, but the risk of doing it too soon, while our numbers are as high as they are, is that students and staff will transmit the virus, more people will be quarantined or become ill, and we could be shut down for a much longer period of time. If our entire community works together to help bring the numbers down, we will be in much better shape to come back in person and sustain in person learning for several weeks at a time.

We hope that everyone practices healthy social distancing guidelines for Halloween activities. Also, please note that Tuesday, November 3rd is Election Day and is not a school day. If you haven’t exercised your right to vote I encourage you to do so on or before Tuesday. We will update you next Thursday evening regarding the following week of school.

Sarah Wasson
Superintendent

Lee County School District